[00:00:00] Well, good morning everyone. My name is Julie Shields Rutina, and I am the Senior Director of College Planning, Education and Training at MEFA. And I’m so happy to be with you here this morning to talk about Financial Aid 101 for School Counselors

So let’s just talk about the logistics. Um, if you have a question, you can put it in the Q&A section. We’ve shut off the chat, um, just because, you know, it’s easier to look at the questions in one place. But know that I am going to cover a lot, so, um, o- o- only ask a question upfront if, if you feel like something wasn’t clear.

We’ll leave plenty of time at the end, so as you go along, if there are still questions, put those in the chat and we will go over all of those, and I, I will… I, I mean, in the Q&A. And also you, if you would like a [00:01:00] live transcript, you can press the, um, CC button and that will allow you to see the words that I’m speaking.

If you need to leave, uh, please know that tomorrow we will be sending you the recording and the slides for this presentation so you can have those for yourself to refer back to or to share with someone else. And, um, there’s a, there’s a lot of detail here, um, and some of it is, you know, basic financial aid 101, and yet there are also updates for this year.

Um, mostly good ones. So, um, we have a lot to cover. So let me get started now. Um, for those of you who aren’t as familiar with MEFA, we are a state authority that was created in 1982 with the mission of helping families plan, save, and pay for college, and we are doing that same thing today. And, um, of course we work with families and students, but we especially know that that’s who you work [00:02:00] with, and so we like to work with counselors to ensure that you have what you need in the realm of financing and financial aid, um, as resources.

So please come back and visit us often about that. Our website has a counselor section that you can s- link to right from the top, which will put you in touch with, say, our ambassador program, where you can have a financial aid expert come out and speak with your families. We have lots of webinars for your families on every topic you can imagine.

And then like this, we have professional development webinars for you through our MEFA Institute, and you can get professional development points for that. So, um, happy to be a resource to you in whatever way is possible. Please stay in touch with us often. Let us know what you need. Okay. So today we’re gonna talk about the types and sources of financial aid and the application process, along with all of [00:03:00] the updates for this year.

We’ll talk about how financial aid decisions are made, um, at the colleges, and then about how families are paying for college today. So types and sources of financial aid, just generally when we talk about financial aid, we’re talking about any money that is there to help your students and families pay for college.

Usually we categorize them into three types, which is grants and scholarships, the best kind that students receive and do not have to pay back. And those terms can be used interchangeably. Uh, we can get into the, the differences, but in, in a sense, they’re just both great free money, gift money for the student.

And then there’s Federal Work-Study, a program that allows students to work while they’re a student, earn money, and pay for incidental expenses. And then there are federal student loans, uh, [00:04:00] which sometimes people don’t consider financial aid, but you’ll see in the next slide that, um, they do have some special benefits which, um, make them part of the financial aid that is awarded So what are those special benefits of those Federal Direct Student Loans?

Well, number one, the student is the sole borrower. They can borrow this money without any type of a credit check. Um, it’s just they’re allowed to borrow the money with the thought that they’re going to get a, a degree, graduate, and be able to pay the loan back. Um, also, the Federal Direct Student Loan has two parts to it, and, uh, some students can receive both of those, and that is a subsidized portion and an unsubsidized portion.

And the subsidized portion means a portion of that Federal Direct Student Loan has no interest accruing for the whole time that they are a student. Um, and that, you know, that’s un- that’s not like any other loan. The [00:05:00] unsubsidized portion, it, it does mean that there is interest accruing while they’re a student, but either way, on either type of that loan, you, the student does not pay, have to start paying that off until six months after they graduate or leave school.

Currently, the loan has a 6.52% interest rate, usually changes on July 1st. Um, yeah, currently that is on the, the higher side for this type of loan, um, but again, that changes every year and is very much tied to interest rates in general. Um, on the right of your screen you can see the amounts that a student can borrow in these Federal Direct Student Loans.

Freshmen, 5,500. Sophomore, 6,500. And junior and senior year, 7,500. So if a student were to take all of that, that would total about 27,500, and that’s what the student would need to pay back when they graduate. Um, again, no payments while [00:06:00] enrolled, and then at the end, once they leave school or graduate, they can choose a repayment plan.

And there are a variety of repayment plans. There have been in the past. Um, going forward, there are really gonna be two. One is the standard repayment plan, and under a standard plan, um, that would probably be roughly about $300 a month to pay that back in 10 years. Um, and the other type of repayment plan will be income-based, uh, it’s called the RAP program, and that would allow a student whose income really wouldn’t allow them to make that standard payment, then they can have a payment usually lower to, um, so that they could afford that and manage that at graduation time until their income starts to grow.

So, um, so anyway, those are, um, some of the, the benefits of, of this [00:07:00] type of a loan. And then there are also deferment, forbearas- forbearance, and forgiveness opportunities tied to the Federal Direct Student Loans So where is this financial aid coming from? Uh, well, it’s come- some’s coming from the federal government.

There are some federal grants, the work study, those federal direct loans. There are even some tax incentives. And, um, the, the website that’s going to become so important for your students, if it isn’t already, is studentaid.gov. That’s where they’re gonna get all of this information and be able to manage their loans in the future, uh, where they’ll, they’ll apply for aid, all of that.

