Stephanie Wells: [00:00:00] All right. Good afternoon. Welcome everyone. My name is Stephanie Wells here at MEFA. I’m director of college relations and work with lots of colleges such as our friends that are on the panel today. And we’re here to talk about financial aid appeals, and we have three experts. I’m gonna let them introduce themselves in just a minute, uh, that are gonna answer all your questions.

We have a bunch of canned, uh, questions that we’re gonna go through, questions that we know families usually ask. So we’re gonna have a, a really great webinar for you this afternoon. Before we get started, I just wanna go over some logistics so you can use the live transcript feature. If you have questions.

P, please type those in the q and a. The chat is disabled. Uh, so please, you know, go ahead and do that. And again, we are recording today’s webinar, so we’ll share that with, um, with everyone. So with that, I’m going to, uh, just talk about Mefa a little bit and then we’ll introduce our panel. So [00:01:00] MEFA is a quasi state authority here in Massachusetts.

Many of you are probably on our email list and getting all our great emails from us, but we are actually created to offer a loan program almost 45 years ago. And since then, we’ve gone on to create college savings programs and lots of guidance and education for families, school counselors and college administrators.

So this is one in, uh, many series of webinars we have for families. And just looking at the registration list, we see we have mostly se high school seniors or parents of high school seniors on the line. So, uh, we know that this is really timely information for you. So I am going to stop sharing the screen and turn it over to our panelists.

We’ll start with you, Maria, and, uh, have you all introduce yourself. Just tell us a little bit about your school and, and where you’re from.

Maria Morelli: Hi everyone. I’m Maria Morelli. I am the Director of Financial Aid at Endicott College. Um, Endicott College is a, um, small college. We have [00:02:00] 30, 3500, um, undergraduates, uh, traditional undergraduates, about 1200 graduate students.

And we are located, um, up in Beverly, Massachusetts. Uh, we have a beautiful seaside campus. Uh, we encourage you to come look at it ’cause you might, you’ll probably fall in love with the campus. If you come, we’ll fall

Stephanie Wells: in love with the campus. Great. Rob.

Rob Loconto: Hi folks. I’m Rob Lacanto. I’m the Assistant Vice President of Financial Aid here at Curry College.

Curry is located in Milton, Massachusetts, just south of Boston. Um, we’re a small private college also. Um, about 1800 traditional students. Uh, probably about another 400 continuing ed and graduate students.

Stephanie Wells: Great. And Sue?

Susan Lanzillo: I’m Sue Zillow, the Associate Director of Financial Aid at Framingham State University.

Um. We are small public, um, just west of Boston. Um, we also have a pretty campus. I don’t think we can compete with Endicott, but um, [00:03:00] as far as state colleges go, it’s very, very pretty up on a hill. Um, our enrollment is, um, about 3000 undergrads and about, uh, 1100 grads.

Stephanie Wells: Great. Thank you. Thank you. So for those who are just joining us, just wanna let you know that we are recording today’s webinar.

So we’re gonna jump right in. We, we don’t have slides. It’s really gonna be more of a panel discussion. So first I’ll just, just talk about what it is, a financial aid appeal, just to set the stage. So a financial aid appeal is when you as a family, students, um, you get your financial aid offer from a college and you need more money, whatever the reason is, we’re gonna go through all those reasons and how schools, you know, look at those appeals.

But it’s really you’re asking for an appeal of the initial financial aid offer. And we will talk about timing, when to do that, all of that good stuff. Now appeals can come in two different formats, just like financial aid can be in two [00:04:00] different formats. We have merit-based aid and need-based aid. So your appeal might be based on your merit scholarship.

Uh, and that’s might be through the admissions office. And a lot of the appeals specifically we’re gonna focus in on, um, in detail today would be financial need-based or appeals based on financial need through the financial aid, uh, process. So not based on the students merit or academic talents or skills, but more on your financial information that’s based on your financial aid forms that you filled out.

So that’s a little bit about appeals in general, just to kinda set the stage. And I’m gonna have, uh, Rob kick us off just to talk about. Uh, and I know some of the families here have gotten different financial aid offers already. Why do financial aid offers differ so much from school to school? Like what are some of the reasons for that?

Rob, start us off.

Rob Loconto: Sure. Thanks Stephanie. So, uh, one of the reasons offers can differ is depending on the type of [00:05:00] school, um, a private college financial aid offer might be different than a, a say a state college because the cost of attendance is different. So what is a cost of attendance? So a cost of attendance basically is what a school has to come up for.

Each student is a cost of attendance to basically determine what it would cost that student to attend that school for the entire academic year. So the cost of attendance is kind of comprised of what we call direct and indirect costs. Direct costs meaning what the school is billing you for, like tuition, room and board fees, and then indirect costs or things or costs that we’re not billing you for.

But those are costs you’re gonna incur, like personal expenses and transportation. So obviously a private college like Currie is gonna have a, a higher cost of attendance than, let’s say a cost of attendance at Framingham State. Um, so those types of, um, one of the things right off the bat is the cost of attendance can change the amount of grant assistance that you might receive.

Um, also it can depend on what a school’s enrollment goals are, um, what type of student the school is looking for. [00:06:00] Um, uh, the high school, maybe the high school grade point average or the students’, uh, high school credentials. How they, uh, perform through the admissions process may have some bearing on the, on the need-based side.

Um, also different schools can require different information from you. So to give you an example, here at Curry, we only require you to do the FAFSA in determining any eligibility for need-based aid. But highly selective private schools may require you to do a profile form. So if some of you are applying to, to schools, let’s say like Boston College, um, they may require a profile form where they’re gonna take a much deeper dive on a student’s finances or a family’s finances, determining what a family can contribute toward education.

Um, and that can change, um, the amount of grant, um, need-based grant assistance that you can receive. So those are some of the factors, um, that, uh, can, uh, why need-based aid and why aid offers can differ from from school to school on the need-based side.

Stephanie Wells: Great. Thanks, Rob.

Rob Loconto: Yeah.

Stephanie Wells: Um, [00:07:00] Sue, let me, let me toss it over you to you just to briefly talk about, from a, from a state school, lower costs, but typically at state schools, they lower cost, but also might have not have as much merit.

Uh, you know, as you know, b huge billion dollar endowments like, like a, you know, a highly selective school. Um, and most, most families aren’t going to the highly selective schools. They’re, they’re going to state schools and, you know, other schools across the country in Massachusetts, we have so many great schools.

So do, can you just talk about it from a state school perspective, how that might work?

