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Posts Tagged ‘Types of financial aid’

Financial aid can help you attend a more expensive school, rather than settling for the best you can afford. There are many types of financial aid available for those willing to fill out the necessary forms.

1. Apply between January 1 and June 30. Check with the individual schools where you are applying; some have deadlines as early as January.

2. Fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form, which you can obtain from the Office of Post-Secondary Education. It includes a Student Aid Report, which helps determine your expected family contribution.

3. Use a No. 2 pencil or black ink to complete the application.

4. Be prepared to give general information such as your name, address, social security number, citizenship status, marital status and type of degree you earned in high school.

5. Be prepared to give financial information such as total family income, number of people in the household and number of people in college. Round numbers to the nearest whole dollar amount.

6. List six schools you are interested in attending. You can change them if you find that the schools don’t provide the financial support you need.

7. Sign and date the application form.

8. Photocopy every sheet of the application for your records.

9. Wait for the results of your application, including the amount of financial aid you can expect to receive. It will be sent to you and to the schools you have applied to.

Any student can apply for financial aid, whether married or single, and financial aid formulas do not discriminate between married and single people when distributing awards. The main factor marriage changes is the people considered to be part of the student’s household. The household size, income and assets all affect whether the student qualifies for need-based financial aid.

Basics of Qualification

Whether an individual qualifies for financial aid depends not on his marital status but on his responses to questions on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. The FAFSA formula determines how much the student’s family can afford to spend on college each year, which is the expected family contribution.

The federal government awards some types of financial aid based on the EFC. The government and individual schools also look at the difference between the EFC and the cost of attending the school and award aid to meet that gap, which is the student’s financial need. In general, the more need a student has, the more aid he will receive.

Family on FAFSA

The people who are expected to contribute to the EFC are those in the student’s household. Most undergraduates file the FAFSA as dependent students who have to report their parents’ income and assets.

However, getting married is one of the ways for a student to change his status and file as an independent student. Rather than reporting his parents’ income and assets, the student will report the spouse’s income and assets. If the spouse does not earn much money, this can be an easy way to significantly decrease the EFC and get more financial aid.

Reporting Spouse Income

Even if you and your spouse plan to keep your finances separate or have a prenuptial agreement to that end, you must report your spouse’s income and assets on the FAFSA if you are married on the day you file.

The federal government’s financial aid formulas do not allow you to exclude this information from the calculations. If you and your spouse did not file taxes together last year, you must report the information from your separate tax returns.

Timing

The FAFSA asks for your marital status on the day you file your application. You can file your application anytime after Jan. 1 of the year in which the school year begins, and most schools and states recommend filing as early as possible, ideally well before the tax return deadline of April 15.

Therefore, even if you will be married during the school year, you might fill out the FAFSA yourself or with your parents. If you are a dependent student and your parents make more money than your spouse will, getting married before you file the FAFSA that year can help you qualify for more financial aid because you can report your spouse’s income in place of your parents’.