And then Massachusetts has, um, some financial aid for students in the form of grants, scholarships, tuition waivers such as free community college. Um, and you can find information about all of the state aid at mass.edu/osfa And then the colleges and universities themselves have a lot of [00:08:00] financial aid, and in a way I always say it’s the college, um, financial aid administrator who acts as the air traffic controller taking all of the different types of aid to be able to give a student a financial aid offer.

Um, but colleges have grants, scholarships, and even sometimes loans. And all of that, when a student applies for financial aid in the process we’re gonna talk about, they’re applying for all the federal, state, and college and university aid. Now, there is, uh, the box, the dark purple box in the, the right lower corner, other agencies.

There is also some, um, outside aid that comes from private, private organizations such as parent employers or the Elks Club in the town or, um, things like that. So s- students and parents should just keep their eyes open for that type of thing. You probably at your high school have some scholarships maybe that you [00:09:00] award at the end of senior year on awards night.

You’ll let them know about those, and they can apply for those. Usually those are smaller amounts, but every little bit helps. Um, also there are some online searches, and we’ve listed a few of those here. Bigfuture.org, that’s the College Board has a scholarship search, um, on their website, and fastweb.com is a scholarship search, mefapathway.org has a scholarship search.

And in all of these, um, a student would go in and say, you know, “This is who I am, this is where I might like to go to college, this is what I’m interested in, the major I’m interested in,” and get a list of scholarships that they might be able to apply to. So, um, so that’s a good thing, but they will do that on their own outside of this.

And yes, I saw a question. Yes, I will, I will be sending a link to the recording and these slides, um, for you. And you can see that [00:10:00] big number down at the bottom, $205 billion, uh, is awarded to undergraduate students these days. So there is money there, and, um, many students receive, receive some types of financial aid.

All right, so let’s talk about merit-based aid versus need-based aid. So the financial aid is awarded in one of two ways, and sometimes it’s a mix. Merit-based aid, um, is awarded in recognition of students’ achievements. And I’ll just say it, grades, high school grades are really important. Um, so, you know, admissions offices at colleges want to attract the best students, and so they save some of their financial aid money many times for students who have a high GPA or who might have done well on one of those standardized tests if the college requires that.

Um, or it might be because they’re a great athlete, um, they play an [00:11:00] instrument and could be a part of the band, um, or something else that makes the student a very attractive candidate. It doesn’t mean the student has to be the valedictorian. Um, it just means they have to be attractive to that institution in that year.

Um, and so just know that there is a lot of merit aid out there. Um, some schools don’t have any merit aid, namely the Ivy Leagues and some of those that compete with the Ivy Leagues, like an MIT or something like that. They, they do all of their aid based on financial need. But, um, but lots of colleges have some merit component to their aid program.

One important thing to re- remind your students is that when they receive merit aid, they should just check out are there any criteria in order to keep that aid when they are in college. So ex- for example, colleges sometimes say, “You’re awarded the presidential scholarship, but you do need to keep a 3.2 [00:12:00] GPA,” or, “This year we’re gonna give you the Dean’s Award, but you need to keep a 3.0 GPA,” things like that.

So it’s just important for, um, students to double-check on that criteria. And then the majority of aid is awarded based on financial need of the family, and that is going to be determined by the family completing the financial aid forms that we’re gonna talk about now. It’s a standard formula, um, and there are grants, loans, and work study that all are fall under need-based aid.

Um, students do need to be making satisfactory academic progress, um, by standards of the college to receive the need-based aid, but, um, n- not so much tied to that, that high, high GPA. All right, the application process. So- Here’s the timeline. [00:13:00] Students hopefully are finalizing where they want to apply to college in the fall, and so they are checking deadlines for admissions.

Are they applying early, or are they applying regular decision? Um, and they’re looking at all the deadlines for admissions. They should also be looking at all of the deadlines for financial aid, because different colleges have different dates for that. And these two processes happen at the same time. You know that, but I find families ask me that a lot.

“Do I apply… Do I have my student apply to college, and then when they get in have them apply for financial aid?” No, you should be doing both at the same time and I know you tell your families that. Um, also, financial aid deadlines for students who are applying early action, early decision, you know, there are usually some early financial aid deadlines for that.

Um, and you know how critical it is for students to stay organized with this process, so you might have your ways to organize them at your school. MEFA has this [00:14:00] college application manager that families can download and just keep track of where they’re applying, what the admissions deadlines, what the financial aid deadlines, what forms are required, all of that, and they can download that from, um, our website.

I’m also going to say that the two main finan- well, the main financial aid form, the FAFSA, and the other financial aid form we’re gonna talk about, the CSS Profile, uh, both are available October 1st of the student’s senior year, and secret, even a little bit earlier. Um, so the key is that if a s- if a f- student and family apply for financial aid in October right around when it opens, then they’re just not having to worry about any deadlines.

They can get this task out of the way and know that they’re meeting all of the deadlines, no matter if they’re applying early to some schools, regular decision to others. So, um, I, [00:15:00] I really like to, uh, encourage students and families to get the financial aid task done early. And even if they just know one school that they’re going to apply to, they can get the forms done and send that off, and it will go to that school, and then later they can go back in and add other colleges.

