Are The Financial Aid Forms Easy To Complete?
Posted By arafatrust on August 25, 2011
Are The Financial Aid Forms Easy To Fill Out? While it’s right that anybody can complete the financial aid forms. The big issue is, should you?
According to the Department Of Education, “The FAFSA is completely FREE to submit. They are going to assert that if you need help filling it out, there are lots of free tools available to help you. They also say that the number one place to look for help filling out your FAFSA is at the college financial aid office.”
But for the majority of you, I need to disagree
If you have already figured out your Expected Family Contribution (EFC) and you’ve determined that you’re likely Unqualified for any “need” based financial aid, than by all means go ahead and complete the financial aid forms yourself. There is little you might possibly do to screw things up.
But , if you do think you are eligible, than you many need to reconsider. It’s not that the questions are difficult to answer,it’s understanding what impact your answers will have on your real Expected Family Contribution (EFC) and rather more importantly, eventually what your out-of-pocket college costs will be. You have to know the financial aid formulas going on behind the scenes.
We frequently find parents have cost themselves thousands of dollars, unknowingly and unnecessarily in additional out-of-pocket university expenses, because they just failed to know the way to play the “game”. The College Financial Aid process is a game the colleges hope that you never find out how to play!
I know what you are thinking, “but the schools are non-profit”. PLEASE, are you that naive!? Going to the schools financial aid office would be the LAST place I’d go to for help! That’d be like going to the IRS and having them complete your tax return for you!
If you don’t want to make any mistakes and most likely cost yourself thousands of dollars in extra out of pocket school costs or lost financial aid, you may need to talk to a college advisor or college planner who’s familiar with the financial aid formulas, and an expert at finishing the financial aid forms.
William Lynch is an Author, Speaker, Coach and leading expert in the College Planning Industry.
Did you know the easy way to complete all of the college financial aid forms?
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