Susan Lanzillo: Yep. Um, and so tuition and fees at Framingham for this year was $12,220. So you’re right, we’re not gonna give out $20,000 merit scholarships when our tuition and fees is only $12,000. So, you know, we encourage families when they’re looking at, um, when they’re comparing one package to another to look at.

Direct costs minus grants, [00:08:00] um, because costs can vary significantly. So you may get a smaller grant here, but the bottom line may still end up being less. Um, another thing to add on to why, um, packages may differ is the funding that each school receives. So some schools may have larger endowments. Um, also as a state school, we’re gonna get different amounts of money from the state of Massachusetts than private schools.

They, they’re going to get some from the state as well, but not as much as we do. So we get a lot of funding from the state and that can vary significantly from year to year. Um, and usually we’re not notified until late. So sometimes we don’t even know how much we’re gonna get. But the last couple years have, has been very, very high and, um.

At Framingham, we actually are able to provide a guarantee to students that their tuition fees will be covered if their income is $85,000 or less. So that’s one of [00:09:00] the things that, like a public institution is different maybe than the privates.

Stephanie Wells: That’s great. Um, Maria, can you talk a little bit about, about this as well, how, how offers can differ from school to school and.

You know, it also, um, how deadlines, you know, I don’t, I don’t know, Endicott if, if meeting that deadline is, you know, really strict. Some schools might be, you know, have different policies there. But, and, and you know, just some advice too about, you know, families. Is it okay to call about this and ask questions?

Maria Morelli: Yeah. I mean, definitely if you have any questions we want you to call, like, we want you to ask the question, you know, I know sometimes families, you know, might feel like, oh, well they might feel like we’re bothering them or, you know, but like, we’d rather you ask them, not ask because we wanna be able to answer those questions.

So definitely if you’re unsure of whether you can appeal or you should appeal, then definitely ask e each school is gonna have their own policy about the process. Mm-hmm. Um, so, um, [00:10:00] definitely you would want, want to reach out if you have any questions. Um, and, um. Yeah, I mean, priority deadlines, you definitely wanna meet priority deadlines.

They’re really important. It, you know how you’re gonna hear it Depends a lot today. So just, this is our favorite phrase in financial aid, just because each student is different, each school is different, each school has different goals, um, and realities. So it is gonna depend highly on what school you’re, we’re, you’re working with.

But, you know, um, most. It, it, it is always good practice to meet those deadlines because a lot of times those deadlines are there. ’cause you have certain funds that are pots of money. And once those pots are spent, there’s no more. And so sometimes there has to be some way to distinguish, okay, who gets priority for that funding?

And the deadlines are, you know, one of the ways that, that we do that. So you wanna make sure if there are any published deadlines that you’re meeting with them. If you have any questions, obviously ask about it. Um, and yeah, I think, you know, a big [00:11:00] thing, the others already to touched on enrollment goals, you know, um, schools, especially if for on ground classes online are a little bit different.

But for online classes there’s only so much room at the school. There’s only so many dorm rooms. There’s only so many seats, um, that can sit in a classroom. And therefore, uh, you know, once certain majors may fill up faster, may deposit faster than other majors. And at that point, you know. It that’s, that’s going to make a difference in, in, in how student, you know, colleges award.

You know, maybe they need, they get lot of applications for one type of major and not for another. And that’s going to impact their strategy and how they, they do those awards ’cause they’re trying to make their class and have it, uh, look and, um, have, have the right number of students.

Stephanie Wells: That’s great. Um, so kind of touching upon that, I’m gonna have you take start off on this one, Rob.

Um mm-hmm. I get this question all the time [00:12:00] from families, you know, can I negotiate my financial aid offer? And my answer is typically. I’ll just tell you what I tell families and you can talk about how it works at the college. My answer is typically, you know, financial aid o offices are trying to put their best offer up front.

They’re not holding back, you know, they really wanna give you what they can. Um, but with that said, if it’s not enough, then you should definitely, you know, uh, talk to the school. So can you just talk about like the difference between negotiating merit aid or need-based aid and an app, a true financial aid appeal?

Rob Loconto: Sure, sure. So, um, so merit, merit aid is usually determined from the admissions office. So we get two separate offices going here. So any type of merit aid, like here at Curry, every student who applies receive some type of marinade, um, from the institution, and that comes from the admissions office based on the student’s admissions application.

Anything that’s need based grant assistance from the college comes basically off [00:13:00] the FAFSA application. Um, so if you have questions regarding the merit side of the house, usually that would go to the admissions office and, you know, they can explain to you why the student received the type of merit aid that they did.

Um, sometimes here at Curry, they, uh, family will engage with admissions and sometimes admissions will make a change to a merit award. Um, so it’s always good to kind of know what the range of merit awards are, what the low end is, what the high end is, so you know exactly where you fall. ’cause obviously if your, if your student is at the high end, there’s probably nowhere else to go on that side.

Um, there’s really, I mean. There’s really not a lot of negotiating on the need-based side, only because that information is coming from the fafsa. So it’s coming, uh, decision based on your income. Um, and that’s assuming that income has stayed the same. But one of the things I’ll point out is that remember when you filled out the fafsa, they’re looking at income from 2024, um, that was two years ago.

Um, something could have changed in 2025 or even 2026. So it’s really important to engage the school if that is the case on, um, an appeal. [00:14:00] So if you’re looking at saying, well, geez, I wonder if that need-based grant could change. Um, maybe the answer is yes, if your financial situation has changed. Um, we’ve had times where, you know, 2024 looked great, but the, a parent lost their income in the beginning part of 2025.

Or maybe something happened, just happened right now in the beginning of this year. Um, so it’s important that you reach out to the schools and let them know. Um, ’cause all we can do is go by what the FAFSA tells us. But obviously if you’re reaching out and saying, Hey, listen, um, I lost my job. My spouse lost their job.

Uh, we had a significant change of income from 24 to 25 where we anticipate 26 being different. Um, schools can work with you on that. And there’s a whole process that, that we have here. It’s probably very similar to other schools. Um, so reach out, find out what that process is, find out, um, any forms that you need to fill out, any documentation you need to provide.

’cause usually there is documentation that we need, maybe a copy of a tax return from the, the, the following year. Um, or some type of, um, uh, letter, uh, showing [00:15:00] that you did lose your job and, um, things like that. So, um, changes happen, um, life happens, so you just want to make sure that you’re reaching out to the schools to let them know if that’s the case.

Hopefully it’s not the case, um, but if it is, um, obviously let us know and we can work with you on that.

