JUNIOR PARENTS AND STUDENTS Welcome

FRESHMAN** SOPHOMORE ** JUNIOR FAFSA4Caster Freshman Sophomore Junior

Why use the FAFSA4caster? For many students this is their first exposure to the financial aid process. But by this time many students are making final choices about their options for college, without the financial aid information they need. That's why we developed FAFSA4caster as an early estimator, because students need to have an idea about their financial aid eligibility before January of their senior year.

What’s the difference So the main difference between the FAFSA and FAFSA4caster is that FAFSA4caster provides students with more specific financial aid information earlier in the process. FAFSA4caster will take your data and estimate your eligibility for aid so that you can have this information when you are making decisions about college.

Benefits Instead of waiting until your senior year to find out your eligibility for federal student aid, you can use FAFSA4caster to estimate your eligibility early, which will give you better insight when making college choices. Note: FAFSA4caster is not just for high school juniors. Parents of younger students can use the tool to receive early estimates, create scenarios based on future earnings, and then establish college savings strategies. Non-traditional college students (adult learners) can also use FAFSA4caster.

Benefits When you're finished entering your data, you can see your estimated federal student aid eligibility information, which is based on the answers you provided in FAFSA4caster. Your estimated federal student aid eligibility will help you better understand the types and approximate amounts of federal student aid for which you may qualify.

Documents FAFSA4caster asks questions about you, as well as your parents if you are a dependent student. You may be able to answer most of the questions easily, but some of the questions may ask you to reference your personal records. For each item you should use the most current information. Your Federal tax information or tax returns, including W-2 information, for yourself, for your spouse if you are married, and for your parents if you are a dependent student.

Documents Information on savings, investments, and business and farm assets for yourself (and for your parents if you are a dependent student). You should answer all the questions on FAFSA4caster, even if you have to estimate or guess. You can update your answers at any time to get a more accurate picture of your eligibility for federal student aid.

 Take a look at your financial situation, and be sure you’re on the right track to pay for college.  Talk to your child about the schools he or she is considering. Ask why those schools appeal to your child, and help him or her clarify goals and priorities.  Attend college fairs with your child, but don’t take over the conversation with the college representatives. Just listen, and let your child do the talking.  Take your child to visit college campuses, preferably when classes are in session.  Make sure your child is looking into or already has applied for scholarships.  Ask your employer whether scholarships are available for employees’ children. To Explore:  Get in-depth information on the federal student aid programs.federal student aid programs  Learn about student and parent loans in Your Federal Student Loans: Learn the Basics and Manage Your Debt.Your Federal Student Loans: Learn the Basics and Manage Your Debt  Find out how the federal student aid application process works.how the federal student aid application process works Parents To-Do List

Support Instructions are provided for each FAFSA4caster question in the Help and Hints section on the right side of the page. When additional instructions are available, Help and Hints will include a “More” hyperlink.  To access Help and Hints:  For questions that have an answer box, place your cursor in the box.  For questions with radio buttons, place your cursor over one of the two options.  For questions that have a drop-down option, place your cursor on the drop down-box.  For questions that have a check box option, place your focus on the check box. You can also use your keyboard’s tab key to move from field to field. The Help and Hints will change as you move from one FAFSA4caster question to another.

Additional Support If you review the help provided and still have questions about the FAFSA4caster, you can contact us live, online, by clicking Contact Us at the top of any page and choosing the Live Help option. You can also call the Federal Student Aid Information Center at FED-AID ( ). If you are hearing-impaired and have questions, contact the TTY line at

FAFSA4Caster Freshman** Sophomore ** Junior FAFSA4caster will help you understand your options for paying for college.  Provide some basic information and it will estimate your eligibility for federal student aid.  Your estimate will be shown in the College Cost Worksheet where you can also provide estimated amounts of other student aid and savings that can go towards your college education.

Going on FAFSA.ED.Gov Go ahead and get started now! Visit the Website: Scroll down to “Thinking About College?” and click on the FAFSA4caster.

Introduction to Family Connection

What is Family Connection? Family connection is a comprehensive website that you and your child can use to help in making plans about courses, colleges, and careers. This program is used by our counseling office to track and analyze data about college and career plans. Family connection also lets us share information with you and your student about upcoming meetings, events, scholarships, and other resources related to colleges and careers.

How do I get connected as a parent? To set-up an account, please one of the following people. Ms. Williams in the college/career center. Ms. McKinnon in the counseling office.

Student Home Screen

Information behind the College Tab

Doing a College Search

Clarksburg High School College-Career Information Center Room 108 CCIC Contact: Thank you for your time and attention. Are there any questions? You are more then welcomed to join the financial aid presentation taking place in the auditorium. Please be mindful that the information being shared is geared toward seniors. Clarksburg High School Counseling Office Room 110 Contact: