Michigan High School Counselor Videoconference Federal Update November 12, 2003

What is Federal Financial Aid? Federal Pell Grant Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant Federal Work-Study Federal Perkins Loan Federal Family Education Loans Federal Direct Loans

How To Apply? Free Application For Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) Paper application Web-based application

What the FAFSA Includes Step One: Student demographics Step Two: Student’s financial information Step Three: Determination of dependency status Step Four: Parents’ financial information

What the FAFSA Includes Step Five: Independent student household information Step Six: List of schools to receive data Step Seven: Certification and signatures

How Is the Data Used? In a statutory formula called the Federal Methodology  Looks at income, assets, and size of family to determine family’s ability to contribute to the student’s educational expenses  Result is called an Expected Family Contribution

Independent Criteria Born before January 1, 1981 Working on a master’s or doctorate program Married Has children/dependents for whom he/she provides more than half the support Both parents are deceased Is/was a ward of court until age 18 Is a veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces

The Paper FAFSA Color of the FAFSA Pink for Students (Pantone 196 CVU) Purple for Parents (Pantone 263 CVU) FAFSA will include Return receipt postcard Revised insert New, reworded, and reordered questions and instructions

The Paper FAFSA FAFSA’s will be sent to high schools in early November Counselors may request additional forms by calling  EDPUBS OR 

The Paper FAFSA Page 1 Redesigned first page More information about federal and state deadlines More prominent instructions for correcting estimated tax return data once return is completed

The Paper FAFSA Page 2 Added Web site reference for exchange rates Further clarified what is not an investment

The Paper FAFSA Page 3 Question 13: Question 13: Student’s address Moved from Step Six to Step One 40 characters long, symbol Explains how address will be used Question 31: Question 31: New number for the “drug question”

The Paper FAFSA Page 4 Step Two Questions 43 – 45: Questions 43 – 45: Student’s asset net worth questions reordered Step Three Question 49: Question 49: Wording for “graduate” dependency question revised to be clearer Question 53: Question 53: Revised to read “Are both of your parents deceased, or are you or were you (until age 18) a ward/dependent of the court?”

The Paper FAFSA Page 5, Step Four Added questions about student’s parents Questions 59 and 63: Questions 59 and 63: Parent’s first initial Questions 60 and 64: Questions 60 and 64: Parent’s date of birth No longer ask “Age of older parent” question

The Paper FAFSA Page 6 Step Six: Step Six: Enrollment questions -- Moved from Step One One question for all terms Separate response for “Not sure” Certification Certification will include statement that student cannot receive Pell from more than one school for same period of time

Output For Students Paper application without student’s address will result in paper Student Aid Report (SAR) Paper application with student’s address will result in with web site for “SAR on the Web”

Paper Student Aid Report Printed on white paper with pink wash across top of page Added variable text on first page of SAR when student has eligibility issues Parent address printed on SAR, but will not be correctable

FAFSA on the Web Screen Shots and Demonstration Site In early October 2003, a PowerPoint presentation containing FAFSA on the Web screen shots became available on IFAP FAFSA on the Web demonstration site will be available in early December 2003 To access site, go to Enter: User Name: eddemo Password: fafsatest

FAFSA on the Web Toolkits Were mailed in October to -- Postsecondary schools High schools State agencies Libraries PTAs TRIO Centers Toolkits include – Brochure Poster Tips Card PIN Flyer Web-Link Graphics Flyer Post-it Notes FAA Access Flyer

FAFSA on the Web Apply Reapply Go to PIN Web site Check status of FAFSA View SAR information Make corrections Simplified FAFSA for residents of certain states

Spanish FAFSA on the Web Spanish FAFSA on the Web will include Spanish versions of Pre-Application Worksheet Worksheets A, B, and C Income Estimator Worksheet Drug Conviction Worksheet

FAFSA on the Web Includes new and revised paper FAFSA questions New parent address If valid parent address provided -- sent to parent when FAFSA processed If signature(s) are missing, will include information about how to sign Correctable on the Web or through FSAIC

FAFSA on the Web Enhanced Edits and Skip Logic Dependent students required to provide parents’ SSN, last name, first name initial, and DOB If student’s parent is single -- Skip logic presents only one parent SSN, last name, first initial, and DOB Student asked if information is for father or mother Housing Plans questions Student required to answer on FOTW

FAFSA on the Web Electronic Signatures Students and parents can electronically sign within Web applications May request PIN number prior to completing the FAFSA 

Without Electronic Signature Print signature page and submit within 14 days If signature page not received by Central Processing System within 14 days, student receives rejected Student Aid Report Rejected SAR must be signed and submitted

Output For Students Web application without student’s address will result in paper SAR Information Acknowledgement Web application with student’s address will result in with web site for “SAR on the Web”

CPS Database Matches Social Security Administration Immigration and Naturalization Service (renamed Department of Homeland Security (DHS)) Selective Service Veterans Administration National Student Loan Data System

CPS Changes SSN Database Match with SSA Pending passage of legislation authorizing IRS income verification match, need successful SSA/SSN match for at least one parent of a dependent applicant Parent SSN match with SSA -- Will not send parent SSN if same as student’s (will set parent SSN to ‘blank’) Will use same match flag results as students

CPS Changes Parent SSN Match with SSA Applicant whose parent has SSA Date of Death (Match Flag = 5) will receive a SAR comment instead of being rejected Parents allowed to change SSN, even if SSA gave clean match flag of ‘4’

CPS Changes New Rejects New rejects for missing/discrepant parent SSN, last name, first name initial, and DOB Reject 6 Reject 6 Father’s SSN not on SSA database (non-verifiable reject) Reject 7 Reject 7 Mother’s SSN not on SSA database (non-verifiable reject) Reject S Reject S Father’s DOB not matched on SSA database (verifiable reject) Reject T Reject T Mother’s DOB not matched on SSA database (verifiable reject)

FSA for Counselors ifap.ed.gov/FSACounselors/index.html Online info for middle school, high school, and TRIO counselors Includes High School Counselor’s Handbook and financial aid night info

Student Aid on the Web Customizes presentation based upon age of child/student Information related to Preparing for higher education, choosing a school, applying for admission, funding options, attending, and student loan repayment