Um, but at least the big part, the part that makes everyone nervous and makes everyone want to put it off is done. So that’s my little tip. Um, so the, the main financial aid form, the FAFSA- Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Every college requires this, um, for a student to apply for financial aid.

And we’ll talk about this later, but in Massachusetts with free community college, free tuition and fee community college, um, the… even though it is free for all students, it’s not based on financial need, um, they do need to complete the FAFSA. So that sometimes, I, I think that [00:16:00] message isn’t totally out there for, um, for students and families, so I just wanna emphasize that.

They need to complete the FAFSA every year, and the new updated annual form is due around October 1st, and, and really on October 1st. So the student would go to fafsa.gov and select the 27/28 FAFSA for this year right now, October 2026. Um, the, the FAFSA, for any of you who have been in this business a while, or have, um, heard your colleagues talk about the nightmare of the FAFSA, I, I’ve been, uh, working in financial aid for more…

I’ll just say more than three decades, and, um, I’ve helped students and families, worked with counselors for all those years, and the FAFSA has never been easier. In fact, I, I don’t know if I [00:17:00] could have believed that it, we could have gotten to this point, um, from h- the challenges that we’ve had with it over the years.

But it really is, uh, much easier. Uh, families are completing it much faster. So with this new faster process, it’s highly recommended that the student actually go in first and start to complete the form with just their information, and then they invite their parent. That just makes it a very smooth, easy process.

Um, it works either way, but I just share that with you. And then each person who’s putting their information on the form, um, usually a student and either, you know, one parent or the two married parents, um, completes their own section, and at the end, the last person to complete it, you know, hits the submit button.

So, um, another webinar that we have for families is understanding the FAFSA step-by-step guidance. So you can, you could direct your [00:18:00] families to that if that’s helpful. And now the, um, it used to be called an FSA ID, if you heard, heard that term, but now it’s going to be called a StudentAid.gov account. It is just a username and password that each person who’s gonna put their information on the FAFSA needs to have.

So usually a student and a parent need to have, um, a username and password called a Student Aid account, and they can get that at studentaid.gov, uh, create account. But when they go in to file the FAFSA, they’ll be asked to do that as a first step. So again, a more seamless and streamlined process. Um, they need to have an email address to create a StudentAid.gov account.

So who needs the account? A student, and then every pa- parent who’s listed on the FAFSA. So let’s say the parents [00:19:00] file taxes jointly, then only one parent needs one. But if they file separately or something like that, then each parent will need a separate, um, username and password. Um, also if a parent doesn’t have a Social Security number, they will answer a few knowledge-based questions, um, pulled from the credit history to be able to complete this process.

But no matter what, um, families will be able to a- create this account and, um, complete the FAFSA, but they just may, they may get stopped at a, at a later point in the process if, um, if they weren’t able to, you know, have their identity verified and they couldn’t answer these questions. All right, so what is reported on the FAFSA?

Uh, general information, demographic information, things like that. Uh, [00:20:00] student citizenship status. Um, let me just see. I’m gonna close that. Um, US citizens and non-eligible citizens can refe- receive federal financial aid, and so, um, they will apply using the FAFSA. Undocumented students are not eligible for federal aid, so they should not file the FAFSA, but they may be eligible for Mass in-state tuition and state aid if they complete another form called the MASFA form, and we’ll have a slide on that later.

So that’s important to know. And then all the colleges where the student is applying will be listed on the FAFSA so that they will receive the data. Again, a student can start it with a few colleges and add a college later, and that’s kind of an easy process. Then parent information, um, married parents, including same-sex parents, [00:21:00] both parents’ information will be on the form, and all parents, um, who live together, married or not, will put their information on this form.

Um, with divorced or separated parents, um, it will ask for the parent who provided more financial support in the last 12 months. Um, and that, the family can really decide that. Um, and that’s left intentionally vague. And then if that parent has a new spouse, that parent’s spouse will be on the form. Um, if the two parents have exact equal support, um, which is very hard to have it exact, then they need to use the parent with the greater income and assets.

But, um, I think the nice thing is the, the, the vagueness of that first statement, parent who provided more financial support for the last 12 months, because that leaves it to the, the parent to, uh, figure that out and, and choose who is going to be the [00:22:00] parent on the FAFSA, and again, with their current spouse, if they have one.

Um, legal guardians are not a parent. And then there are questions such as, uh, number in household. Now, the IRS data will be pulled from a tax return, but the family can update that information if that’s not exactly accurate. And it will ask about the number of children in college, but, um, that doesn’t get, get into the, uh, formal calculation right now.

All right, I see a couple of questions, so I’m just gonna look at those questions Yeah, so two questions, good questions. Uh, why do all students need to fill this out? Because this is a way that the college can determine their financial need and have a baseline for awarding financial aid. I’m reading into that question that maybe you mean why would you need to [00:23:00] fill that out to get free community college, and that’s because that’s just part of the process, that the student should complete the FAFSA, see what federal aid they’re eligible for, um, and then the state can, can kick in to make that free tuition and fees, but they have to go through that process.

