Fall, Football and, FAFSA are upon us.
As you may notice the summer heat as finally moved on, football fans are all of the sudden busy every weekend and the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is available. Okay, maybe the third one wasn’t as obvious. But it’s true none the less! October 1st is the official date that the FAFSA became available for students seeking financial aid for the upcoming year.
Filling out the FAFSA does not have to be a long excruciating process. Students and parents should find a time to sit down and fill out the form together. This will help eliminate confusion and will make sure the students are aware of the financial commitments they are making in the form of promising to repay the loans. This year the office of the US Department of Education has released a mobile app. This allows you to submit your FAFSA directly from your phone! This will work much like the traditional FAFSA by starting with your FSA ID, then gathering information on the student, school, parents, financial information, and more. The app will walk you through this process step by step in an easy, time efficient manner. The app, myStudentAid, can be found on both the Apple App Store (iOS) and Google Play (Android). Aside from allowing you to complete the FAFSA, the app will allow you to manage your profile, view federal student loan and aid history, and access additional information. This app was created to make the entire process more convenient for parents and students. However, we have a few more key points to make the experience even more efficient. Here are a few reminders;
- You will need to provide your school code. For K-State this code is 001928.
- The priority date will now be December 1, 2018 for the 2019-2020 aid year.
- The deadline to apply for aid for the 2019-2020 school year is June 30, 2020.
- Dependent vs. independent is not the same as it is on your taxes. You can find more information about this here: https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/fafsa/filling-out/dependency.
- You can also access the FAFSA online at: https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/fafsa.
- Students must maintain satisfactory academic progress. This includes successfully completing 9 of 12 hours for which aid was given, a maximum time frame of 180 hours to complete undergraduate program, and maintain a 2.0 GPA after completing 60 hours.
- Once you have successfully completed your application and the U.S. Department of Education awards you financial assistance, the office of Student Financial Assistance will inform you and it will visible in KSIS. At this point you can log in and accept or decline the appropriate amount of loans. (NOTE: You do not have to accept the full amount offered to you. It is typically best to take only the amount needed. In fact, we would like to meet with you here at Powercat Financial to determine your personal budget for the year and assist you in assessing your borrowing needs before you accept your loans!)
Even with all these great resources you may still have questions, and we are glad to help. Schedule a free appointment with our trained and knowledgeable peer counselors today at www.k-state.edu/powercatfinancial!
Joshua Payne
Powercat Financial
Peer Counselor II
302 Student Union, Third Floor
918 N. 17th Street
Manhattan, KS 66506-2800
785.532.2889
www.k-state.edu/powercatfinancial
PowercatFinancial@k-state.edu
