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Julie Shields Rutyna: [00:00:00] Welcome everyone. This is a MEFA Institute webinar, financial Aid 1 0 1 for school counselors, and we’re so happy to have you here with us this morning. Uh, let me go over a few logistics. Well, let me introduce myself. My name is Julie Shields Rina, and I am the senior Director of college planning, education and training at MEFA.

And I have, uh, my two colleagues here with me this morning, Stephanie Wells and Andrea Keenan, and they will be behind the scenes answering questions. But, um, we will, they can answer throughout, but we’ll, we’ll open it up, um, at the end as well if there are, if you have questions after the, after the webinar, uh, some logistics.

Uh, if you have questions, please. Put them in the q and a section. We have disabled the chat. If you need closed captioning, use the live transcript button and you can always leave the webinar if you need to because we’re gonna send you, uh, the recording [00:01:00] and you’ll have access to the slides and all of that, and you could share those with colleagues who couldn’t make it today as well.

All right. A little bit about MEFA. Uh, I think most of you probably know that MEFA has been around a long time. We were created in 1982 with the mission of helping families plan, save and pay for college. And we do the same thing today. We have, uh, low cost private loans for families. We have the state’s, uh, college savings programs and the attainable.

Savings plan. And then everything else we do is we offer free services, resources to, um, to all of all of you, uh, colleges and to students and families. I’m just going to quickly show you our let. Lemme end this. I guess I’m gonna quickly show you, um, our website and our resource center that is just for you, school [00:02:00] counselors.

Uh, we sent, um, a, an electronic welcome kit for the beginning of the year, and we hope that the beginning of the year starting out well for you. We’re gonna send you a, a physical kit as well with some posters and postcards and things with all of our resources, but I just wanted to show you a couple of important things here.

Please know that, uh, MEFA. Has webinars for families, um, continually starting now, and I’m just gonna show, scroll down a little bit and show you one coming up is what to know about the CSS profile, financial aid 1 0 1. We have financial aid 1 0 1 in Spanish. Uh, we have a FA FAFSA festival where families can come one-on-one.

On Zoom, get paired with an expert and answer their FAFSA questions or complete their fafsa. So you can just see I’m, I’m gonna scroll again without making you dizzy. We have a lot coming up, so please, um, make your families [00:03:00] aware of these resources for them. Okay? And then I’m gonna go back to the page that’s just for you for call for school counselors.

And I’m gonna talk about one other thing. Well, you know about the MEFA Institute, so please join us for all of our trainings like this one, and we have them listed there. And the lessons that we’ve done in the past are all here, so you can go back and find others that that might be interesting to you and you can receive professional development points for them.

And then let’s talk about. You know about Mefa Pathway, I’m going to talk about the Ambassador program. Uh, that’s for those of you who would like to have a presenter come and, and speak to your families. Um, this is where you will do that, and you can view the list right here and email some of the presenters.

See if you can, and, you know, nail down a, a date and time with a presenter. And [00:04:00] once you do. What you need to do this year, it’s a new process, is report your seminar. And once you report your seminar, then you’ll have access to all of the promotional resources we have. Um, families can then register and you’ll know they’re receiving mefa emails to get, you know, be, be on top of all of this information.

So this will be really, um, a great support for you and your families. And there’s more, uh. Information about this coming, but I just wanted you to see that and know that the process had changed and we really want you to report when you’re having a a seminar. And with that, I’m going to come out of here and get back to the presentation.

Okay. So today the webinar topics are gonna be, uh, the types and sources of financial aid, the application [00:05:00] process, and I am going to sprinkle in what’s new this year. Um, and what I will tell you as a spoiler is, uh, the changes and updates. To the FAFSA and financial aid process this year are really good.

Um, we are very optimistic that this will be the smoothest FAFSA completion year for your families in a num a handful of years. You know, for those of us who have remembered the sort of disasters of the last few years, um, it, it promises to be good. So, uh, that’s the spoiler and we’ll get to it in a few minutes and then we’re gonna talk about how those financial aid decisions are made.

How families are paying for college and um, some next steps that your families can take. Alright. The types and sources of financial aid. Little bit of a review for some of you, I’m sure, but when we talk about financial aid, we’re talking about any money that is available to help students [00:06:00] pay for college.

And we categorize that money into three, three buckets, uh, grants and scholarships, which is the best that is any money. That is awarded to the student, and the student does not have to pay back. It’s just the, the best. That’s what most families are looking for. And even though there are some sub definitions for Grants scholarship, the bottom line is sometimes the terms are interchangeable.

Grants scholarship Award. Um. Yeah, all of those kinds of words, that is gift aid. That just goes to the student. Uh, but there are two other kinds. There is federal work study, and that is an allotment of a certain amount, maybe $2,000 that is awarded to the student. And what that means is that helps a student get a job on campus, sometimes off, but mostly on campus when they’re a student.