Um, and if a student is in, um, DCF custody or lives with people other than the parents, um, they could be considered an independent student, and when they answer those questions on the FAFSA, it will, it will tell them that And I think the second question is the same. Yep. So they will become an independent student if, um, if they have legal guardians, um, or their…

the, the risk of homelessness, things like that. There are questions on the FAFSA that they will be [00:24:00] asked, and then they will be treated as an independent student So also some financial information. So the nice thing is this is going to be pretty easy these days. Uh, parent and student income for the ’27/28 FAFSA will be the 2025 income tax information, and the students and parents just give consent and bring that information onto the, into the form, and both taxed and untaxed income, uh, that appears on the tax return will be brought forward.

And then as far as assets, students and parents will include the value of savings, checking, investments accounts, and also larger businesses, say, over 100 employees, um, fishing businesses, and other property other than their primary residence. So if they have any of that, that goes on the form. Um, if students, if families have [00:25:00] education savings accounts like a 529, um, they just report that for the student that they’re completing the FAFSA for.

And the things that are not reported on the FAFSA are primary home, value of retirement accounts, life insurance, and then family farms, small businesses, or commercial fishing businesses. Um, small being that 100 employee or less, um, marker. And, um, people always ask about how, where do I report my debt on the FAFSA, but there really isn’t a place to put debt, um, except for if someone has an investment.

Like let’s say you have a rental property and you, it’s worth something, and then you have a mortgage on it. That would be factored in, and you would only, um, put the value in. So debt is included there. But as far as credit cards and other type of debt, that’s not included on here. Um, if you have some special circumstances around that, then the family, [00:26:00] um, the family should reach out to the financial aid office to be able to share that additional information All right, I’m gonna look at the questions quickly before I move on to the other

Good question. If the 529 plan was taken out by the, not by a parent, but by a grandparent or aunt, um, they do not need to report it. Few years ago, the regulations around that changed. So, um, they do not need to report 529 plans in the grandparents, aunt, uncle, friends’ names

Yeah, and another great question. Let’s say, [00:27:00] you know, the 2025 tax information is going to be used for the form they’re going to complete this year. What if the family’s financial situation has changed, job loss or anything like that? So very important question. Um, they still need to just complete the form and bring in the 2025 tax return.

That’s just how they’re going to complete the form for this coming year. However, that would be a special circumstance, and so a family would want to write up the details of the changes that have happened in their financial situation. Um, and either email, probably email the financial aid offices or the financial aid office of the school that they really want to go to when they’re admitted.

Um, and that would be an appeal to say, “I know you’re looking at my 2025 income tax information. Here’s my current reality.” And the more detailed they can be and the more documentation they can, yeah, eventually share with, with the [00:28:00] college, that will give them something to work with. So again, complete the form using the current y- the tax return year they’re supposed to use, in this case 2025, and then make an additional letter.

“Dear financial aid administrator, here’s some additional information I’d like you to have when reviewing my file.” That’s a great question. Okay. So the fa- and, and speaking of, so the FAFSA does not have any extra room to write that. That’s why the family needs to make that separate appeal. The other financial aid application that some colleges require is called the CSS Profile.

That’s a form of the College Board. Now, all colleges require the FAFSA no matter what, and then some require the CSS Profile as an additional form. And highlight one of the things on the CSS Profile is a space to write special circumstances, so that’s a nice [00:29:00] feature of this. So The CSS Profile does have a charge unless the family makes, um, 100,000 or less or has received a fee waiver when the student has done the SAT.

Either of those will automatically pop the student into a no-fee situation with this. But for other families, it’ll be, uh, $25 for the first school and $16 for each additional school to file the CSS Profile. Well worth it though, because the colleges that require the CSS Profile usually have a lot of their own grant and scholarship dollars, and, um, so they want a more thorough review to award that money.

So just important for students to know, “Am I applying to a college that requires the CSS Profile?” And they can find that out by looking at the financial aid section of the, of the college website or going to the College Board’s website, [00:30:00] collegeboard.org/participatinginstitutions, to find out if the school they’re applying to also requires the CSS Profile.

This form’s also available October 1st. Um, and then a couple of things that are different or additional about this form are, number one, I mentioned that, um, there is some space for special circumstances. Also, in the CSS Profile, it will ask questions about a family’s primary residence, so they’ll be putting in, you know, information about the home that they live in.

Also, if they have a business, they’ll probably be putting a little more information about that. And, uh, many of the colleges that require the CSS Profile do want information from the non-custodial parent, that other parent. So we mentioned with the FAFSA, it’s one parent and the student that completes the FAFSA, but that other parent will need to do a separate [00:31:00] CSS Profile application.

Those do not get shared, but behind the scenes get put together in the file at the college to help determine a student’s financial aid offer. Again, we have another, um, family webinars about the CSS Profile, and you can find that at mefa.org/webinars. There are some colleges that have their own maybe short application on their website.

Um, I’m seeing less and less of this, but sometimes it’s just a good idea for the student to look again on that financial aid section, see what forms are required, definitely FAFSA, maybe CSS Profile, and is there another internal kind of financial aid application that a college might want you to submit for special scholarships or something like that?

All right, so then after a student applies, um, all of the colleges that were listed on the forms, um, get- receive the information electronically. [00:32:00] So from the FAFSA submission, the student will receive the FSS FAFSA Submission Summary by email. And key to know, uh, and also from the CSS Profile, they receive an acknowledgement, and it will be this, this cover page with all their information.

