october 14 th, 2014 applying for financial aid. the fafsa is set up and operated by the u.s....
TRANSCRIPT
October 14 th,2014
APPLYING FOR FINANCIAL AID
The FAFSA is set up and operated by the U.S. Department of Education.
It determines how much of your income (based on last year’s income tax return) can be applied to educational expenses.
Figures are based off of your Federal Income Tax Returns, so fi le those as soon as possible.
ONLY USE THE FOLLOWING URL TO FILE YOUR APPLICATION:
www.fafsa.ed.gov
FREE APPLICATION FOR FEDERAL STUDENT AID (FAFSA)
Estimated Family Contribution (EFC) – This is the number that the FAFSA generates.
Cost of Attendance (COA) – The Cost of Attendance is a holistic picture of all of the costs associated with attending a school for an academic year. It includes DIRECT and INDIRECT costs.
Need – This is the diff erencebetween your EFC and the COA.
FEDERAL FINANCIAL AID CONCEPTS
The College Board off ers a separate private application for financial aid called the CSS / Financial Aid PROFILE.
It is based off of the prior year’s income information, like the FAFSA, but also will ask questions about the current year.
It is predominantly used by private universities.
North Carolina Universities that use CSS Profi le: Davidson, Duke, Elon, UNC Chapel Hill and Wake Forest.
CSS PROFILE
Students must give permission to a University in order to for them to be able to release any non-directory information about the student. This includes Financial Aid awards, Student Account balances, Academic History, and any other information.
Even if you are paying for your child’s education, that does not mean you have a right to know – they have waive their privacy rights once they have become a student. Universities can define when someone becomes a student at diff erent times, for example: it could be after they have formally admitted, it could be after they committed to attend (paid a deposit) or it could be only after they have begun attending classes.
FAMILY EDUCATIONAL RIGHTS AND PRIVACY ACT
(FERPA)
The Department of Education automatically selects a percentage of submitted FAFSAs for verifi cation. This means it has to be double checked by a Financial Aid offi cer.
School will request documentation to verify certain elements of your FAFSA, they will begin contacting you very quickly to tell you what you have to give them.
Many schools do not award students selected for verifi cation until the process is complete. Some do not even provide estimates, so you will want to make sure that you submit all requested documentation as quickly as possible.
FAFSA VERIFICATION
Don’t Worry!
Federal Aid
Federal Pell GrantFederal Direct LoansFederal Parent PLUS Loans
Federal Campus-Based Federal Supplemental
Education Opportunity Grant Federal Work Study Federal Perkins Loans
State Aid
UNC Need Based Grant
NC Educational Lottery Scholarship
TYPES OF FINANCIAL AID
Institutional Aid
Institutional scholarships
Departmental scholarships
Institutional Need-Based Grants
Other Types of Aid
Outside Scholarships
Private Education Loans
TYPES OF FINANCIAL AID
Many schools will not be able to provide you detailed award information until after you have applied and been accepted, so keep that in mind when attempting to decide between schools.
Many schools will set up an e-mail address for you once you have been admitted, and most Offi ces of Financial Aid will attempt to contact you at those e-mail addresses!
ABOVE ALL: CHECK YOUR E-MAIL!!!
NEXT STEPS
UNCA Asheville Financial Aid Offi ce2nd Floor Brown Hall
CPO 1330Asheville, NC 28804
828-251-6535
http://financialaid.unca.edu/
FINANCIAL AID CONTACT INFORMATION
Questions?
FINANCIAL AID INFORMATION