And they can work maybe 10 hours a week. And [00:07:00] then receive a paycheck, weekly, biweekly, um, to pay for expenses like personal expenses, shampoo, pizza. Bus fare, those kinds of things. So, uh, the, the things that aren’t billed. So it really is financial aid because this really helps families not have to, uh, be sending the student money for those things on campus.

The student can work and have a little spending money, and it does make it a lot easier to find that job, although students should look into those jobs early on. Then the third is federal student loans. And we always get pushback about, well, a loan isn’t really, uh, financial aid, but it is in this case, and I’m gonna show you why.

So here are federal student loans, and the thing that is different about these federal direct student loans is that they, the student is the sole borrower. There’s no credit check done on [00:08:00] the student. Uh, there’s no co-signer needed. The student is the borrower and they’re, they’re allowed to borrow this loan by virtue of being a student with the hope that they will graduate and get a job to pay it back.

Um, and these loans have two parts. So some students are eligible for a subsidized portion of that federal direct loan, and that means that the federal government is paying the interest while the student is in college. If it’s unsubsidized, that means. The federal government is not paying the interest while the student is in college.

However, the student does not need to make any payments on these loans until six months after they graduate or leave school. Um, these loans usually have low fixed interest rates. Um, currently that interest rate is 6.39. Uh, not the lowest, but again, it’s tied to. General interest rates in the country. And so that’s what it is.

This year changes on July 1st, but once a student borrows [00:09:00] a loan at a certain interest rate, that is fixed for the life of the loan, and you can see on the right the maximum amount students can borrow under this federal direct student loan program, 5,500 for a freshman. 6,500 for a sophomore and 7,500 for both a junior or a senior.

And the other reason that the this, these loans are different than other loans is they have choice of how a student repays. So for example, if a student took all of the federal direct student loans, they were eligible for it, they’d have about $27,000 in debt. And if they paid. For in the standard repayment, that would be about a $300 a month payment after graduation.

And some students might be able to make that. But if students can’t, uh, because you know, they’re, they’re starting income or they need to get an apartment, or maybe they need to have transportation, um, then they can choose. From, [00:10:00] from different repayment plans. And the most, um, important one to talk about is an income based plan.

One where the payment is tied to their income and then that can go up as their income goes up, but it allows them to manage that payment Also, these loans have some deferment, forbearance, and, and forgiveness opportunities. And where does all this money come from? It comes from the federal government. It comes from.

Massachusetts State, and it comes from the colleges and universities themselves. So we’re gonna talk about applying for financial aid and when a family applies for financial aid, they’re applying for aid from all those three sources. The one that’s a little bit outside of that is in the lower right hand quadrant.

There are outside private scholarships, and that could be from the Coca-Cola Foundation, some big national scholarships. Um, or it could be. From the student’s high school or town Lions club [00:11:00] or a parent employer. So those, the students and parents should look for kind of on the side and do that process on their own.

And they can do that in a couple of ways. And, um, one is to just pay attention to what’s, what’s local again, employer, parent, employer, high school town. And they can use some online scholarship searches, and we’ve listed a couple here, beef of pathway.org, fastweb.com, where they can put in some criteria about themselves and get a list of potential scholarships they could apply for.

And this big number at the bottom, 190 billion is how much aid has been awarded. Uh. To students in 2324. So that’s a big number. Um, which we know the cost of education is high, but that does offset things a bit, that there is, there is aid out there. I, I tend to think there’s more aid, um, than students and families realize.

Although I also understand the other side of it, that [00:12:00] sometimes it feels like there’s never enough. Alright, and let’s talk about that. AID can be awarded to students for a couple of different reasons. One is merit. Um, so merit aid is aid that a college gives to the student for, um, non-financial reasons for usually awarded for academic achievement.

Good grades. High SAT scores, anything that sort of puts the student, um, in a really good position for admission to that college or university that year. And there is a lot of merit aid out there. Colleges need to build their class and they use their merit aid to do that. Um, sometimes they do it for athletics, artistic reasons, but the main reason they do it is for academics.

They really wanna bring in that best class, but it doesn’t mean you’re. The student needs to be, you know, valedictorian. It just means the student needs to be, um, in a good position for that college that year. [00:13:00] Um, so we, we encourage families, as I’m sure you do, to, uh, check, check those merit awards to see are they, will they continue?

Um, does a student have to keep a certain grade point average? Um, all of that. And then. There is need-based aid, and that is the aid that’s awarded to your students based on, uh, the family’s financial need as determined by the formula. Alright, so let’s talk about the application process. Um, as you know, your students, as seniors are.

Trying to develop their list of where they’re going to apply for admissions. It’s really important to encourage them to do the financial aid at the same time. And financial aid deadlines used to tend to be in January, February, March, but now I think all of you see [00:14:00] that a lot of your students are applying.

Through one of the early admission, early decision programs and to accommodate that financial aid deadlines for, for students who are applying early admission, early decision are often in October or November, so they really need to get on that. Right away at the beginning of the year. And, um, NEFA has this college application manager that students can use to just stay organized.