Um, it’s just important to know that colleges, as part of the normal process, they may request more information from the family. Now, you might see this too. Families always seem very nervous about that, like, “Did I do something wrong?” Um, so it’s good to be able to say, “No, this is just part of the process, verification.”

Do read your emails, do follow up on that, um, to, um, make sure that the college has all the information they need to determine the financial aid offer. And then hopefully they send that financial aid offer as long as it’s complete, the f- the application’s complete, right around [00:33:00] the time that the admissions decision is sent, because they know that families need the financial information to make a decision.

So again, if a student applies early decision and needs to make a decision, they know they need the financial aid information, and that goes for early action and regular decision as well. Um, if a student is not receiving that, they should really double-check. Maybe there’s something missing in their file, or they need to follow up with the college, um, because they should receive those maybe not the same day or week, but within a reasonable time, because again, colleges know students need this information.

And here’s all the details about that verification. Uh, a student can just be selected by the Department of Education or the college randomly, um, to make sure they’re verifying, and they should just comply with those requests. And just know they might be asked to submit a tax return transcript or a verification [00:34:00] worksheet, um, things like that.

Um, and so don’t let that, don’t let that go. And a word about the financial aid office. Um, the financial aid office can be a great resource for families, especially once the student has applied, and especially once they’ve received a financial aid offer. So some detailed questions can be asked of them, such as, a good one to ask if it’s not very clear in the financial aid offer is, “Is this o- financial aid offer that I received going to be good for four years?”

And hopefully they receive an answer that says, “Yes, as long as your financial information stays similar, you’ll get this financial aid offer for the four years.” Or they could be told, “Well, yes, but in order to keep that Dean’s Award, the student needs to have a 3.0 GPA.” All good information. Another question a, uh, student family may wanna ask the college is, [00:35:00] “If we get a private scholarship, um, outside, how will that be, be treated?”

And uh, many colleges will allow those private scholarships to first help meet unmet need that hasn’t been met by a financial aid offer, or sometimes they’ll allow a family to cancel a loan or work study to accommodate that private scholarship, but also good information to know. And importantly, as someone already asked earlier, if there are any changes in circumstances, um, the family should absolutely share that with the financial aid office at the school that has given the award, and that goes for when the student is a student and all the way through.

Um, and they can always appeal the offer. The college might have, uh, uh, specific instructions of how to do that. “Here’s an appeal form,” or “Write to your financial aid counselor,” and you’ll know who that is. So, um, absolutely a family can appeal, um, especially if there’ve been, [00:36:00] you know, drastic changes in circumstances.

Um, and the… Again, the financial aid o- office will probably tell you to either make a phone call, email, chat. They’ll let you know, and you can follow those. You can help families follow those directions. All right, so now we’re gonna talk about how the college makes those financial aid decisions, and I am just gonna look and see if there are any more questions.

Uh, yeah, a question, um, well, an easy question, “Do students apply for financial aid every year?” Yes. That’s a, that’s a good one. Um, and secondly, “How do you coach a student and family if the families didn’t file taxes in 2025?” That is a hard one. Um, you know, it’s, it really is critical that they get those tax returns done.

It’s going to end up being a problem because the [00:37:00] colleges, you know, have to have the students complete the FAFSA, and that tax return from 2025 is a critical part of that. So really trying to encourage, um, families to get those 2025 taxes done, and there are free resources, um, that, that can do taxes for people, maybe connecting them with something like that.

But really encouraging them that, um, it’s gonna, it’s gonna make such a difference in what the student is gonna have for resources going to college. If they can’t get financial aid, they’re really gonna be left on their own. Um, because again, even to go to community college tuition and fee-free, they still need to do this FAFSA.

So, um, I, I guess just imparting the, the importance of getting that, that tax return done. Good, really good question.

All right, so [00:38:00] how are financial aid decisions determined? First, the colleges all have their own cost of attendance, which includes everything from tuition and fees, food, housing, books and supplies, transportation, personal expenses. So you can see some of these are billed expenses, that the family’s gonna get a bill for tuition and fees, probably food and housing if the student is on campus, um, and maybe some other things like a c- uh, a lab fee or, you know, something like that.

But they’re also gonna have some expenses that are not billed, but are still there for the student. The student’s gonna have to, you know, do something about books and supplies, transportation, and shampoo, pizza kind of thing. So, um- Both parts are part of that cost of attendance, and all of it can be covered fi- by financial aid.

So it’s just good to know that that’s where the, um, college starts [00:39:00] in determining financial aid. And then from the student’s FAFSA, um, all the calculation about parent income, student income, parent assets, student assets, um, that is a formula that’s used for every family, and a number pops out at the bottom, which is called the student aid index.

And that is, um, a number that is gonna help determine the level of financial aid the student is eligible for. So, um, something important to know about this is that income is the biggest factor. Assets are treated in a much more lenient way. So people are always worried about, “Oh, I have $5,000 here,” or whatever.

That’s not gonna have the huge effect. As income goes up, that makes a big difference, um, in the student aid index number. And we do have a calculator on our website that will allow families to go in and play around with that so they have [00:40:00] some sense of what their student aid intec- index number is going to be.

