Student financial aid
Year before last, my daughter Elizabeth went to beauty school to learn to be an aesthetician. She graduated and got her license. We're very pleased with this success.
In order to go to school for this, though, she had to find financial aid herself as we had no resources to help her out. Like the trooper she is, she sought and obtained aid from FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) as well as a student loan. The FAFSA aid didn't cover her whole tuition but it did go a long way toward it! Without FAFSA, it would have been hopeless for her to go to school or at the very least, she would have been farther in debt for her student loan.
The great thing about it is that we could go to FAFSA online and fill out the application right there, which I did. It was a painless procedure. The site has tutorials and an MP3 audio tour to help you with any questions you may have and to guide you through the process. I printed off anything the school needed to see and that became part of her file there.
FAFSA online gives you 9 secrets:
1. Your FAFSA aid, your federal financial aid, is inversely proportional to your adjusted gross income.
2. Liquid assets on hand - cash, savings, checking accounts, etc. - are the enemy.
3. Though expensive, whole life insurance is a better investment than other investments because FAFSA excludes the mortgage on your principal residence, retirement plans, IRAs, prepaid tuition plans, and the value of life insurance.
4. You want the net worth of any investments to come out to a big ol' zero without actually being a zero.
5. Assets, savings, and cash in the student's name carries more weight - which means that you get less aid - than assets, savings, and cash in the parents' names.
6. Errors will disqualify you from aid faster than you can say "typo".
7. Apply for scholarships after you apply for your FAFSA if possible.
8. Fill out a planning worksheet which will help you get organized for the filing of your FAFSA, and if you're really, really, REALLY good with math, download the EFC (expected family contribution) formula computations and get a rough estimate of your EFC.
9. FAFSA isn't the only game in town. There are other sources of aid, other ways of getting money for school that don't involve the exhaustive FAFSA process.
Visit the site and browse around if you or your child are considering higher education but you need more resources to finance it. They help you understand the process and are there to answer your questions. Not only that, but you know we homeschooled. That didn't prohibit her from getting aid. We don't have a state supplied diploma for her, but we were still able to obtain aid for her schooling.
FAFSA is not to be confused with FASFA, which is not affiliated with federal student aid or any state aid for students. They are a service that fills out the papers for you but are NOT, I repeat, NOT the actual student loan people.
In order to go to school for this, though, she had to find financial aid herself as we had no resources to help her out. Like the trooper she is, she sought and obtained aid from FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) as well as a student loan. The FAFSA aid didn't cover her whole tuition but it did go a long way toward it! Without FAFSA, it would have been hopeless for her to go to school or at the very least, she would have been farther in debt for her student loan.
The great thing about it is that we could go to FAFSA online and fill out the application right there, which I did. It was a painless procedure. The site has tutorials and an MP3 audio tour to help you with any questions you may have and to guide you through the process. I printed off anything the school needed to see and that became part of her file there.
FAFSA online gives you 9 secrets:
1. Your FAFSA aid, your federal financial aid, is inversely proportional to your adjusted gross income.
2. Liquid assets on hand - cash, savings, checking accounts, etc. - are the enemy.
3. Though expensive, whole life insurance is a better investment than other investments because FAFSA excludes the mortgage on your principal residence, retirement plans, IRAs, prepaid tuition plans, and the value of life insurance.
4. You want the net worth of any investments to come out to a big ol' zero without actually being a zero.
5. Assets, savings, and cash in the student's name carries more weight - which means that you get less aid - than assets, savings, and cash in the parents' names.
6. Errors will disqualify you from aid faster than you can say "typo".
7. Apply for scholarships after you apply for your FAFSA if possible.
8. Fill out a planning worksheet which will help you get organized for the filing of your FAFSA, and if you're really, really, REALLY good with math, download the EFC (expected family contribution) formula computations and get a rough estimate of your EFC.
9. FAFSA isn't the only game in town. There are other sources of aid, other ways of getting money for school that don't involve the exhaustive FAFSA process.
Visit the site and browse around if you or your child are considering higher education but you need more resources to finance it. They help you understand the process and are there to answer your questions. Not only that, but you know we homeschooled. That didn't prohibit her from getting aid. We don't have a state supplied diploma for her, but we were still able to obtain aid for her schooling.
FAFSA is not to be confused with FASFA, which is not affiliated with federal student aid or any state aid for students. They are a service that fills out the papers for you but are NOT, I repeat, NOT the actual student loan people.
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posted by Ann crum @ 12:52 AM
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