Presented By: Erica Shafer Associate Director of Financial Aid - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Presented By: Erica Shafer Associate Director of Financial Aid Colorado College

• What Is Financial Aid? • The Financial Aid Equation – Cost of Attendance & EFC • Applying for Financial Aid • Types of Financial Aid • Knowledge Application • Financial Aid Tips • Useful Online Tools • Little Known Money Savers • Q&A Lesser Known Financial Aid Facts

Financial aid is funding used to cover costs associated with earning a college degree. The primary responsibility for paying for college falls to the family and student with financial aid helping fill the gap. Merit-based aid is awarded by the Admissions Office and is based on a student’s admission application materials including GPA and test score information. Need-based aid is awarded by the Financial Aid Office and is based on a family’s EFC calculations and the school’s cost of attendance. Funding sources include the federal government, state government, and the college itself. Schools emphasize merit vs. need-based aid differently in their financial aid philosophies. For example, schools with lower admission rates (highly selective) may focus on funding need- based institutional awards instead of merit awards.

Cost of Attendance (COA) - (Minus) Expected Family Contribution (EFC) Financial “Need” • A student’s total financial aid cannot exceed their school’s COA and the total of their need-based aid cannot exceed the value of their financial need. • Meeting need = only 60 schools out of 4000 IHE award students enough need- based aid to cover their “need”. The rest “gap”. We will discuss what options there are to cover the “gap” later in presentation.

A school’s COA serves multiple purposes. It represents both the expenses a student will incur by attending a college or university AND a student’s budget for all financial aid. Allowable components of a school’s COA is regulated by the federal government. Values assigned to those components may be set by state government or college itself. Direct Costs + Indirect Costs = COA • Tuition • Books & Supplies • Fees • Personal Expenses • Room • Transportation Costs • Board • Loan Fees COA has a tendency to increase each year – But some schools may lock in their tuition & fee prices for four years.

• What Is Financial Aid? • The Financial Aid Equation – Cost of Attendance & EFC • Applying for Financial Aid • Types of Financial Aid • Knowledge Application • Financial Aid Tips • Useful Online Tools • Little Known Money Savers • Q&A

• FAFSA = Free Application for Federal Financial Aid • Proprietor – Federal Government • www.FAFSA.ed.gov • Fill out using federal income tax information • Can be completed manually or IRS tax information can be directly imported into the application using the IRS Data Retrieval Tool • FAFSA EFC is generally used in the Financial Aid Equation to award federal and state financial aid based on a student’s need level. Some schools may use it to award need-based institutional financial aid as well. • Must reapply for federal financial aid every year using the FAFSA • For dependent students, both student and a parent must digitally sign the FAFSA using username you create. • One student per FAFSA • Most colleges require FAFSA as part of financial aid application process • Will allow student to put up to 10 schools at a time on application (can always go back in and add/remove schools later)

• Prior Prior Year • Approved PPY legislation allows a family applying for financial aid to use tax forms filed two years before their student starts college. • For Example - for the 2021 school year families must use their 2018 tax information (instead of 2019) to be awarded Federal Financial Aid. • Eases rush of having to complete prior year taxes (2019 for example) before Spring for Financial Aid applications • Allows FAFSA to be made available earlier for students applying as early decision/early action applicants. • FAFSA is available October 1 st for each new school year • If PPY information is not reflective of family’s reality on the day they fill out the FAFSA (income, marital status, etc.), contact school Never miss a deadline! FinAid funding at a lot of schools is limited, so if you don’t turn in needed paperwork, you may miss out.

• EFC calculated based off of: • AGI • Taxes Paid • Number in Household • Number in College* • Untaxed Income (tax deferred pensions*, etc.) • Investments (Do not include the family home) • If student’s parents are divorced or legally seperated, only custodial parent’s financial information is relevant to the application. A student’s tax dependency status does not determine their dependency status for financial aid.

Data Collection Breakdown Dependent Student’s Parents’ Data from 1 or 2 Parents Collected? Household Comprised Of: Single legal parent 1 Parent Two legal parents who are married 2 Parents Legal parent and step parent 2 Parents Two legal parents who are unmarried 2 Parents (regardless of gender), or who are of the same sex and are married, as recognized by a State or foreign country. Be as accurate as possible with your application answers. You may be selected for an audit process called verification and required to submit supporting documentation for your answers.

• Those individuals or families that filed amended 2018 tax returns or filed a foreign tax return in 2018 cannot use Data Retrieval • Individuals whose marriage status changed since filing their 2018 tax return cannot use DRT. • Need parent’s FSA ID info to preform DRT

• Wrong “year’s version” • Wrong Social Security Numbers or Driver License number • Incorrect marital status • Not reporting untaxed income • Withholding vs. U.S. income taxes paid • Incorrect number in household and dependent students in college • Including small business value (<100 employees) • Forgetting to list the college • Forgetting to electronically “sign” and submit FAFSA

• CSS Profile = College Scholarship Service Profile • Proprietor – College Board • Not free for all applicants. Based on student’s need, can ask for a fee waiver from school’s financial aid office ($25 first app, $16 per app afterwards) • https://student.collegeboard.org/css-financial-aid-profile • Currently available October 1 st of each year • Profile EFC is generally used in the Financial Aid Equation by pr private ate un unive versiti sities es (and nd a few w pu public ic) ) in add ddition n to F o FAFS AFSA to award institutiona nal financial aid based on a student’s need level. • May have to reapply for institutional aid every year using the CSS Profile • One student per Profile • Can always go back in after submitting Profile and add schools but can’t change application information. Certain schools only require a family to fill out the Profile once and then guarantee to award their student financial aid based on that one EFC calculation all four years.

• Components of EFC Calculation are customizable for schools • EFC calculation often based off of: • AGI • Taxes Paid • Number in Household • Number in College Also on FAFSA • Untaxed Income (tax deferred pensions, etc.) • Investment Information (non-ret retire rement ment investment holdings) • i.e. any investment equity not held in a 401k, 403b, etc. • Business Income & Deductions • Supplementary Investment information (home equity, other real estate holdings, business value, family cars, etc) • If student’s parents are divorced, non -custod custodial al parent’s informati ormation on may be required uired for EFC calculati lation. on. (http ttps:// s://sec secure ure-med media.c ia.college ollegebo boar ard.org/m d.org/misc sc/c /css ss- profile file/comp ompleting leting-css ss-pro profil file-for or-th the-nonc noncusto ustodia dial-ho househ usehol old/inde d/index. x.ht html ml) ) • Because school’s can customize not only the components that make up a family’s institutional EFC but also how they account for them in the calculation, a family’s institutional EFC can vary from school to school Garbage In Garbage Out

• What Is Financial Aid? • The Financial Aid Equation – Cost of Attendance & EFC • Applying for Financial Aid • Types of Financial Aid • Knowledge Application • Financial Aid Tips • Useful Online Tools • Little Known Money Savers • Q&A

Work-Study Grants Scholarships Student & Parent Education Loans

Grants Federal Award Amount Criteria Guaranteed Application (1920) Pell Grant $100 - $6195 EFC < $6195 Yes FAFSA SEOG Grant $100 - $4,000 Financial Need No FAFSA State Award Amount (1920) Criteria Guaranteed Application Financial Need $500 - $5000 CSG No FAFSA & CO Resident ~$77 (Public) or *https://highered.colo *No* (depends on COF ~$38 (Private) per FAFSA rado.gov/Finance/COF private or public /* school) Credit Hour Institutional Award Amount Criteria Guaranteed Application Inst. Grant Varies Financial Need No FAFSA or CSS Profile