So then it’s that full cost of attendance minus the student aid index number that determines a student’s financial aid eligibility. And some colleges, again, those Ivy Leagues and those schools that compete with the Ivy League, some of those elite colleges that have a lot of money, um, are able to meet full need for students.

So if they have an elig- a, a financial aid eligibility of a certain number, those colleges will really work to meet the full need of all of their students. But that’s a small grouping, small number of colleges nationwide. Um, most colleges do their best to meet that financial aid eligibility, but sometimes leave a gap for the family to still come up with.

So let me show you how that works. So here pretend I’m a financial aid administrator at a college that costs $45,000, [00:41:00] and the family’s student aid index is $5,000. So let me create a financial aid offer for that student. Well, first I’m going to say the family can pay 5,000 from that student aid index number.

I’m going to give some grants Need-based scholarship, merit-based to the student, the student loan maximum for a freshman, and a work study award. 2,000 is a, a, a common amount for a work study award. And then the college, the fictional college isn’t one of those that meets full need. It’s, it’s doing our best.

What else? There’s no more to give, so the unmet need, the gap, is going to be $5,000. So in a sense, for a family to feel comfortable being able to send their student to this college, um, they need about… the student will need about $45,000. They’re getting some aid, but the family [00:42:00] themselves is going to have to come up with about $10,000, the student aid index number, and any unmet need.

So that’s how a family can figure out, is that gonna be affordable for us or not? And for s- for f- families who wanna get a jump on this, you know, we have, we have both types of families, right? We have those that want to get a jump on it and those that are doing things last minute, and we, we all probably do a little both of that.

Um, so we understand it. Um, but there are net price calculators on every college website. Full disclosure, some are better than others. But they are tools that families can go in and play around with and put in some of the information that they will put on a financial aid form at some point, just to get a sense of how much aid a student might be eligible for at that specific college.

So just a tool you can share with your families. Um, all right, I’m g- before I jump into this, which I, this… I like this slide, I’m gonna just see what other questions [00:43:00] I have here. Um- So yeah, someone asked, “If you want to negotiate the offer against offers from other colleges, is appealing the way to do that or is it best to set up a meeting with the financial aid counselor?”

So, um, you can set up a meeting with the financial aid counselor, um, but they’re probably gonna ask you to put everything in writing, you know, through a- an appeal form or something like that. Uh, but sometimes when you’re attending, um… when the family is attending an open house or an admitted students day, they can have a chance to talk with financial aid.

Um, I’d say you’re not… you don’t want to ne- a family doesn’t want to negotiate an offer, they just want to say it’s more like, and you probably know this in asking this question, it’s just more like, “My daughter really wants to come here. She loves X, Y, and Z about this college. We’re finding that the aid package she received isn’t so affordable, and [00:44:00] she received aid packages from other colleges that are more affordable, but this remains her first choice.

Is there anything you can do here? Can we share anything else with you?” That’s kind of what that should look like, I’d say. Either yes, in person, but if that’s not possible, um, in a letter or whatever the college appeal process is. And let’s see. Oh, another hard question, I know. What would you recommend to a student whose parent refuses to complete the FAFSA?

I know you have these conversations, and I do, too. Is trying to explain to, to that other parent, if you can, if you have the chance, if you can get the parent to talk with you, or sometimes I’ll tell the student, “Does the parent want to call me as a third party?” And just trying to talk with the parent to say, “By completing the FAFSA, you are not obligating yourself to anything.

You, you’re [00:45:00] not obligating yourself. But by not completing it, you are taking your student out of the running for any financial aid, and it’s gonna make going to college very difficult for the student. But by completing it, you’re just allowing the student’s financial aid application to be processed and an aid offer to be made to that student.”

So I guess really trying to talk with that parent about you are not obligated to anything. You’re just not trying to… You don’t want to impede the process. That’s my tactic, but I know it’s a hard one Let’s see. Uh, also is there any penalty if 2025 taxes were filed late with an extension? Once the taxes are filed, they’re there and can be brought over, so you’re fine.

So that’s it, no worries about that. Just get those 2025 taxes filed to be able to do the FAFSA for this year[00:46:00]

Ah, and a great… Okay, so a great question also. When I mentioned that the CSS Profile is going to require the other parent to, uh, potentially complete the CSS Profile, this question is, there are many students who have contact with only one parent. How do we do this? Um, so great question to help your students.

All the colleges who require the CSS Profile and require that, um, other parent to file the CSS Profle- file also have a waiver process. They all have a waiver process. So go and find out what that waiver process is, and it usually entails completing a form, and sometimes giving documentation which can come from you, the counselor, to say, “I can attest to the fact that this student has no contact,” those are the words, [00:47:00] “no contact with this other parent.

I have not seen any, uh, con- contribution, collaboration through the high school time, and, um, would like to waive that.” So every college has a waiver process. Um, it’s not, it’s not easy because they don’t want everyone waiving the other parent. A lot of people might like to do that. They really want to know that the student has no contact.

Um, so and some financial aid administrators share stories about how someone will say, “No contact,” and then that other parent that’s no contact is on the phone with them. So, uh, you know, they, they wanna, they wanna make sure it really is, but if it is no contact, they should be able to waive that.