I know some of them do it through Common App. You might have other ways that they do it at your school. Um, so this is important and I think, you know, the, the main form that students and families need to use. Start the financial aid process is the fafsa. Now, before I even get into these details, let’s, let me tell you some exciting things and then we’ll talk about it.

So the FAFSA is actually open right now. It opened yesterday. So. Talk about different from the last few years. Right. [00:15:00] Um, we, we didn’t even update the slide available October 1st, but it, it, they had a beta test going on the last month and the reports were excellent. Students were submitting the form in record time.

I was in a session recently with the director of the FAFSA and he even said that one student, probably an independent student, completed the form in 55. Seconds. So don’t expect that for your families. But the process has really, um, gotten so much better. They’ve fixed the bugs, they’ve fixed some things.

So, um, it’s open now and your families can start going in and applying. Um, couple of other things that are really important. Um. We will talk about the F-A-F-S-A-I-D in a minute, but for the last couple of years when a, a family went in to get that F-S-A-I-D to start this process, that’s the username and password.

Sometimes they had to wait a [00:16:00] day or a couple of days to then be able to complete the fafsa, which was really hard on all of you if you had a student in front of you and you were trying to help them, or if you had a FAFSA night at your school and. Everything couldn’t happen at once. Uh, that has gone away.

There is now an immediate match, um, with Social Security Administration and students can get their F-S-A-I-D and start the FAFSA right away, so that’s key. Secondly. Another place where the FAFSA was a problem for students last year and where they saw a lot of FAFSA fall off and not get completed was in the process of the student inviting the parent or contributor to the form.

In the past, the student had to know the parents. Uh. Full name, date of birth, social security number, and the email the parent used to create the F-S-A-I-D. I mean, how many [00:17:00] chances for error there, right? That has been changed, and when the student completes the fafsa, they will get a code to email to the parent and they can just email the parent at whatever email they know the parent will receive.

Period. So that should really make this process a lot easier. Okay. So the where they go, of course. Parents and students need to do this every year. They go to fafsa.gov and then they select for seniors. This year, they select the 26 27 fafsa. Here’s another big change, because of all those updates that I just mentioned, it’s highly recommended to have the student start the form.

Um, if the student starts the form, all those technological updates are in place. So the student goes in, starts the form, they get a code when they’re finished, and they send that code. To the parent or parents, which we’ll talk about, and then the parents can complete [00:18:00] their part and, um, it should be a lot simpler.

Um, everyone does their separate section and we have another webinar that is about understanding the FAFSA where we really walk through. So feel free to attend that as well. And then a little backwards. We talked about the F-S-A-I-D. It’s gonna be so much better because students can get an F-S-A-I-D and complete the fafsa.

The F-S-A-I-D is just that username and password. Um, and everyone, um, who is going to be, you know, contributing on the form must have an F-S-A-I-D to log in. And this is where you set that up. Um, you must have an email address now, who needs an F-S-A-I-D the student. Always needs an F-S-A-I-D and then every parent listed on the fafsa.

However, if parents live together and file taxes jointly, then only one parent needs one [00:19:00] because then that joint tax return gets brought forward. Okay. And then, I don’t know how often you run into some independent students, but uh, a student’s spouse if applicable, um, and, and that spouse filed. Taxes separately or didn’t file, wouldn’t also need an F-S-A-I-D.

Um, the process is the same for families without an A social security number as it has been where they will answer knowledge based questions pulled from their credit history. Alright, so what’s reported on this fafsa, general information student citizenship status. Um, I guess I will mention here that um, all US citizens and eligible non-citizens can receive federal financial aid, um, undocumented students.

Are not eligible to file the fafsa. However, here in Massachusetts, uh, we have a tuition equity program, and so undocumented students may be eligible for [00:20:00] mass in-state tuition and state aid. Um, and that form that they would file is the Mass fa, and we’ll send, we’ll give you a link to that tuition equity website later in the presentation.

Um. Students will have to list the colleges where the student is applying and then each of those colleges will receive the FAFSA data. Um, we get this question a lot, which is, um, do we need to know all of the colleges to file the fafsa? Absolutely not. You just have to have one college listed on the FAFSA to complete this form.

So I would encourage your. Families to still get this done soon. Um, one college that they know they’re applying to on it, they could always go back in and easily add colleges. Don’t, definitely don’t wait until you have your whole list together, if that’s gonna take a while. Um, then it’s going to ask questions of parents, um, married parents including same sex.

Parents, students will include both [00:21:00] parents, all parents who live together, married or not. Um, and in a divorce separated situation, um, it’ll be the student and the parent who provided the most financial support in the last 12 months. That’s the one parent who will be listed on the fafsa if that parent happens to be remarried.

That current spouse will also have their information on, on the FAFSA Now. Hopefully they can figure out who that is and choose that. Parent and then move along. Um, if a family says, you know, we provided equal support down to the penny, I can’t really tell, choose who provided the most financial support, then the form will ask a follow up question and say, use the parent with greater income and assets.

