PSC-ED-FSA-TISD
Moderator: Christal Simms
10-17-17/03:00 pm CT
Confirmation # 5706458
Page 1
PSC-ED-FSA-TISD
Moderator: Christal Simms
October 17, 2017
3:00 pm CT
Operator: Welcome and thank you for standing by. At this time all participants will be on a listen-only mode for the duration of today's conference.
This call is being recorded. If you have any objections, you may disconnect at this time.
May I introduce your speaker today, Maisha Challenger. Please go ahead.
Maisha Challenger: Good afternoon everyone. Thank you all for joining our Webinar today.
Today our Webinar is the 2018/19 FAFSA Demo Line-by-Line Webinar. For all of you on the call, I'm sure we've got a mix of both parents and students, we want to give you some really great information as we go through the FAFSA application online. We want to do this demo because we want to help you all familiarize yourself a little bit with filling out the form, so that when it is your turn to fill out the form, you will definitely feel a little more comfortable with the process.
I know a lot of times people think filling out the FAFSA is a very daunting task, but after we go through today, it's going to be easy for you all, and hopefully won't take any time at all.
As we go throughout the Webinar, my colleagues are online answering - my colleagues will be available to answer your questions, so, feel free as I go through this Webinar to ask questions, and they will answer your questions via the Q-and-A box. So, make sure you use the Q-and-A box.
This presentation, you can also download at the top left-hand corner, under Files, if you want to get a copy of the presentation, you can download it there as well.
So let's get started. So, first and foremost, the FAFSA, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. That is how you access federal financial aid in the form of our three programs that we offer -- grants, work-study, and loans. The application is very important and that's what is required to be filled out. I always like to say that there's always different paths of aid and assistance for individuals who want to go to school.
The federal government offers money, the state offers money, the institution offers money, and there's also scholarships. And a lot of times the FAFSA form, is specifically for federal aid, but it also is required to receive some state aids, sometimes institutional aid, and scholarships. So it's really important that you fill out the FAFSA form to access many different sources of money to help you go to school.
So, how you access the FAFSA form. The Web site is https://fafsa.gov. That's where you want to fill out the online application. And a lot of people don't know that the FAFSA application for the '18/'19 cycle is available now. So, for you high school seniors, now is the time to fill out that FAFSA form. If you're going to be a freshman next year, in 2018, you want to fill out that form.
Again, fafsa.gov is the Web site that you go to. A lot of you remember that the FAFSA used to come out in January, but we've moved it up to October. So it's really important to know, maybe some of you didn't, that the FAFSA is available now.
So here's some things you need to know when you want to submit the FAFSA application. The FAFSA does launch every October 1st. The FAFSA must be submitted for every year you attend school. So, for your high school seniors, you're going to fill it out now, but while you are in school, you're going to fill out the applications every year. And then remember, earlier, I talked about state, institutional and different deadlines. Find out what your state and college deadlines are and submit by the earliest one. Again, each application has different deadline.
There's some really pertinent information that we need, and as we go through the form you'll see, that's required to complete your FAFSA. And tax information is one of the key components in filling out the form.
So, some of you may realize, as we talk about the '18/19 FAFSA cycle, there was tax information. And so in the past we used to use the prior year's information. So now, instead of using the previous year's information, we're using two years or using 2016s information.
So, let me say that again. For the 2018/19 FAFSA, you're not going to use 2017s tax information, because of us have not filed that yet. But we're going to use 2016s information. And the reason we changed that is because most of that information has already been filed and then that way you don't have to worry about what information you don't have. It's already been filed and you can use that information to submit your FAFSA application.
This graph shows you an example of the tax information we need for previous cycles and the current cycle. So, '18/19, we'll use 2016s tax information. But again, as we go through the demo, you'll see what information is necessary.
And then I mentioned that there's a couple of - there's a couple of key components for the FAFSA application that you all will need regarding your social security number, tax information, any cash savings or checking account or investments. There's certain key financial information that's needed, and when we go through the application you'll see what we're asking. We have some really great Help and Hints box that really show you specifically what it is that we're looking for specifically on this application.
And then, as you all are preparing to fill out your FAFSA application, there's some really great information that the Department of Education provides to help you prepare for going to college. We have a blog that gives you a lot of really great tips.
For example, as you can see here, there's myths about the FAFSA. For example, some people assume only students with good grades get financial aid. That's false. Or, my parents make too much money so I don't qualify for financial aid. There's no income cutoff. There's a lot of myths that make a lot of people skeptical about filling out the form, and we want people to know, don't be skeptical.
There's also on this blog information about a parents' guide in completing the FAFSA and eight steps to filling out the FAFSA form. So when you get a chance, if you can, you can click on these links and go to some helpful tips for you as you prepare to fill out the FAFSA.
So at this time, I want us to go through the 2018/19 FAFSA application so you all can see what type of questions you will be asked as you prepare for your students and yourself potentially to go to college. So let's get started.
Okay. So as you all can see, what we're going to do is go through the FAFSA process. And what we have here is what the first page of the FAFSA looks like. And so this is literally what you will see when it's time to start filling out your FAFSA.