Is there a way to know if a certain college’s calculator is good? Great question. I would just say the more specific it is. Um, [00:48:00] so let’s say it asks questions about grade point average, SAT score. Um,

if there are details like that, you know that it’s set up to be matching their real financial aid formula. Um, that’s what I’d say. So the, the m- more detailed questions. Although even a basic net price calculator that just asks people to put in income and assets can still give, um, a reasonable amount of information.

Um, but, um, the more detailed, the more you know it’s trying to match that financial aid formula

These are great questions. Um, great

Is the non-custodial [00:49:00] parent the other co-joining biological parent? I think the answer is yes to that. I’m just con- I’m not sure of those exact words, but in other words, the non-custodial parent is the other biological parent. Yeah

And a question about work-study. Are students guaranteed a job on campus, um, to pay that back? And it’s not really a payback, it’s really a job. Um, it’s… In other words, um, the student gets paid when they work. They don’t get that work-study award upfront, that’s key, and then have to work to pay it off. The student, when they start college, they should look for a job on campus.

I’d say the earlier, the better. As soon as they decide where they’re going, be on that college website, be asking for job listings, um, and make sure they get a job. There are lots of work-study jobs on campuses, so it’s likely. Um, and then they work and they get paid. So, um, not guaranteed, but [00:50:00] likely they can find a job on campus.

S- The earlier, the better to find the better jobs. Um, but it’s they’re- they only get paid when they work

All right, I’m gonna keep going here. Uh, let me just so I get it all in. These were phenomenal questions. Quickly, once a student and parent are in that spring of senior year, you see this, you know this, they’re coming to you with these questions. They get their award offers back, and sometimes they are very different from college to college.

So here are three colleges all with the same cost of attendance and, um, s- same student aid index, same eligibility of $40,000, and very different offers. So college A is one of those colleges that meets full need, and that student’s need is met through a combination of grants, scholarships, student loans, and work study.

College B was not able to [00:51:00] meet the full needs, so that family will have $7,000 unmet need additional they’ll have to come up with. And college C even more so, $15,000 to come up with. So it’s very important to compare apples to apples, um, with this so they, a family really understands what they’re going to need to come up with.

MEFA has this college cost calculator where you can put in the costs, the aid, really see what that bottom line is gonna be for the family. Um, and this is a place where students are really gonna need to think about this. Students and parents together come up with some conversations about, ah, is, is college C much better than college B, and can we afford that?

And, and those are, those are hard conversations, but, um, sometimes this is the place where a family might make an appeal to a college and say, “College C is our number one choice. Um, but we received these other offers. Is there anything else you can do, or can we share?” [00:52:00] Or it might be a case where the parent says, “Let’s go to that open house for college B and see if it is as you really liked it.

Let’s make sure you can get what you want there. It’s everything you want, and maybe that’s a better place because that’s gonna save us a little money. You, you won’t have to take on as much debt,” whatever. Those are the good conversations that the family should be having And this, I’ll just point out, um, is another thing you might see is that sometimes colleges put parent loans as part of that aid package.

Now, y- I just want to… It isn’t. Okay, that is colleges being able to share with the family, “This is something you might want to do so you can afford it.” But when a s- family is comparing their aid offers apples to apples, that should be taken out, and then they can see what they’re going to owe, what they need, and go from there to decide if they want to take [00:53:00] a parent loan or co-sign a loan with the student or something like that.

Um, but that should not be, um, in the initial comparison because that’s just a college sharing ways you can pay, but it’s not a part of the award offer. All right, and paying for college, let’s say that, um, the family, the student has decided where they’re going to go, and the family says, “Okay, we’re on board with this,” uh, but there’s a balance due of $20,000.

Seems like a lot. How does a family come up with that? Um, and so this is, every family’s going to do that differently, but this is just how one family might think about that. Well, maybe the student has some savings from a summer job. Maybe the parents saved in a 529 plan, might use that. Um, colleges have something called a payment plan that is not a loan, but instead it’s a way to break up the cost of making payments.

So let’s say the family says, “We’re gonna [00:54:00] pay $500 a month for 10 months toward the payment plan, um, just to break it up. Maybe we just paid off an automobile, and we have a little extra. We’ll do that.” And then some families might say, “And we’re gonna need to take an education loan.” So we’re gonna research and find another type of education loan, usually with parent and student, um, on that or maybe just parent with the best interest rate, the best terms for us, and that will be a, uh, something that they will want to pay attention to to borrow the best education loan.

And that’s how one family might come up with the $20,000. They also need to remember that they’re gonna have to do that every year. So it’s just important to have that big picture idea. Um, what’s happening here? Okay, we… Ugh, I’m going, I’m going the opposite direction here.

Okay, what’s happening? [00:55:00] Okay. And here are some conversations. Um, we like to call them kitchen conversations. I think things still happen in the kitchen all the time. Um, so what are the types of conversations that the family should be having? And you can support them in this too, is, you know, what is each school’s net price?

That means what is your- Responsibility. As a family, how much are you going to need to come up with to help your student go to school? Um, and who’s gonna pay? The parents and the student should talk about that. You know, we’re gonna try to cover as much as we can, um, but you know, if you want to go to this college and take an additional loan, that’s gonna be your responsibility.