But the point here is that. Hopefully students can figure out from the first question who provided more [00:22:00] financial support, they can figure out who that, who that is. Um, I’ll make a note also that legal guardians are not apparent. So in that case, the student would file independently, um, more things that are collected, the number in household, um, that will pull that from the IRS, but.

Students can update that if, if somehow that’s not accurate. And, uh, the number of children in college. However, I think we, most of us know that is not gonna be used in the calculation anymore. So families with many children in college aren’t gonna really get a break. But it is on the form if colleges wanna make individual decisions more that’s reported on the fafsa, the financial information for both parent and student and.

They’ll be using information from the last completed tax return 2024. Okay. For this coming year. And the parents who are. [00:23:00] Putting their information on the form, need to consent to have their data moved from the IRS, and the student will do that. The parent will do that. And, um, then they’ll also include taxed and untaxed income that is on the tax return.

Um, as far as assets, the value of savings, checking investments, uh, will be on the fafsa, um, like even other real estate. But not primary residence. So families do not put their home information, their primary home information on the fafsa. Um, for 5 29 plans or other educational savings accounts, parents just need to report the account for the student whose FAFSA they’re completing.

And again, um, things that are not included on the FAFSA are the value of your primary home, the value of your qualified retirement accounts. Life insurance [00:24:00] and then back how it used to be parents will not include as an asset. Family farms small businesses with a hundred or fewer employees or commercial fishing businesses.

So that’s how it used to be. And then for the last couple of years, they have had to include those, but now they don’t. Again, another good thing. And just to know that child support received is considered an asset. And then there isn’t a place on the FAFSA to put credit card debt or other debt. Um, so that would be a, a special circumstance.

And then, um, also, as you know, that while every college requires the fafsa, uh, some colleges also require an additional form the CSS profile. And if a college requires, both students need to do this form as well. And this is mostly colleges that have a lot of their own institutional aid. So [00:25:00] it’s very worth it for a student to.

Do this. So they access this [email protected] if they want to know if their college requires it or not. The best place to look is on the financial aid page of the college that they’re. Applying to, to see what forms just like they look, what forms are required for admissions, what forms are required for financial aid.

And then they need to do all of those by the deadline. The CSS profile, um, also opens October 1st. Um, I think that may be open now as well because they always open it up a little earlier. And, um, the other place they can look to is if they Google CSS profile, participating institutions. Uh, the college board has a list of institutions, um, that require the CSS profile and, um, they can filter it by state, things like that.

So, um, it does. C charge a fee for some students, so it’s $25 for the [00:26:00] first school to send it to, and $16 for each additional college that they’re sending this form to. However, if the family earns a hundred thousand dollars or less, um, the form will be free, the fees are waived, um, and again becomes available.

Couple of things that are different on the profile is, um, it will ask about the parent’s home. And in a divorced or separated situation, um, the student and the parent they chose on the FAFSA will file the CSS profile. But then colleges may ask, um, for the other parent to also submit a profile, um, and they will submit that neither parent sees what the other one wrote, but they get connected behind the scenes.

So the student and the custodial parent. Quote unquote, um, file the CSS profile and then they send a link to the other parent. We also have a webinar on the CSS [00:27:00] profile, so take a look at that. Uh, some colleges also have their own other financial aid application, which again, the student can find on the financial aid page of the website.

So if they have that, do that as well, that might help them receive some institutional scholarships or things like that. And then after the student applies, the colleges and the state of Massachusetts, because they require the FAFSA for the state aid, uh, receive this information electronically. And then the student will receive a FAFSA submission summary by email.

And if they do the profile, they will receive an acknowledgement as well. And then just know that, um. You know, the timing is all over the place. For colleges. Sometimes colleges will, will get an award out to the student quickly. Let’s say if they’re applying early decision, um, even early action, but sometimes they, [00:28:00] that will take a little bit longer.

Um, and they might hear about financial aid in March or April. Uh, but. They will hear before the deadline in May where most students have to choose a college. So colleges know that students need financial aid information, um, before they can commit.

There is a process called verification where colleges, um, sometimes have to verify the information for certain students who are chosen randomly. So I would just encourage your students to know that once they’ve done the FAFSA and CSS profile, great. They’ve, they’ve done something really important, but that they should read their email or if the college.

Has said we have a financial aid portal register for that. They should go to that portal and, and look at that. So they should not just forget about it. They should see if there are any follow-ups, any questions, [00:29:00] other things they need to do in the process, and just let them know that it’s just the process.

I think sometimes it’s scary if you get told you’re chosen for verification. It’s just part of the process. Um, but they should follow up to make sure they get in any additional information that they need to do. And it’s also important to know that the financial aid office is a great resource, especially after the student applies for admissions and financial aid at a certain college.