Stephanie Wells: Great. And I, and I do wanna talk about the process ’cause we have a question about that. Um, but Sue, any, anything to add about, you know, when families say they wanna negotiate, particularly, you know, whether it’s merit or need based, anything different?

Susan Lanzillo: Um, basically the same, um, a merit goes to admissions. I don’t think they usually negotiate. They, they kind of have a strict formula to calculate what they give and how much they give. Mm-hmm. And financial, um, aid, unless there are changes to this situation, we don’t make adjustments either. However, we do have one exception to that.

And that is, um, we have a program here where if a family. Got a different package, a be a [00:16:00] better package from a sister state school, not the universities, but like Salem State or Westfield State. Um, we will match the grant amount of that. So some schools will take, you know, a look at other school’s packages.

We don’t, unless it’s a sister school. But

Stephanie Wells: that’s good to know. Yep. It’s And how about you, Maria? Any, anything different at Endicott that you wanna add?

Maria Morelli: Yeah, so, um, uh, we do very similar, um, at Merit is, is decided by admissions. We have A-A-A-C-A committee that involves admissions and financial aid for appeals.

That kind of goes through and, and looks at what people, uh, sub what families submit. Um, but admissions mostly handles the, um, the merit appeals. Uh, we don’t, and I, I, I feel like most schools, I, I may be making a generalization, would say that they don’t. Match per se. Um, but we will ask to [00:17:00] see the other financial aid offers if they have them.

And, and, and especially if it’s need-based, we wanna see all of the, like, not just the merit offer, but the, the financial aid offer as well. Um, not to match, but just to get an idea of what ballpark we’re in compared to the other schools and to see if we can at least get closer. Um, you know, for our school, if somebody comes in with an award like from Framingham State, um, we’re never going to match a state school.

But other private schools, um, that are kind of in the same, uh, range as, as us, we will look at. Those. Um, but I wouldn’t say it’s a negotiation so much, but, we’ll, we definitely wanna hear out, especially if there’s a change in circumstances. Financial circum, like if the FAFSA’s not really reflecting. Um, and there is, and I think we’ll talk a little bit more about this in the next question, but there is also a federal process for change of circumstances may, which may actually change the federal aid as well.

So we definitely wanna know about that. If there’s, there’s going, there’s, there’s changes, um, from whatever was reflected on the fafsa. [00:18:00]

Stephanie Wells: Great. Yeah, we’ll talk about the process in a sec, but, um, you know, it never hurts to ask or e even I, I like to tell families, even if it’s just so you understand your financial aid offer better, you know, if you have questions about it.

Um,

Maria Morelli: so we’re never res sending the offer, so you asking for more is not gonna change what we’ve already offered. Some people get afraid about that, that well, if I ask for more, if I say that I can’t, you know, maybe they’ll change my offer. But we’re never gonna change your initial offer, so you can’t lose by asking.

Stephanie Wells: That’s a good question. I get that a lot from families too, who are worried that if they, you know, are asking for more aid or inquiring about aid, that it might be held against the student on the admission side. And that’s just not, not the case. Like you guys, you wanna help the families. Um, all right. This is great.

Let’s talk a little bit about some of the reasons, um, since we’re chatting with you. Maria, I’ll have you kick, uh, this one off. What are the, some of the reasons that families appeal based on special circumstances?

Maria Morelli: Right. So, um, if you hear us say [00:19:00] special circumstances, that, that’s a term that the, the federal government has actually kind of made, um, a specific term.

Um, meaning that the student had a change in their financial circumstances from what they filed on the fafsa. And we do have a process where we can go in and edit the information on the FAFSA based on, um, documentation that the family provides to get a new, um, anybody who’s applied for financial aid, the SAI, the Student Aid Index.

We could potentially, that could come down, um, depending on what the income changes. So, um. A big, huge one, uh, which Rob already mentioned, is loss of employment. So a parent, um, loses a job, is now on unemployment or just not receiving anything. That’s gonna be a huge change. Um, any, you know, unfortunate death in the family is, is is another one that, um, you know, that happened recently.

Um, high medical expenses are a big one. Um, and, uh, I think a, um, [00:20:00] it’s usually, um, for medical expenses not covered by insurance, um, is what people will, um, submit and, um, that can potentially be taken out of the income, um, uh, to, to lower the income, um, that we’re using to look at need. Um, some schools will look at private school, uh, tuition that families are, are paying maybe for younger, um, siblings in the family.

Um, let’s see. Uh. Loss of workman’s comp or any other kind of benefits like that? Um, uh, childcare for independent students. Um, so, uh, a student, uh, that, uh, so most, uh, 18 to 24 year olds are gonna be dependent, which means they’re, they’re. Parents are on the fafsa, but for independent students, um, uh, like graduate students would be independent since there’s some older students, um, childcare, um, if, if a student has to put their child into any kind of childcare in [00:21:00] order to attend school, that can potentially, um, be, uh, used in, in, um, a special circumstances.

And then also, like additional purchases or expenses can be taken at like a laptop purchase or maybe if they’re a student is in a program where they have to buy special equipment or special software, um, that can be added into the student’s budget to, um, change what they’re eligible for.

Stephanie Wells: So that’s great.

Um, you, you mentioned independent students, so I’m gonna toss this one over to you, Sue. Um, so the change in, um, you know. You know, I, I have some, some students who, or families who will say, well, I’ll just, you know, the student will be emancipated, so they’ll be independent, or, you know, they’re not on my insurance, or we’re not claiming them on taxes anymore.

So they’re independent and there is, you know, a strict guide federal guidelines on, um, what makes a student independent. And sometimes students are in a situation where they [00:22:00] can’t provide the parent information, so they need to speak with you about that. Can you just talk a little bit about, you know, students who, you know, might be in a situation where they can’t get parent information and, and what, what, um, guidelines can make a student actually independent, particularly for undergrad students?

Susan Lanzillo: We’re pretty strict on that. Um, we have a lot of people that initially reach out about that, and then they end up getting their parents’ information when they find out, you know, what it is that we’re looking for. Um. Unfortunately, a lot of teenagers or students at this age, you know, may have disagreements with their family and they don’t want their parents to be involved, or the parents don’t wanna be involved because they’re not seeing eye to eye about something.

We won’t do an override for that kind of thing. The parent, if the parent can fill out the form and there’s no reason why they can’t fill out the form, then we require them to do that, even if, even if they’re not speaking at the time. Um, so documentation that we would need in order to do an override is [00:23:00] basically that it is, is truly not in the best interest of the student to contact the parent, and we would want documentation of that.

