Even if you think your family makes too much money to qualify for financial aid, you should still fill out the FAFSA. You need to complete the FAFSA to be eligible for certain loans that don’t rely on income such as the unsubsidized Direct Student Loan the PLUS loans for parents. The FAFSA is also … Read more
SAR stands for Student Aid Report and is what you receive after your FAFSA is processed. If you provided an email, you should receive a link to your SAR three to five days after submitting the FAFSA. If you submitted a paper version without an email address, it will take up to three weeks to … Read more
Yes. You can appeal your financial aid award if there has been a change in your family circumstance or if you believe that the process did not account for a specific aspect of your family situation. The following is a list of reasons why you might appeal your financial aid award: Job loss Reduction of … Read more
There are specific limits for federal financial aid programs. Since July 1, 2013, first time borrowers of subsidized loans are limited to a maximum time of 150% of the length of the student’s program. This means that those in a four-year program are limited to six years of loans while those in two-year programs are … Read more
An outside scholarship is one that is not part of the financial aid package awarded to you by the college. You need to report any outside scholarships to the financial aid office because it will affect your need-based aid. Schools are required by Federal rules to adjust financial aid package so that the total of … Read more
Preferential packaging is the practice of changing the type and amount of financial aid awarded to a student based on the desirability of the student relative to the applicant pool. This policy is common among private colleges but not by public institutions. Since most colleges have a finite amount of aid available, they have to … Read more
Just because a student is paying for all of his own expenses doesn’t make him an independent student for financial aid purposes. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) has very specific requirements to qualify as an independent student. Students must answer “yes” to one or more of the following questions to be considered … Read more
There are very few situations when applying for financial aid could possibly hurt your chances for admissions. For your financial aid application to affect your admissions you would need to be applying to a school with all of the following criteria.
Self-help financial aid is aid that the student earns through work or is required to pay back. Student loans and work-study are both self-help aid. Many colleges build their financial aid award starting with self-help aid. Problems can occur when the institution doesn’t meet the student’s full-financial need, often referred to as “gapping.”