Something like… I’m just making these conversations up, but they happen. Um, hey, commu- the community college being free tuition and fees in Massachusetts, I, I can’t say enough about that. That’s, that’s [00:56:00] huge. That is a factor that should factor into, uh, choices for many students and families. Um, for students to be able to start there and, uh, get a lot of those required classes out of the way, and then they could either come out with an associate’s degree and, and, and get a job, or they could transfer to a four-year college.

Either way, that will, that can be a s- significant cost savings. Uh, and then families need to think about how many other children in the family. They need to think about it as a four-year plan. One thing to note is the PLUS loan, um, now has caps. It never had caps before, but as of July 26, um, families can only borrow 20,000 a year or 65,000 in total in a PLUS loan.

So that’s something to consider if they need another loan. Um, there are other loans out there that are not capped, they just wanna think about, think about those pieces. Um, and students [00:57:00] should really be thinking about their field of study. They, many don’t know that at this point, but if they do, if they know they want to be a teacher, if they know they want to be an engineer, um, that could factor into the plan and abo- and about any debt they’re taking on, and do they need to get a master’s degree right away, and those types of things.

Um, and, and finally a note that you should, uh, share with your parents if they’re coming to you at this level. I know they’re not always. But parents who have prior PLUS loans, um, should be aware that regulations have changed around the repayment of those. And if a parent has a prior PLUS loan, and say they are paying it off, you know, based on their income, or they want to, um, get public service loan forgiveness, things like that, um, i- if they take another loan now, another PLUS loan, they could give up any of those past [00:58:00] repayment, uh, benefits they had.

So that’s, that’s key. A slide about our state financial aid, mass.gov/gohigher. Uh, students can learn all about free community college. MassGrant and MassGrant Plus scholarships, um, can also allow free or reduced tuition and fees for some low and middle income students, even at the four-year public colleges.

Um, that money is not guaranteed like the free community colleges, but good for students to know that, um, applying to some of the public universities, four-year colleges and universities, um, they could receive free or reduced tuition and fees if at a low and middle income student, like 70, 80,000 and below.

Uh, the Tuition Equity law is that law that allows some oc- undocumented students to [00:59:00] receive those Mass, um, tuition waivers and Mass aid. Um, and so they can submit the FAFSA- MASFA form, and they can find that at mass.gov/gohigher.

And MassTransfer is a program that makes it easier to tr- uh, transfer from two-year to four-year colleges, um, with, with more affordable pricing. And Tuition Break is a program that allows students to, um, apply to college in neighboring states and receive discounted tuition in many instances, sometimes matching Mass in-state price- prices or sometimes just, just discounted tuition.

So that’s another great website, um, for. So here is, um, something you can share with your students, Staying on Track, and they can download that from our website. And here [01:00:00] are some FAFSA festivals we have planned, October 21st, November 17th, December 16th, all 4:00 to 6:00. And the way these work is a student should register.

They can use this QR code to register. Um, they can find this on our website, and they can show up on one of those days between 4:00 and 6:00. And they show up on Zoom, but then we partner them with a financial aid expert. They go into a separate Zoom room, so it’s private, and one-on-one they can actually complete the FAFSA online with a financial aid expert.

So please let your families and students know about this. And here are all the ways you can follow us on social media And you, as we mentioned earlier, please call us, email us with any suggestions, help that you need, and feel free to pass these number and email along to your [01:01:00] families because we also are happy to work with them, answer their financial aid questions.

So with that, I am going to stop sharing my screen and see if I can answer these last few questions, and then we’ll have to end at 9:30. Let’s see

Oh, the cost co- College Cost Transparency Initiative, is that a good website? Yes, that’s an initiative to try to have colleges, um, make their award offers look similar so that they can be better understood by you, counselors trying to help students, parents, students themselves. So that’s an initiative to try to get colleges to, um, have similar looking award offers

Um, what is the new max for student loans? Um, [01:02:00] so the, on that page that I showed you, 5,500, 6,500, 75, 75, that’s, that’s the maximum for, um, undergraduate student loans

And that PLUS loan cap is per child, um, per child

And, um, yes, a s- a, a family would go to that studentaid.gov website to, um, apply for a PLUS loan, and that information is usually sent to the family by the college, which is great, but that’s where I would say a stu- a family can consider that, but they should compare that against the other types of loans out there.

Because that PLUS loan interest rate is s- somewhat high, and it has fees. So they shouldn’t ne- [01:03:00] necessarily say, “If I need an additional loan, I should get that.” They should really look at all of their options. Um, should all students fill out the MASFA in addition to the FAFSA? No, no. The FAFSA is for students eligible for federal aid, um, because they are US citizens or eligible non-citizens.

The only people who should fill out the MASFA are students who cannot fill out the FAFSA, meaning that they are undocumented

And thank you for… I’m glad that this was informative and that you enjoyed it. And let’s see if there’s anything else. I, I think I got, I think I got all your questions. That’s great. If not, reach out and we’ll fill in the gaps, and thank you so much for your great questions and, uh, for all the help that you give your students every day, and we’ll see you soon.

[01:04:00] Thank you