So police reports showing, you know, maybe there’s, maybe there’s a parent is, uh, in a drug rehabilitation center, or there’s, um, incarceration issues or abuse issues. Um, definitely significant documentation, um, to. Would need to be provided, I guess.

Stephanie Wells: Yeah.

Susan Lanzillo: Um, we always have one-on-one discussions with the students.

It’s a give and take. We don’t send a letter outlining what’s needed. We talk to them so that we can get additional feedback because there are occasions when we don’t think they qualify and then the more they talk, we realize, oh, okay. That this is a, an issue that we were not aware of. So we definitely have one-on-one conversations with students about these situations, but we don’t do overrides just because the parents are choosing [00:24:00] not to provide the information.

Stephanie Wells: Yep.

Susan Lanzillo: There is one spot on the FAFSA where a student can indicate that the parents do not wanna provide the information and then they’re eligible for an unsubsidized Stafford loan only. And you know, we do do those as well. There’s also that question about homelessness. We get a lot of those where people check off that they’re at risk of homelessness, and so we’ll require documentation of that too, because sometimes they just.

I don’t really know where I’m gonna be living or, you know, so we won’t do it for that. So

Stephanie Wells: yeah, that’s, that’s really helpful. And I, I know, um, school counselors can sometimes be helpful with students who are in those difficult situations where they truly sh you know, don’t have a, uh, a parent to help them with that.

So Yeah. And they can help with that documentation, so that’s good to know. Great. Um, Rob, anything, anything to add here, you know, situations that you, you frequently come [00:25:00] across that would be helpful?

Rob Loconto: I mean, I, I just want to add that most, most of the appeals that we receive financial aid appeals, um, are usually not based on significant changes.

To a family’s income. It’s really more of a, Hey, is there any more grant assistance? Um, you know, Johnny really wants to attend Curry. Um, maybe talk about a little bit about Johnny’s accomplishments in, in high school, if they’re an athlete or they’re involved in different activities and clubs and things like that.

And they’re just basically talking about how it’s a stretch and maybe they’re gonna talk about another child that’s gonna be coming up in a year or two. Or maybe they’re paying, helping another student pay back loans that might be older. They graduated. So the majority of appeals that we get, I mean we kind of call them, what we call them is soft appeals.

So they’re not really based on a specific reason. Not saying that my parent lost a job, or God forbid there was a death of a parent. It’s just more of, Hey, is there any more grant assistance? And we do have a committee that reviews those. Um, and we always try to level set with [00:26:00] the family what the expectations are.

So if I’m meeting with a family and they want to appeal, um, and they go forward, I always let them know kind of what the range of that award is. That award is. They, they may, that appeal may be granted. Um, however, it’s gonna be a more smaller amount of a grant assistance award where a significant change to family situations could result in a lot more additionally, not only from the college, but it could also make.

The, the student eligible for maybe some federal funds or state funds that they weren’t initially eligible for. Um, so, you know, I, I never dissuade anybody from appealing. I think Stephanie was kind of alluding to the fact that I, I think, what, what’s the word somebody’s gonna say? No. Um, it could be denied, but if it is granted, we try to level set what that expectation is.

Um, but obviously we really want to move much quicker on. What we would call a hard appeal, which is based on a significant change because that family doesn’t know what they can afford or not based on their situation. So any money that they can get in addition, [00:27:00] um, an aid is gonna assist them. So those are kind of the priority.

But we do review the software appeals of just is there any more grant assistance And um, you know, we do, we do grant some of those, but they tend to be a smaller amount now. That’s how it’s done at Curry. I can’t speak for other institutions, um, of how they handle that. Um, but that’s kind of the process here.

So there are kind of different routes to go for appealing. It doesn’t just have to be significant changes to your financial situation. It can be a general appeal just for more assistance. Um, and um, at Curry, if you do get that award, that award is continued on for subsequent years. So you would get it sophomore, junior, and senior year too.

Stephanie Wells: Great. Great.

Rob Loconto: Yep.

Stephanie Wells: Um, that’s great. This is all super helpful. So. We do have a question in the chat, which leads to the next question. So, um, the question in the chat is, should we call to appeal or write an appeal letter? So I’m gonna send that one over to you, Marie, if you wanna just talk about, you know, what is, what is the process at Endicott for [00:28:00] making appeal?

Um, you know, where, where should they start? And that might be different from school to school.

Maria Morelli: Yeah. And so, uh, obvi, yeah, obviously it’s gonna be different from school to school. So as a general advice, I would say, if you’re not sure what the process is, then I would just give a call or shoot an email to ask what is the process to appeal.

Uh, you are not gonna be the only person asking that question. They’re gonna have canned information for you. So like at Endicott we have an appeal form, um, that we use that kind of asks some questions and, and kind of. Kind of tries to draw out some information. One of those is whether there’s a special circumstance.

’cause we would put you through that process first before doing what kind of what Rob called a soft appeal, which we also do those. Um, and so, um, the form kind of helps us figure out whether you have a special circumstance or not. But, um, you know, every school’s gonna have a different process for that.

Probably they’re going to want you to write something because it’s going to go through a process where it’s reviewed by either, you know, admissions [00:29:00] council or a committee or something like that. And they probably will need something in writing. So I would just call and ask them what the process is. And yeah, Endicott, we use a form.

If you shoot us an email and you write your whole appeal in the email, we won’t make you also do the form. We’ll just manually put it into the form for, for you so you don’t have to do it again. Um, but, um, sometimes it’s easier if you, if you just have that form for schools that have something similar. Um, and, um.

Yeah. And I would say, you know, for, for me, I know, uh, I know somebody else also asked about whether the parent should write it to their student, uh, and what would be preferable. Um, and I. I mean, an endicott, I, I obviously can’t speak for every school. Endicott would not make a difference whether the, I, I, I think whoever can best express what the issue is, should be the person that writes it.

Um, so if the parents have a better handle on, you know, some financial issues and they can write it out better than the student, then I think, um, you know, for sure the parent, parent should [00:30:00] write it. Um, I think it’s really helpful if you can be, uh, at least in my opinion, you can be specific kind of about either what your issue is or, or, or what you need.

Um, I think most schools, especially with a soft appeal where it’s not coming from a special circumstance, um. You know, most of them are not going to be, you know, they may be 2000, $3,000 additional. If your gap is something like 10 or 15,000, that’s probably not going to be made up with especially a general appeal.

