FAFSA Presentation La Quinta High School

Receive Money for College!  The Free Application for Federal Student Aide (FAFSA) is the main way to receive federal and state financial aid for college.  FAFSA may be used for community college, private colleges, CSU’s, and UC’s  Aid may come in the form of grants, loans, and work study.  You only need to complete this one application to be eligible for Cal grants, Pell Grants, university grants, low interest loans, and work study.

How Will You Receive the Aid?  The FAFSA will be sent to your college of choice and they will distribute your aid.  Colleges will provide you with a financial aid award report.  If you do not apply for a college you will never know how much you will receive.  After you enroll, your college will automatically subtract your tuition and fees and you will be provided what is left of your aid.

 Let’s start by accessing the FAFSA website above.  is the official site and is completely free.  Please DO NOT go to FAFSA.com.  Do not use any sites that charge you money.

= Enter your information as it appears on your social security card. Click Next when done. You will always have to login through this page to get to your saved FAFSA.

Choose This will be your first year of college.

Choose a password you will remember. Click Next when done.

Proceed to next page Go to the next page

Enter your current information. Click Next when done. Driver’s license is optional. Enter your current information Click Next when done

Click Next when done. Males must register for Selective Service to receive financial aid. Never attended and 1 st bachelor’s degree. High school diploma Choose yes if you want a job. No Select citizenship status.

Search for La Quinta in Westminster. DO NOT type in “High School.”

Select La Quinta in Westminster.

After confirming, click Next.

Choose the colleges you want to receive your FAFSA application. These should be the colleges you applied to last Fall. You get up to 10 choices. List the college you think you will attend first. Also include community colleges and back-up choices. SEARCH by city or college name. DO NOT type in university or college into the name. Skip the school codes

After the city search, choose the correct college and click add.

Choose if you will be living on or off campus or at home with parents.

Keep searching and adding colleges until you have picked all the schools you want to receive the FAFSA. Only click Next after you have selected all your schools.

Click Next when done. Read over questions. Most students answer NO on these following questions. If you have a parent, then your answers will most likely be NO

Select the marital status for your parents. Select the marital status for your parents & Answer Questions How many family members live in your home How many kids will attend college in 2015

Select what your parents will be doing for taxes this year If you are using 2014 taxes, then choose, “Already completed.” If you are using 2013 taxes, then choose “Will file.” You may use 2013 tax returns if you have not received the 2014 forms yet. You will have to update the information after you receive the 2014 forms.

Select the type of income tax form they used or will use. It is listed on top of their tax forms. 2014

This a sample Income Tax Return form. The type of form is listed on the top left corner (1040, 1040A, or 1040EZ).

Enter in the amounts, use help and hints on the right. Hints will appear after you click on the blank boxes. Enter in the amounts, use hints on the right.

Hints tell you which lines from the tax forms to look at. Make sure you use the hint for the correct form. Use the help and Hints screen to see where to find the tax info Check any additional income your parents may have received.

Student Tax Information This section is for students. If you had a job and will complete an income tax return please choose “Will file.” If you did not have a job, choose you are “Not going to file” and enter in zeroes for the following pages.

Put amount you have in your savings account or 0 if nothing. Put 0s for the rest

Apply for a PIN if you don’t have one yet. Choose sign with a PIN. It’s the fastest way. No, you are not a preparer. A preparer is someone you pay to complete the FAFSA. Enter your PIN here and click SIGN. No, you are not a preparer. A preparer is someone you pay to complete the FAFSA Click here to apply for your PIN Click “Agree”

Enter their PIN here and click SIGN. Apply for a parent PIN if you don’t have one yet. Click on Father or mother first, and their information (social security number) will fill in for you. If your parents or siblings have ever applied for financial aid, then your parents will have an existing PIN.

Submit when you are ready.

You may go back to correct your FAFSA anytime, even after you have submitted. You may also make corrections after the March 2 nd deadline. You should definitely go back to correct it if you used 2013 taxes and need to change it to 2014 taxes. Fill in your info for the first login screen and the rest of your saved application will appear.

After You Submit  Your FAFSA will be evaluated using a standard formula called “Need Analysis”.  This evaluation determines Your Expected Family Contribution (EFC)  If you feel you have special circumstances to present, write the financial aid office of the school(s) to which you have applied.

Student Aid Report  Within about 72 hours, your Student Aid Report (SAR) will be generated and it will list all the information you provided on the FAFSA.  Make sure all information is correct. If not, log back in and make corrections.  If no corrections are necessary, your SAR will include your EFC. An EFC of 0000 means that your parents are not expected to contribute any money.

Financial Aid Award Package  After your colleges’ financial aid office receives the SAR results you will be notified of all the financial aid details in an Award Letter. This may arrive in the mail or through your college portal accounts.  This letter will show your expected family contribution as well as the types and amounts of financial aid for which you are eligible.

Reply to Colleges  When you receive your financial aid offer from colleges consider your options carefully.  Then reply to the college and accept or decline their financial aid by their deadline. Most colleges have you do this online now.  If you have questions about your award, call the college’s financial aid office.

Deadline for FAFSA is March 2nd  The deadline to submit is March 2 nd, Submit early and you can always make corrections later.  Remember, you will need to re-apply each year and every year the deadline is March 2 nd.  The 200 computer Lab will be open every day during lunch and after school. Please stop by for help.