Like if they have specific questions about, um. You know, financial aid, renewability, will my award be good for four years? Um, I, I have this private outside scholarship. How is that gonna affect my aid package? Um, I have a change in circumstances. When we filed the fafsa, both parents were working and one lost their job.

So those types of, uh, questions are all best answered by the specific college. Um, and so students should feel, and families should feel. Not shy about [00:30:00] reaching out and staying in touch. And different financial aid offices will, uh, tell students how to, how to be in touch, phone calls, emails, could be chat.

Um, they might have a specific financial aid counselor so students can figure out that process with each, with each college, and then especially even more so once the student, uh, commits and says, yes, I’m coming to your college. Well, that financial aid office should become their, their best friend. All right.

How are financial aid decisions made? So I like to think of this as pretending acting here for me. Um. To talk about, I’m gonna pretend I’m a financial aid administrator and I wanna put together, um, a financial aid package for one of your students. So the first thing we need to do at the college is, um, decide what is the cost of attendance.

How much is it going to cost a student? To attend [00:31:00] this college for the year. And that’s gonna include, uh, build expenses like tuition fees, possibly food, housing, um, but it’s also going to include some of those unbuild expenses we talked about, books, supplies, personal expenses, transportation. We have to account for that and say that a student to be successful on our campus probably needs this amount of money, this total cost of attendance.

And then the other piece of data we need is from the FAFSA and the CSS profile. Um, in this case, the FAFSA with the Student Aid Index, um, families are putting all that financial information there. It runs through a formula and then. The number that pops out is the Student Aid Index, and that just really is a number that compares that family to all of the other families applying for financial aid, um, and [00:32:00] takes into consideration a level of financial aid that the college is going to award.

So, um, it’s important to know, this is, I think, an important point we make to our families that income. Is the biggest factor here as far as, um, a family’s student aid index. So people worry about their savings and is that gonna affect how much financial aid I receive? And actually savings and assets are much smaller part of this formula than our.

Uh, income then is income. So, uh, MEFA happens to have this student aid calculator, SAI calculator, and people love it. It’s a way that families ahead of time, let’s say even with your sophomores and juniors, if they just wanna get a sense of, you know, what’s my student aid and index gonna be? How much aid am I gonna be eligible for?

They can use this and get a, get an idea for early planning.

So then as a financial aid administrator, um, I [00:33:00] would take that cost of attendance that our school has developed, subtract out the student aid index of the family, and the balance is financial aid eligibility, and that’s what colleges work to give a financial aid award to either. Meet that financial aid eligibility or get as close as we can.

So I’ll mention here that there are colleges who, uh, meet full need, and if they do, they will announce that on the front page of their financial aid section of the website. Um, and many of the Ivy Leagues do this and some of those colleges that compete with the Ivy Leagues promise to meet the full need of all students who attend.

So. With those colleges, but it’s few and far between across the country colleges that can afford to do that. But those colleges that meet full need would create a financial aid offer that met that financial aid eligibility. Other colleges that maybe don’t have as many resource, this would just work to put together [00:34:00] as good A as as they could.

And so this, again, this is, you know. Me pretending to make an award for one of your students. Let’s say this college costs $45,000. Cost of attendance and the family’s SAI is $5,000. Here’s how I might make an award for this, uh, student. I might say, okay, well this family. We’re gonna put in their SAI first Student Aid Index, then we can award a grant and a scholarship, maybe a a $17,500 grant for based on financial need and a $10,000 scholarship because this student has a really high GPA.

And then I would award the 5,500 maximum for a freshman in that federal direct student loan. A work study allotment so the student could work on campus and have that money to spend. And then I’m one of those colleges in this example who [00:35:00] cannot meet full need. So that’s it. And there’s an unmet need of 5,000 at the top.

And so what does that mean? That means that the student in this instance, the family in this instance, really would need to come up with $10,000 to be able to have the student, um, be comfortably on that campus for the year.

Um, another, this is another tool for planning. Not only does MEFA have the SAI calculator, but every college has something called a net price calculator on their website. Some are better than others. There’s wide, uh, variation, but, um, you can just type net price calculator into the search bar in a college.

And this is a place where families can go in and type in their information and. Get a, an estimate of what an award might be at that college. And if the questions ask about GPA and SAT scores, that might mean that they’re going to [00:36:00] show you an estimate of some merit-based aid as well as as financial need-based aid.

So, um, just another tool that you can share with your families, and this is another. Critical time of year. And I know you know that because your students come to you and they’re trying to decide on a college. Um, so let me just say a few things. Number one, once the financial aid offers start coming in, families quickly.

See they’re all different. It’s hard to really, you know. We through some of that sometimes. So it’s, but it’s really important. It’s a critical time for them to be comparing apples to apples so that they can make a good decision that’s also affordable. And um, one of our other great tools is this, um, MEFA daughter college cost calculator where the family can go in.