It could, could in a special circumstances, uh, if you have a change in employment that that could change that much, but with just a soft appeal, um, where there isn’t really a change in circumstances. Um, it’s helpful to be specific, you know, like if you need, if, if $4,000 will make the difference, then yeah, I, I think put it, put it in there and say, you know, that this is what we need to get to be able to say yes.

Um, I think that’s helpful for the school to know what you are [00:31:00] looking for and what your expectations are. Um, so, uh, yeah, that’s, that’s where I would go with it.

Stephanie Wells: And thank you for answering that question in the chat. ’cause I was gonna throw it to one of you, um, where the question was, you know, should the student call or should the parent call?

And I, you know, it really is who has the information and usually it’s the parent for an undergraduate. Um, so Sue, let me ask you a quick question about the process. When do you wanna hear from them? Is it after they’ve been, uh, accepted until they get a financial aid offer? I, I know we have a little note in our notes about not waiting till after you’ve deposited to appeal, you know, you really wanna try and make that decision.

But talk about the timeline about, you know,

Susan Lanzillo: um, I, I don’t think it matters that much if it’s before or after the award. I guess my preference would be after they’ve already received their award so they know whether they’re happy or not. Um, but if it’s a significant financial change. You know, and they’re, they’re gonna be anxious to get the right package up front, then I certainly [00:32:00] understand them submitting it sooner, as long as they’re doing it after their FAFSA has been submitted.

Sometimes we get appeals and they haven’t filed a FAFSA yet, so we have, we don’t even have a file for them. Um, we don’t do soft appeals if for, at least for incoming students. Um, if they, if there is no change to their financial circumstances, then we don’t do anything with the appeal. Um, if it is a change in financial circumstances, we always require writing and documentation.

However, sometimes I do like to talk to the families because as, um, Rob said, um, like to manage their expectations. So with our cost of attendance being significantly lower than a lot of privates, there’s less wiggle room. So, um, I will tell them maybe right up front, like, our cost of attendance is. You know, 30, what is it?

It’s 32,400 this year. If they’re, and their student aid [00:33:00] index that the FAFSA provides them, if that’s not less than the cost of attendance, they’re not eligible for any need-based aid. So if they’re reaching out to me and their SAI is already, you know, 85,000 or something, and there’s a change, and I say, well, okay, well that SAI may go from 85 to 50 or even 40, but unless you get under 30, you’re not gonna be eligible for any grant-based aid.

And then that way I only do that so that I’m not wasting all their time

Stephanie Wells: mm-hmm.

Susan Lanzillo: Gathering all these documents, writing these letters, sending it only for me to say he’s still not eligible. So, um, that’s kind of the process here.

Stephanie Wells: Yeah. Great. Kim, Rob, can you elaborate a little bit? Um. About that, about just, you know, what the, the timing is, is there anything different with Curry and, you know, just, you know, kind of the amounts and setting expectations.

And we did a, we did have a question that I kind of answered already, but they specifically asked about private universities, should [00:34:00] you do it before, after you deposit? Right.

Rob Loconto: Right. So, I mean, for, for a lot of families, um, they may not be able to deposit until they kind of know what the bottom line’s gonna be.

So how that outcome of that appeal, um, is really important. So, you know, I, I would agree with Susan. There’s only no. No preference on when they send it, but I think for most families, they want to know sooner than later so they can kind of make that decision. Okay, Curry granted us an appeal of X dollars and this school may have granted an appeal.

’cause I’m sure that they’re, if they’re, you know, they potentially could be sending that appeal letter out to multiple schools that they’re looking at. Um, so that probably is a factor in their final decision on where they’re gonna deposit. Um, so the timing isn’t, um. It doesn’t really matter with the timing.

Um, but the expectations I think are really, really important. And we don’t always get to have that conversation. That’s something that if a family happens to be in and we have an in-person appointment or a phone call or virtual, we can, we can talk about that. And I always make sure I do that, especially for the ones that are [00:35:00] the soft appeals.

Um, because sometimes in the letter I, I’m thinking of a letter that just came in the other day where they, you know, they basically were asking for an additional $12,000. And I’m thinking to myself, okay, your repeal might be granted, but I know you’re not gonna get an additional $12,000. And if that’s truly what they need, um, it’s best to know what the school can do to support that as quick as possible.

’cause that may, you may want to pivot at that point and you might say, okay, this school financially is not gonna work for me and I’ve gotta look at something else. Yeah. Um, and the sooner you can make that decision, the better because it never fails. We always have a couple of families that kind of don’t look at the process and they’re coming in in August and then they’re realizing the bill is.

X amount of dollars and really they have no resources to pay that bill. So we want to get to that family early because, um, you know, we, we obviously wanna enroll students. But we’re, I think every institution, we’re very ethical people and we want to make sure that we’re not, you know, putting a financial burden on a family that [00:36:00] can’t support that, that’s not fair to them.

Um, and this is the one time in the process where families get to be proactive. You can make those decisions based on what those eight packages are telling you. If you go through four years of just borrowing loans, you’re just reacting to loan payments four years down the road. Um, so you really want to make sure you understand exactly what the financial, uh, responsibility is.

Um, and so, you know, getting that appeal, getting knowing what the schools can or cannot do for you, um, sooner than later. Because every school is pretty much gonna ask you to make that decision by May 1st for the most part. So we’re already at the beginning of March. So quickly May 1st is coming pretty quick.

Um, the quicker you can get those results, the quicker, um, you can make that, you know, educated decision and what’s best for you.

Stephanie Wells: That’s great. Um, I’ll, I’ll kinda have you elaborate a little bit, Maria, about future needs. So. Appeals for future needs. So I know that I’m gonna lose my job in six months. I’m getting laid off in six months.

How do you [00:37:00] handle the future? Because we know something’s coming down the road, but how, how do, how does that work?

Maria Morelli: Um, yeah, so those are always tough, especially if it’s a, I might lose my job in, in a few months and, you know, if it’s, it’s, I, I would say most schools, if it’s a, I might, then there’s probably, we’d probably have to wait and see, um, what happens with that.

Um, you know, if somebody has just lost their job or they know they’re, you know, like, let’s say they know they’re being laid off in a couple of months. Um, you know, the, we do have the mechanism in terms of the special circumstances, pro process, where we could take that into consideration. It just, it gets more complicated.

Further in the future it is ’cause you’re trying to project out and you know, you could be losing a job in two months and then have age another job in two and a half months and things are going to change. So I think in that case, a a lot of schools may ask you to wait and see and then, uh, so if it’s a special circumstances where we’re adjusting the fafsa, [00:38:00] that can happen anytime during the aid year.

