1. Free Application for Federal Student Aid
FAFSA
Free Application for Federal Student Aid

3. FAFSA.gov or FAFSA.ed.gov
Here is the link to the FSA ID website.

4. FSA ID

5. Types of Aid Grants-free money Loans
subsidized-interest starts the day your student graduates
Unsubsidized-interest starts the day your students starts class.
Work Study-part time job on campus
Work study is pocket money for the student to spend on what they want tuition or pizza.

6. Selective Services
Males 18 to 25 who are US citizens or immigrants must register.
This is in the Personal Information Section.
There is an option to ‘register me’. Not being registered can slow the FAFSA process.

7. Data Retrieval Tool
If you filed your (2016) taxes electronically, the DRT will allow you to link the student’s FAFSA to IRS website to download your tax information.
This will cut down on errors.
You will still need your tax form for matching information.
Example-on your tax return your put Main Street but in your student’s FAFSA you put Main St., it will not match.
If you put street on your tax form but put st. on the FAFSA it will not match up.

8. Sending the FAFSA to Colleges
Select up to 10 colleges
You can add more after you submit.
It will take a 2-3 days for your student’s FAFSA to process. While it is processing you cannot login. Once it has processed, you can login and select FAFSA correction. Delete the colleges that are there (so it does not send them another FAFSA), add the new colleges and resubmit.
Login, select make a FAFSA correction, delete old schools add new one, then resubmit. Sometimes it asks you to resign sometimes not.

9. Sign the FAFSA using the FSA ID
This will send the FAFSA electronically to the colleges.
Colleges will receive the information faster.

11. SAR-Student Aid Report
Once you submit, the SAR will appear. Based on the information you provided on the FAFSA, the SAR will report will show:
Expected Family Contribution
Amount of grants and/or loans the student should qualify for.

12. Who Awards the Funds?
Colleges award the money, first come first serve.
Award letters will be in the student's college online account on the financial aid page.
The student must accept the money. This is usually done on the financial aid page.
Pay attention to deadlines! Priority deadline is March 1st but some colleges may be sooner.
*Including the students SS# on college applications will allow the college application and FAFSA to link up faster.
College application is one of the few places I tell students to put their SS#

13. Students Must Renew Their FAFSA Every Year
Students will need to update their FAFSA every year.
Keep FSA IDs in a safe place!
Saving FAFSA as a contact on your cell phone is good to way to keep it and to find it quickly.

14. Institutional Scholarships
The process to apply for freshmen scholarships is going to be different at every college.
Complete optional pages in college applications. Some colleges put their scholarship applications in the optional pages. It also show colleges the student is diligent.
Need Based Scholarships
Merit Based Scholarships
Both are going to require a completed FAFSA
For most schools it will be a separate application. Once a student is accepted to a college apply for institutional scholarships and do this every year.

15. Institutional Scholarships cont.
Stay in contact with the student’s admissions counselor.
Find out the process to accept the scholarships.
Some are accepted on the student’s financial aid page, some require going to a certain website.

16. Private Scholarships Most are looking for students who:
Have community service experience
Leadership roles
Are involved in organizations and clubs

17. Private Scholarships cont.
Try to do one or two a week.
Fastweb.com
Bigfuture.collegeboard.org-select Pay for College
Naviance-Colleges tab-scholarships and money-national scholarship search
Cedar Hill High School website - Resources - Scholarship Information