And put up the costs of the different institutions, the financial aid, and see the difference to see, um, [00:37:00] what’s affordable and what isn’t. So let me just show you in this example that the three colleges for Simplicity in this example, each have a cost of attendance of 45,000. Student Aid Index 5,000. So the eligibility for this family is $40,000 College A.

You can see. Is one of those colleges that meets full need. And so they have given a financial aid offer. Yes, it includes work, study and a loan, but a big grant scholarship loan work study that totals that $40,000. So the family would just need to come up with that $5,000 student aid index for the student to be able to, um, to attend that college.

College B while still giving a, a big scholarship and grant, um, did not meet full need. And so the family there would need to come up with $12,000 in college c even less, the family would need to come up with [00:38:00] $20,000 to send the student to that college for the year. So this is where it’s really important to spend some time.

Um, and I know you do this on the academic side too, to have students keep an open mind. Apply to colleges that they want to attend, and maybe at this point in the year go to those open houses, those accepted students days, ask more questions and see, would I be just as happy at college A or college B instead of college C?

So big conversations happen here. Within, within the family. Um, and another look at this and something we just like to caution about, uh, and that is that some colleges, as part of the financial aid offer, will put in something called a Parent plus loan. Now that is a loan from the federal government, um, where a parent can borrow a loan for their student.

Um, and you can see that colleges b and C did that in this example. [00:39:00] But we caution families that yes, that is one option to be able to pay that, um, that cost, but it really should be taken out of the comparison when you’re putting your information to this college cost calculator, trying to compare apples to apples.

Um, families should get a bottom line. What’s going to be owed and then look at all of their options to pay. So they might choose that Parent plus loan. They might choose a mefa loan that happens to have a lower interest rate, and it always does. Um, or they might, um, have a grandparent who can help with that or they might, uh.

Have a, a relationship with a local bank, they, they should look at all of their options to decide how they’re going to come up with that. So we, we feel like it’s just, uh, misleading to have that as part of the financial aid offer, and we ask parents to set it aside and then make the decision themselves.[00:40:00]

All right, so you’ll see this, you probably don’t wanna get into this even at, at this level of detail, but you know, your families will all pay for college, um, in a different way. Um, and we see this with, with the families we work with as well. So this is an example of how one. Family might pay a $20,000 balance due.

So the family might say, well, you know, student, you’ve been working over these summers, we’re gonna have you pay a little bit, take some of your savings and contribute this first year. So they’re gonna take a thousand dollars of student savings and parents maybe have been saving in a 5 29 plan, and they’re gonna take some of that out and pay and then.

Parents don’t always know this, but colleges have something that’s called a monthly payment plan. That’s not a loan, but it allows the parent to split the cost of what they have to pay over the course of 9, 10, 12 months even. And so a parent may choose to use that. [00:41:00] Let’s, I always use the example, maybe a parent, a family just paid off a car, an automobile, and they have a little bit extra money in their budget, so they decide.

Wow. I have $500 more in my budget per month. We’re for 10 months, we’re gonna pay $5,000 total to the monthly payment plan over the 10 months. That’s just one example. And then this family might say. All right, but we don’t wanna use all of our savings. We wanna spread it out over the course of the year, um, or we don’t have any more savings, or we have no savings, so we’re gonna need to borrow an educational loan.

And, um, they might choose to take an educational loan of $10,000. And then that’s the point where they decide, well, where am I gonna borrow that loan from? And they can do their research and choose, make a choice that’s best for them. And talked about, you know, as it gets close to making that decision, um, families really need to sit down and make sure they make an affordable [00:42:00] choice.

So it’s very nice to be able to go through tho that calculator and see what the bottom line is. And parents and students should also have an honest conversation about who’s gonna pay the college costs. If, um, if a loan does need to be taken, will the parents take that on for the student over and above the financial aid offer and the federal direct student loan?

Or will they ask the student, will they say, we’ll cover this while you’re in school, but when you graduate, we’d like you to take that on, or we’ll split it with you. So those are conversations that are happening. Um, I think all students should at least consider community college here in Massachusetts, which now, now offers free tuition and fees to all students.

Um, I wanna make one important point, uh, ’cause there’s some misunderstanding about this. In order to be eligible for free community college. You have to file the fafsa, you have to, it doesn’t matter what the SAI is, what the results of that FAFSA are. You can still get [00:43:00] free community college, but you have to file the form.

So that’s key. Um, then parents have to think about how many students are in this family, how many do we need to. Support. So parents are thinking about those things and it’s, it’s good if a, if students and parents together can sort of make a loose four year plan. They have to understand we can’t just plan for the fall.

Um, the first year. We need to make sure this is gonna be affordable for the. For hopefully years. Um, this is recent, so this is, uh, very recent, uh, with the changes in the new administration as of next July, July 1st, 26, um, the plus loan is going to be capped at 20,000 a year. Per student and 65,000 in total.

So, um, that’s something to consider when, when families are planning out for four years, [00:44:00] which type of financing I going to take, need all of that. It’s good to know that that is brand new. There haven’t been any caps on the plus loan for a long time. And students, I think also when thinking about, um, choosing a college.