So just so even after you deposit, you’re matriculated, if something changes, you can go to your financial aid office and talk to them about that and we could potentially make an adjustment, um, based on that. So, um, but it is hard when making a decision ’cause you, you know, you’re, you’re just gonna, whatever school you’re going to, you’re going to be up in the air about that if you’re not sure what your situation is.

But I, I think it’s worth. If you have something that you know is coming in the future to definitely talk to the school about it and let them know, uh, what that situation is. And, um, I think, um, just, or just somebody had asked a question about, you know, basically on paper they look like they have more than than they do and they may be taking care of, um, elderly parents, um, and, and stuff like that.

And, uh, I I just wanna say it’s like financial aid people. Like we understand that the FAFSA does not necessarily give like a perfect picture of exactly what your true financial situation is. It’s just [00:39:00] a tool that we use and obviously we have to use it for the federal purposes ’cause that’s the tool for federal purposes.

Um, but, um, you know, we understand that there are things that are not gonna show necessarily on that, that fafsa, but are hardships for the family. And I think if you have something going on, um. You know, I, I don’t like your boiler just blew or you just had to put a new roof on the house. Like, you know, things like that.

Those are very expensive, but that’s not gonna show up on the fafsa. But they could make a difference in your family’s financial aid situation. I would, you know, I feel free to reach out to us and talk to us about that. Um, and you know, to Susan’s point, sometimes even a, what seems like a very significant change, uh, especially when it comes to changing the FAFSA still may not change eligibility.

’cause it really, um, it, it’s a formula. Um, but, but, but we can always look at it and it at least consider it.

Stephanie Wells: Yeah. And this, this could happen. [00:40:00] The senior year of college, you know, something drastic could change. So it’s not, you know, we’re kind of focusing on high school seniors right now and making that decision from May one, but life happens right throughout.

Um, Rob and Sue, anything different to add to this, to this one about, you know, future issues that might come up or.

Rob Loconto: I would, I would just echo what Maria said. I think she, she answered it great. That’s pretty much how we would look at it here too. Um, it’s kind of, you know, it’s, it’s tough in the future, you know, as you said, I, I might get laid off.

Well then you might not get laid off, you know, so it kind of, it to and swing both ways. But, you know, we’re here obviously, and, and I think that’s important. I think Maria raised a really, really good point, um, is that, um, you know, once schools start, that’s not like a deadline for, for appeals. Um, you know, something could happen in the second semester in the spring semester or sometime during the fall.

So, you know, we can react to that and we can make changes to the fast, as Maria said, [00:41:00] anytime during the academic year, um, if, if something was to change. So it’s just important that you let us know because, um, obviously, you know, unless you reach out to us, we have no way to, to know that something has, um, transpired in your life that’s, that’s gonna impact your ability to, to, uh, you know, pay for college.

Great,

Susan Lanzillo: thank you. Yeah, and I’ll add that, so we’re in the 25, 26 year currently. So their students are in there, you know, halfway through their spring semester and I’m still getting appeals for this year and that, um, FAFSA was based on 23 income. And I will, um, look at, I will substitute 24 tax returns if they have them, or 25 tax returns if they have them for this year.

Um, still. And that will go back and for us, we will look at fall semester that’s already passed as well as spring semester with this updated information. So I’m still getting appeals for this current year. Um, but as far as future. Even [00:42:00] when they do lose a job, if they just lost their job yesterday, we won’t estimate income until at least 10 weeks is out because most likely they’re getting unemployment or there’s just too many unknowns.

They may get a job that pays them twice as much. So we don’t do it until at least 10 weeks is out. And the last thing I wanna say about that is, um, sometimes families just, and maybe we’re gonna get to this at the end, but I don’t, I just didn’t wanna forget to say it. Sometimes families are just confused about the process and, you know, comparing one package to another, or will an appeal help me, or I got denied.

You know, my FAFSA says I’m only eligible for this, and I don’t feel like that’s right. Mm-hmm. If they just have questions. We’re happy to talk to them to explain it, and then it may not give them the answer that they want, but hopefully they’ll at least understand. And, you know, it’s potentially they could have made a mistake on the fafsa, so [00:43:00] I, I just wanna say that we’re happy to, like, explain things to them if they’re confused about anything along the way.

Stephanie Wells: Right, right. And I always recommend, you know, when I’m talking to families, um. The financial aid folks that we work with, they’re, they’re there to help. Like they want to be able to get you as much as you’re eligible for, you know, they’re not, their job isn’t to hold back funds. It’s to, you know, try and get you the funds that you’re working, that you need, you know, to the best of their ability with budgets and things like that.

So. Yeah,

Maria Morelli: so

Stephanie Wells: Sue, while, oh, go ahead Marianne. Go ahead.

Maria Morelli: Uh, I was just gonna say an example like Sue mentioned, like that you could have a mistake on the fafsa, like a big one that we see all the time and we try to reach out to people if, if we catch it and see it like is, is uh, a family that did a rollover in a year, and that will show up as income on your taxes.

And if you forget, there is a question where it asks if it was a rollover. If you don’t answer that as yes, it will count against your income or it’ll count as part of your income. Whereas if you can, if [00:44:00] you indicate that it’s a rollover, it will. So, so we see families all the time that will, the taxes will come in and it will put that, um, that, that rollover funding as income and then the family forgets to put that that was a rollover and it will look like their income is a lot higher.

And so, like even just asking a question. You know, you could, you could find out that, oh, actually we have an easy fix for this, that that rollover should, should have been marked as a rollover, you know?

Susan Lanzillo: Yeah.

Maria Morelli: So

Stephanie Wells: that’s

Susan Lanzillo: great. And one more, um, I found a few students who they put, um, the value of the home that they live in as investments, thinking that they were supposed to, and that makes a huge difference as well.

So yeah, there are mistakes that,

Stephanie Wells: right, right. And I know, um, none of you require the CSS profile, but I’ll also just add for those families who have had to fill out the CSS profile, that obviously as you know, you’ve gone through it, it asks a lot more questions. Um, and the schools that are requiring it, you know, they’re getting a lot more [00:45:00] data than just the fafsa.

So, and there’s ability to put a note in there when you’re filling it out. So that might provide the school a little bit more detail. Uh, we do have a lot of questions in there, but I have a couple other, uh. Two others that I wanna get to before we go into the questions. Um, so Rob, I’ll, I’ll just start with you.

Mm-hmm. What, or actually Sue, I think I was gonna go to you first about, um, the documentation. You know, what type of documentation do you typically require? You know, in most appeals that families can expect to have a avail need available.