And so what we're going to do is, again, remember, I said there are first-time users for individuals who are high school seniors, and then return users. So, most of you hopefully are high school seniors, we're going to start a brand-new FAFSA. So we're going to click "Start a new FAFSA."
So here is where you will start entering the student's information. And for sake - for purposes of the demo, we're going to just come up with an arbitrary name just so we can go through the process. So I'm going to use Melissa. And Melissa is a high school senior, really excited to go to school.
So we're going to give Melissa's first name, last name. We're just going to come up with, again an arbitrary, social security number. And then Melissa's date of birth. And so, Melissa was both on June 21, 1999. So, Melissa is 18 years old.
And so, remember, I mentioned over here these Help and Hints box. It tells you exactly what information is required as you're filling out the FAFSA form. So we're going to click Next.
So as you can see, you're still in the log-in process, it says, welcome, Melissa. And it's basically telling you, you should review the information and make sure it's accurate before you click Next, okay? So we're going to make sure all the information is right, and click Next.
So here is a new feature that we've added to the FAFSA form this year. There is now a disclaimer, and basically we want to make sure that you're using the information or the information is being used solely for the purpose of applying for the FAFSA application, so you can either decline or accept. And we definitely want to accept, but I'm going to show you, if click Decline, it says you must accept the conditions to continue using the FAFSA. So we're going to click Okay.
Okay. We're going to go back through, unfortunately, logged me out, but I'm just going to go back through, and put in the social security information one more time. And so the point of that previously was just to show you that you want to make sure you accept the conditions, otherwise you cannot continue on the FAFSA form. Okay? So we're going to click Next. And so we're going to click Accept.
So now we're at the page where it basically shows you, which school year are you applying for? And so we're applying - this is for the 2018/19 school year. So we want to make sure we click "Start at 2018-19 FAFSA." And so this is where there's safe key, it's just a password you would come up with to proceed on the FAFSA form. So I'm just going to use the word "test," and then retype the word test. And then I'm going to click Next.
So what this is, is now we're on the introduction page, and I just want to show you all that, on this page, it basically gives you some hints as to what you should look for when it's time to fill out the application. So, how long - how can I get help completing the FAFSA? How many steps does it take to complete? How long will it take to complete?
Maisha Challenger: And we're going to put a ZIP code. And then, having lived in the District of Columbia for at least five years. We're going to say yes. We're going to give her a phone number. And then we're going to give Melissa, we need an email address, and so it's going to be , .
And then, what is your marital status as of today? She's single. Do you have driver's license information that you want to provide? You don't have to, so we can say no. So we're going to click Next.
Now, notice, there's a couple of errors on this page. And so it says the student has incorrectly added their ZIP code, and so there's a number missing in the ZIP code. So I want to show you all this to let you know that, in case you don't put down accurate information, the FAFSA will catch if there are errors. It also says email addresses don't match.
So, sure enough, when we look, there's an H missing. So you want to make sure that you take your time when you're filling out the application and make sure that the information is accurate when it's asking certain information, demographic information. So I think we got it now. Going to click Next.
So here is where we talk about student eligibility. Are you a U.S. citizen? So there are three different options. You can say you are a U.S. citizen, eligible non-citizen, or no, I'm not a citizen or eligible non-citizen. Okay? For purposes today, we're going to say, yes, I am a U.S. citizen.
What is your high school completion - what will your high school completion status be? So here is where the student has a high school diploma. High diploma, GED or home schooling does qualify you to receive federal financial aid.
And then, what will be your college grade level? What will your college grade level be when you begin the 2018/19 school year? So we're going to say, never attended college, first year. But there are different options. Remember, I also mentioned to you, if you're unsure what the question is asking, this Help and Hints box over here really do a really great job of giving you the information that you need.
So, what degree or certificate will you be working on? So it'll be our first bachelor's degree.
Now this is a really important question. Are you interested in being considered for work-study? So, work-study, remember I mentioned earlier there's three federal programs -- there's grants, loans, and work-study. Work-study is where you work part-time to pay off some of your educational expenses. You can work on-campus or off-campus.
On the FAFSA form, we always want to say yes. Are you interested in being considered for work-study? The Financial Aid Office will let you know if you qualify. And work-study is based on financial need. So, are you interested, yes or no?
When you get to the school, the money is first come, first served. But again, if you - you don't necessarily have to do work-study, but we always encourage people to sign up because again that's money you can use to pay off your expenses. So, are you interested? Yes.
Will you have your first bachelor's degree before you begin the 2018/19 school year? No. Because you're still in high school.
Are you a foster youth or were you at any time in foster youth care? We're going to say yes just to show you an example of what happens at the end once you answer that question.
And then, highest school year completed by the first parent? We're going to say, High School, and then parent number two we're going to say College or Beyond. And click Next.
So here is where we now want the high school information of the individual applying for federal aid. So we're going to use - there's a local high school in Washington, D.C. called Gonzaga. And if you're not sure, again, a lot of times people are not sure of the spelling or - just put in what you think the spelling of the high school. And then once you - once we click the confirm button, you'll see that it will show you what your school is or the correct spelling of the school.