Should think about do they know what their future career is? Many, many don’t and that’s fine. That’s fine. That is the majority. But if a student does know, you know, are they gonna be an engineer? Have they applied and been accepted to an, an engineering program which has stats like, you know, are the average starting salary of our students is $80,000.

And in that case, maybe a student. Although you never know the future, but a student might say, I, I think I really wanna go to this college. I think I can take on this extra loan. And I think I have good prospects for employment upon graduation. But, you know, well researched really well thought out. Or there might be a student who’s going to be a school [00:45:00] counselor and they’re gonna know, Hmm, I need a master’s degree.

Let me think about that. And, um, they might make a different decision based on, uh, debt knowing they’re gonna have to attend graduate school maybe right away. So they, they might be a little more cautious about the debt they’re taking on. And, um. So I share that, uh, some, so some of the programs here in Massachusetts, um, I will say that, um, I mentioned that for Massachusetts Aid, the form that students apply for is just, is the fafsa.

Um, if a student is undocumented, they. Use the mafa and uh, let me just quickly go through what these programs are. Mass Educate is that free community college for all students, but file the FAFSA or the mafa Mass Reconnect Similar, but it’s for students over 25 years of [00:46:00] age. And then there’s a grant program or a couple of grant programs, mass Grant plus and mass grant plus expansion, and I’ll mention that for low to middle income families.

Families that are, say. Have an income of under $75,000. Um, it is possible that at a four year public institution, um, they could attend for almost, almost free tuition and fees. Um. Because that money is supporting that. So for example, if, if a student is, is lower income and thinking, well, I’ll apply just to the community colleges because I know it’ll be free, they could also apply to the four year public institutions as well.

And then see what comes back in those financial aid offers because there is that extra money. For lower to middle income students, um, that covers them at the, at the four year institutions as well. [00:47:00] Tuition equity law, that’s the best website to go to. Read more about how some undocumented students can receive mass state aid and state tuition rates.

Find the mafa, all of that. Um, mass transfer is the website, which shows how students can begin at a community college and then, uh, transfer to four year. Opportunities and tuition break is the program where students can go to public institutions in neighboring states, um, and in certain programs. Some it’s all programs, but some it’s certain programs, um, they can pay in-state Massachusetts, tuition even going out of state for some programs.

So that’s, that’s a good, a good website for students and families to peruse as well. And so next steps, um, you know this timeline well, but here is the timeline for students. Junior year, senior year, right into spring of senior year. And you can, um, [00:48:00] view that on our website, or you can download this with the QR code.

I’m gonna just leave that up.

And some next steps. So your students right now can go get an F-S-A-I-D and start the fafsa. Um, so this is, this is really exciting and um, hopefully it’ll be a smoother year with this whole process. Um, they can continue researching deadlines and required applications. Uh, but again, my feeling is. Get these forms done, um, as early as possible, then they’re not worried about deadlines, um, to the left.

Families can register for MEFA webinars. That’s a great, um, QR code to send to them. Um, people can take the timeline for college admissions and financial aid from the middle one, and they can sign up for me a’s family emails with the right. Now, as I mentioned, we [00:49:00] sent you all a digital toolkit for your families.

All of these QR codes are in that and. We are sending you a physical one as well, so you’ll have some cards with these QR codes, some posters, and um, that, let’s just talk a minute about the, um, QR code on the right. Just as you receive me for emails and you hear about a webinar like this one. We have, um, family emails.

And if families are signed up for me for email, they will receive an email twice a month, um, that’s targeted to the age and the stage of their student. So, um, in the case, probably of this webinar, senior families will get these emails and it will keep them up to date on everything, any webinars we’re having.

When we’re having a FAFSA festival, we have articles. Um, on many topics, relevant, timely. We have, we have a podcast, we have everything on our website, and the families will have access to all of [00:50:00] those resources, and hopefully, we hope that’s a big help to you because we know you have so many topics to cover with these students and families.

So we hope to take a lot of the financial piece away from you or help you with it. Um, and then of course emails for school counselors. Um, you probably are signed up or as by virtue of being on this webinar, you’ll be signed up and you’ll see these come to you. Um, and, you know, you can peruse through them, uh, upcoming webinars, new financial aid tips, and we really try to, anything we hear we put up there.

Um, so you’ll see what that is. These are all the places you can connect with us on social media as well. Um, for example, on Instagram we post a lot of scholarship information, so that’s good. Also good for your families, and you can always call us with [00:51:00] questions. Uh, the college planning team, you can email the college planning team.

Uh, we are happy to help you and your families with, um, all kinds of questions throughout the year, years. Alright, I’m gonna stop the share and wow. We have, we have a few minutes and see if there are any questions that came in that you think would be good for everyone to talk about out loud. Um, what do we, what do we think Stephanie, Andrea?

Stephanie Wells: Re go because we had some good questions for, and I think she’d be, uh, better served asking about it.