Susan Lanzillo: A big percentage of the appeals are just the, an a later version of the tax returns is all we need.

Stephanie Wells: Okay.

Susan Lanzillo: So we’re substituting 24 for 23 or something, if it’s midyear. Um, and we don’t have all that information. Then we’re gonna be looking for things like, um, final pay stub, um, what they’re receiving for other income unemployment, what their projected income is expected to be. Do [00:46:00] they think they’re gonna find a job?

Why or why not? Um

Stephanie Wells: hmm.

Susan Lanzillo: Um, if it’s one time income. That’s easy, just documentation of whatever that one time income was, um, or any additional expenses, like medical expenses is tough. We have a lot of people who, who, um, send us appeals saying they had high medical expenses and just showing us a bill is not enough because most of that is usually covered by insurance.

So we actually need documentation of what has been paid. The easiest way to document that is if you, um, itemized it on your tax returns, then we will look at that figure right there. Otherwise, we usually get a stack of, these are my medical expenses and it’s, you know, so it’s difficult to go through, um, to determine what was actually paid and what was billed.

Um, so basically it, as we said, with everything, it depends, it depends on what they’re appealing, but we [00:47:00] want documentation to back up whatever it is that they’re appealing and, and usually. It’s, it often it’s just taxes, but we’re always gonna need a set of taxes in 99.9% of cases. Even if it’s something else, we’re still gonna need the original set of taxes.

Stephanie Wells: Right. That’s great. And, and Rob, I’ll toss this one to you. Um. So they’ve submitted their appeal, they’ve submitted the documentation. There might be other business statements, things like that, that you guys might need. Um, so what, what, what should they expect afterwards and how do they make up the difference whether or not an appeal is granted?

They might still have a balance. How do family, like what’s, what’s next?

Rob Loconto: Yep. Sure. So, um, and once again, this can differ from school to school. We have a rather quick process for appeals. So, um, appeals that come in are pretty much responded to within the week. So either we’re reaching back out to a family saying, Hey, we got your appeal.

However, we need this documentation. As Sue said, we might need a copy of a tax return. We have a couple of, um, special [00:48:00] circumstances forums. Um, one is based on 20 25, 1 is based on 2026, obviously. Right now, families are putting together their 25 taxes. So if something changed in 25, we’d get that information.

26 is more of just, Hey, project out what you think that’s gonna look like, uh, based on, you know, what the situation is at hand. Um, but we’re gonna respond pretty quick once we have that information. Uh, we have a committee that looks at kind of the soft appeals weekly, so that, that gets a response back within, within a week.

Um, and the, um, uh, you know, the, the appeals based on, uh, special circumstances. Once we have that information, really we turn it around pretty quick, uh, because we know, once again, as I said, for some families this is, this is gonna determine can I go here or can I not go here? Um, what is the bottom line gonna be?

So once they get that. Once they get that information, we send out a revised award letter. A lot of times, uh, we’ll also maybe send an email to the parent or the student letting them know the outcome of that appeal. But they’ll definitely get a revised award letter, [00:49:00] which will include a message that’s based on the appeal, and then it will obviously reflect what that increase was, whatever that additional aid was.

Yeah. Um, then at that point, um, on our award letter, um, the families turn it over, we kind of break down kind of what the bottom line’s gonna be. So they have a pretty good idea of what that now, what that new bottom line is. Mm-hmm. And at that point, usually a lot of families will engage us to say, okay, I, I went through the A process.

I’ve now gone through the appeal process. Thank you Curry. You gave us some more money, that’s great. I know what the bottom line’s gonna be. Now where do I go? And that’s usually when we start to get into the financing conversation. And then we start to talk to families a lot about, um, payment plans.

Private loans plus loans, other financing vehicles to help fill that gap. Um, and those are specific conversations, you know, in sessions, general sessions that we do. Um, we just talk in generalities obviously. But when a family comes in and we’re meeting one-on-one, we’re we’re speaking specifically to their, to their situation.

I can meet with five families and have five different ways to [00:50:00] finance an education. ’cause five families are gonna have different financial resources. They’re gonna have a different comfort level of what they want to do. Um, and so there’s no right or wrong. Um, we try to get families to, um, maximize what they can do on an interest rate payment plan.

’cause the more that they can do, pay directly to the college, if they have the ability to do that, um, then that will take away from loans. But obviously if a family has gone through a change of circumstances, that might not be an option. And then we kind of talk about loans. So there’s lots just so everybody knows that once you get into how do I pay the balance?

And I know that’s not the topic of today, but there’s lots of different ways to do it. There’s lots of ways to slice the pie. Um, and I think a lot of families when, when either myself or other staff here meet with families, they leave feeling a lot better knowing, oh, I never realized that these were available.

I didn’t know that. Um, I think they envision writing this huge check. Um, and that’s not the case. Um, so, you know, once again, engage the school. Every school’s gonna have a little different way to do things. Um, but at the end of the day, it’s gonna reflect on [00:51:00] what, what you can afford to do and what you’re comfortable with.

Stephanie Wells: Great. Yeah. Maria, anything to add here about, you know, what Rob just said?

Maria Morelli: Yeah, I mean we have a very similar process where, where we have a, a committee that meets for this kind of soft appeals and usually we tell people they’ll get an answer within two weeks. ’cause it’s just timing of when you submit it and when, when the meeting happens.

So we give ourselves the two weeks. Obviously if it’s closer to May 1st, we’re gonna try to get those out immediately because we know that you have a deadline you have to meet. Um, uh, but you know, this time of year we tell people, um, two weeks. Um, I, I will say that prior to the current, I did work at one of the more highly selective what would be considered a highly selective schools.

And they wouldn’t even start looking at appeals until. April. So, um, it’s going, again, it’s gonna depend on the school. So it may be, you know, it may be if you’re applying to one of the more highly selective schools, they may let you submit the appeal, but you’re probably not gonna have an answer. Or they may even say, yeah, don’t even submit it [00:52:00] until, we’re not gonna start accepting them until X date.

So that, that’s another reason to just ask the school what their processes.

Stephanie Wells: That’s a good, that’s a good point. Um, we had a, I’m gonna get into q. We have a lot of q and a that we might not get to, but there was one about, um, about early action, early decisions. Should they hold off on depositing if they did get accepted early, you know, if there’s appeals going on or things that they might, you know, wanna, I don’t know.