Andrea Keenan: Yeah, we had some great questions about, um, immigration status and, um, eligibility for FAFSA versus mafa. So just really wanna call out the resource that we put in the, um, q and A regarding eligibility [00:52:00] for the mafa.

Um, so as you’re pointing your, your students. To the Mafa. It’s also important to check their eligibility for the Massachusetts financial aid. Um, and so we drop that link in the q and a. Um, Stephanie and Andrea

Julie Shields Rutyna: talk about the fact that you are gonna be doing an hour long webinar. On this exact topic. So can you tell everyone a little bit about that and when that is, and if people register whether you can attend at that hour or not, you will receive all the slides.

So if, if you wanna share that with everyone out loud, that would be great.

Andrea Keenan: Yeah, absolutely. So, um, on Tuesday, October. Eighth, I believe, no, sorry. Let me, uh, double check that. Um, sorry. Uh, Wednesday, October 15th, um, at 8:30 AM will be the MEFA Institute webinar, um, on how to support students with unique immigration statuses.

So please register for that. Also eligible for PDP points, but we’ll go through all of the intricacies [00:53:00] of different immigration statuses as well as. Um, a deep dive into the Massachusetts based aid, which is such an important compliment to, to really support this population. Um, what, when they might not be eligible for all the rest of the, the federal aid.

So yeah, please join us on the 15th of October at 8:30 AM

Stephanie Wells: this, thank you. And one of the questions that came in, Julie, that Andrea was answering. Seamlessly that I thought was important just to mention, to encourage folks to go to her webinar is we did get a question and it said, is it safe for our undocumented students and families to file the fafsa?

So it’s a pretty loaded question. Um, but it’s an important one that we’re all asking and hearing about. So I just wanted to call that one specifically out. ’cause I think it’s, we’re hearing a lot of that. Yeah.

Julie Shields Rutyna: And so it would be the Mafa, right? Because undocumented students. Can’t file the [00:54:00] faf. Right, exactly.

But Right. You know,

Stephanie Wells: I know I, the, the FAFSA should they file anything really. Yeah. Right. And, and it’s, I think it’s, it’s,

Julie Shields Rutyna: it’s such a que a good question and it’s a question that we think about all the time and, um, we, we don’t necessarily know the answer. I, I don’t know if you have anything else to add to that, Andrea.

Andrea Keenan: Yeah, I think that what we would say is that it’s an evolving situation. Um, and you know, the information in the FAFSA is. Dealt with in different ways, um, by the different, um, agreements, data sharing agreements that are in place that are protected. And so, um, I, like Stephanie said, did put in a resource, um, from the President’s Alliance on Higher Education, which is a vetted, um, good resource and they’re constantly, um, researching this question and updating.

If anything changes with data security protection. So [00:55:00] I would say definitely coach your students to make the decision that feels right for them and their families. You know, you can’t make them fill out a fafsa. Um, and also know that there’s so many different ways that the information’s already out there.

So really just encourage families to talk about it, but not in a way that is alarmist or, um, makes them scared to apply to college, um, especially if they stay within Massachusetts. Um, there is a question also in the chat about if a, if a mixed status family, so a student is eligible for federal aid, but maybe the parents are undocumented, so we would call that a mixed status family.

So those are really the families that are expressing concern regarding the parents’ information being. Put in there, um, into the fafsa. And so there is a question in the chat, um, if it’s possible for those students to fill out the SFA instead. And the answer is actually no. Um, so it’s one or the other. So if you are eligible for fafsa, the SFA [00:56:00] says you should file the fafsa.

Um, so only students that are not eligible for FAFSA should be filling out the Massachusetts form, unfortunately. Um, but all really good questions. We’re monitoring, monitoring the situation. Um, but it’s, it’s hard to give a black and white answer. Um, and I know that that feels hard to hear sometimes. Yeah.

Stephanie Wells: I think that’s all we have for questions. Julie. Just wanted to bring that one topic up ’cause it’s so important and

Julie Shields Rutyna: so important. Thank you. Well. Thank you, Andrea. Thank you Stephanie. And thank you to all of you for joining us. And, um, again, please, please stay in touch and, um, take advantage of any of the other webinars and all of our resources.

And please let us know what else we can be doing to, um, to help you and your students this year. And again, I, I will, I will just share this at the end because I had [00:57:00] so much optimism. But, um, I received a, an email from Ncan. A lot of you might know that organization this morning. And they, um, also were saying they’re feeling really great about, um, the, the process this year and that it’s just light years, uh, better than, than it’s been the last few years.

So hopefully this, um, this will be a, a good year to help a lot of students get this FAFSA done and a good, a good reason to push our families and students to get this done early. Um, so that, that this. You know, this task that sometimes feels overwhelming is out of the way and they can, um, then move, move forward to the fun stuff.

All right, well thank you all and I hope everyone has a terrific day.

Stephanie Wells: Bye everyone.