Any, anybody who wants to take that, um, question, should they, should they wait? Or, and I know we talked about early decision being, you know, you’re, you’re bound to that school unless there’s a financial circumstance, so. I think Maria, do you have early decision? I think we do have early decision. Do you wanna talk about that?

Maria Morelli: Yeah, I mean, um, I would say, you know, uh, for sure if you have a financial situation, you don’t wanna talk on, uh, to us on ed, because it is, it is meant to be binding unless you have a [00:53:00] special financial circumstance.

Susan Lanzillo: Mm-hmm.

Maria Morelli: Um, we do still accept appeals even from ED students, even though they’re, you know, they’re technically committed.

Um, uh, so, um, yeah, I mean, I think you. You have until the de deposit deadline to deposit like nobody’s rescinding the offer because you waited until the actual deadline date to deposit. So if you need the time to make a decision, um, you know, I think it, we obviously love it when people deposit right away.

It’s, it’s good for us. Um, but there is a deadline for a reason. I think obviously if you are looking to have an extension to that deadline, then you’re gonna wanna talk to somebody immediately. I know we very rarely will extend that deadline we did when the FAFSA was late. Um. For obvious reasons. Um, but now that the FAFSA is on time again, um, I, I think most schools don’t, won’t extend their deposit deadline.

That’s probably a generalization. But, um, you know, there may be a valid reason why a school [00:54:00] might give somebody a couple of extra days because, you know, they were waiting for an appeal decision or something like that. So I, again, you’d have to talk to your school about that. Um, but there’s nothing wrong with waiting until that deadline if you are not sure.

Um, because nobody’s gonna say, oh, we’re stopping accepting de deposits. You know, you have until that deadline to do it till 11:59 PM on the day the deposit.

Susan Lanzillo: Right. Sue, anything to add there? Well, we don’t have ed. We only have EA and, uh, the, I don’t see any difference with EA really. Um, so it makes no difference for us at all.

Um, yeah.

Stephanie Wells: Um, we, we do, I, I know we won’t be able to get to all the questions, but there are, there’s a theme in some of the questions that I just wanna toss out there before we, you know, finish the webinar. Um, and we touched upon this [00:55:00] earlier, but I just wanna make sure, so for folks who, you know, maybe they don’t claim a couple children that they’re taking care of or they’re sending money overseas to their family, you know, things like that where there’s other expenses to take care of family members or, you know, elderly parents, you know, whatever it might be that might not be, you know, claiming on your taxes.

How would that work? And whoever wants to go first, we have a few questions along those lines in the, in the chat.

Maria Morelli: Yeah. I mean, I. I would say, I was about to say it depends again. Um, but I mean, there are situations where like an elderly parent could potentially be part of the family size in a special circumstance.

I mean, uh, I, I think the way it’s defined is if, if, if you’re providing more than half of that person’s support and you can document that you’re doing that, then they, they don’t have to be claimed on your taxes. ’cause there’s lots of reasons why people claim or don’t claim people on [00:56:00] taxes. And the tax rules are different than the, than the financial aid rules.

Also, that’s for a prior, the taxes are from a prior year and you might be supporting somebody now. So I I, I would definitely, if you have that kind of situation, I would definitely talk to, um, the financial aid office and, uh, you know, explain and, and, you know, just expect that they’re going to want some kind of documentation other than just, you know, the, the word that you’re, you know, you’re doing that if, if, if you’re able to provide it.

I know sometimes that gets hard to provide. Um, so, um. There’s, but then it also goes to my point about where even when there’s not things we can do to change the FAFSA because it doesn’t fit into a FAFSA reason to change it there, you know, we do, for schools that do offer institutional aid, um, especially I would say the schools that have the CSS profile, they, they’re usually in a different financial aid category that’s known as institutional method, which that’s inside baseball.

But, [00:57:00] um, you know, those, um, those schools are looking at other things besides just what’s on the FAFSA anyway. So, um, you know, it may make a difference in the institutional funding, even if it doesn’t make a difference in, uh, it can’t be taken into consideration for federal fundings. So if you have those situations, I would definitely, um, bring them up and include them in your, uh, appeal.

Stephanie Wells: That’s a great point. Yeah. Uh, Rob, Sue, and anything to add on that one? Or is it,

Rob Loconto: I I would just echo what, I’d echo what Maria said. I think she said it perfectly. Um, same thing that that’s exactly how we would look at it too.

Susan Lanzillo: Mm-hmm.

Stephanie Wells: Okay. Great.

Susan Lanzillo: Um, we would, even if we didn’t, um, necessarily include that person in the family size, we may look at how much money was sent, if it was sent overseas or something like that.

We’ve had people send us documentation of money that has been sent and the reasons why and stuff, and we’ve looked at that.

Stephanie Wells: Mm-hmm. Great. Great. Okay, great. Well, we do have a, we have a few more [00:58:00] questions, um, but. It’s 12, it’s one 30. So I wanna be cognizant of everybody’s time. So I’m gonna go through the questions afterwards and if there’s any that I think we really didn’t answer, but we could, we could, I’ll just, we’ll, we’ll email you individually, um, but want to just let you know that we do have some upcoming webinars that will be helpful in this process.

So you can scan these QR codes. We’ll send you these slides so you have the QR codes, but. Coming, I think next week I’m doing the first one about financial aid offers. Uh, understanding them and comparing them and really trying to figure out what do you owe and making a plan to pay whatever that balance due is before that May 1st deadline.

That is a great webinar and we have some great tools for that at MEFA. Um, I’ll also be probably doing the first comparing college loan options webinar. We have great, uh, loans here at MEFA, so we’ll talk about that, how it compares to [00:59:00] other private loans, the plus loan, things like that. Here are our, uh, social media channel.

So please follow us, like us, friend us if you like a podcast. We have a great podcast. So, um, sign up for that one. And then we’re also here Monday through Friday, nine to five for phone calls, emails, and if you go on MEFA.org where it says Contact Us, it’s kind of near the bottom of the homepage. There’s also a link where you can schedule a one-on-one appointment.

So we have that availability as well. So we have a lot of counselors like myself at MEFA who talk to families who can help you, um, through this process. So, so with that, I’m going to, um, you know, stop, stop the webinar. I’ll email everybody a link to the recording as well as these slides. But before ending, I do wanna thank Maria and Rob and Sue.

This was really helpful. We had some good questions. Um, and thank you for joining us today. We appreciate your guidance [01:00:00] and expertise.

Rob Loconto: Thanks, Stephanie. Thank

Maria Morelli: you.

Stephanie Wells: All right. Thanks everybody. Have a great day. We’ll talk to you soon. Bye bye.