Please note that this transcript was auto-generated. We apologize for any minor errors in spelling or grammar.

Julie Shields Rutyna: [00:00:00] So you’ll have the recording and you’ll have the slides and you can share it with others who weren’t able to join this morning as well. And please remember too that, um, as a Mefa Institute webinar, you’re eligible to receive professional development points for this. So when we write to you in a day or two, you’ll be able to sign up and receive your professional development points for attending this training.

Um, since I just started recording, I’m gonna, I’m gonna just introduce Amy again and just say that we’re so lucky to have Amy staff here, um, who is Assistant Vice President of enrollment student services and financial aid at Simmons University. And a little bit about MEFA. I think many of you know Mefa, but if you’re, if you don’t, we have been around since 1982 and our mission is to help families plan, save, and pay for college.

And we’re doing the same today, but we also work very [00:01:00] closely with all of you school counselors because we know you are the ones working with the students and the families day to day. Um, we also work with all of the colleges and, um, and we, we work with families, so we, we have webinars for families on an ongoing basis and.

If you would like to share that with your own families, it’s MEFA.org/events and they can find webinars on all kinds of topics. And another thing that we have for your families that’s terrific is an email curriculum. So if they go to the MEFA website, uh, and scroll down, they can join MEFA s community and twice a month, we will send them an email that’s targeted to the age and stage of their student.

So, you know, if the student is in 11th grade, they’re gonna be receiving all of that content that, that the family needs to stay aware of in 11th grade, 12th grade, grade, et cetera. So, um, really, really helpful. We just want to be there for you and please stay in touch [00:02:00] with us always and let us know what else we can be doing for you.

And with that, um, I think I’m gonna turn it over to Amy. I’m just gonna make one comment because I, I feel so excited about this in that, you know, for, for years and especially the last few years we’ve been rolling our eyes whenever the, the, the, the FAFSA comes up. And just to say that, uh, the FAFSA was in beta testing for about a month.

It opened early prior to October 1st. And all reports are that it is, uh, that simplification work that was done is really coming to fruition. And it is, it is going well. Students and families are, are being able to complete this form with much less, um, issues than, than has been, uh, in the past and especially in the past couple of years.

So, um, woo. I’m happy, I hope this is gonna be a, a good year for your, for your families. Alright, with that, Amy, I’m gonna turn it [00:03:00] over to you.

Amy Staffier: Thank you. Yep. Fingers crossed. Um, so the fafsa, uh, which is the free application for Federal student aid, I, um, have been doing this long enough that I remember where, uh, there, there was an organization that was actually charging people, uh, to complete the form.

And it was the exact same form, but, um, it is absolutely free that. That, uh, site doesn’t exist. Uh, and, and really pretty much like all colleges and universities for any sort of federal, um, or state aid that a student might want to access, um, or see if they’re eligible for. Uh, and then sometimes institutional aid, and I’m sure, um, you guys probably hear the term, you know, it depends.

Uh, anytime I do a presentation, uh, and someone asks me should I complete the fafsa, particularly if they are, um, you know, in that senior year in high school, I say, you know what, if you think you might not be eligible for it, just apply at least that first year just to ensure, uh, because each institution is a little bit different and, and an institution may require that fafsa, um, for [00:04:00] some sort of institutional aid.

So, um, you can always check each school, but, but I usually just encourage that they at least complete it on that first year to understand what they’re eligible for. Um, must be completed each year if you’re continuing to access federal funds. And, uh, and then, um, you know, it’s one for every child. Uh, and then the real important point is, you know, we hear so much about the FAFSA that there are, um, potentially other applications.

And again, it depends on that, uh, institution, uh, what a student may also need to complete, um, in order to navigate through that process. So in completing the fafsa, um. We have what are called contributors. So the student is a contributor, and then each parent is also a contributor to the student’s FAFSA form.

So it’s anyone who’s providing information, uh, different than the old world of the FAFSA where, uh, you know, it was really kind of one form. [00:05:00] Uh, it’s, uh, each contributor has their own section that they’re completing and it kind of comes together, um, you know, in the end, in, in one, um, bit of information that gets to the school and then eventually also is getting back to the student, uh, and the state.

All of the income questions. This was written into the law. All of the income questions have to be pulled off of the federal tax return. So it makes it an an easier process. It made it possible, um, that. All of the, um, you know, contributors are pulling that information, um, from the return, unless of course they’re a non filer.

Um, but they do have to provide consent. Um, and there can be issues if some, a contributor does not provide consent, uh, to pull that data. There is, you know, skip logic. Um, you know, part of the whole FAFSA simplification was, um, providing more aid for students, but also making it, um, easier. And there were a lot of questions that got removed, but also there’s that skip logic, um, that moves past questions that don’t need to be [00:06:00] answered, must answer all questions in order.

Um, and if, uh, if the answer’s zero or the question doesn’t apply, um, the student or parent is putting zero, uh, as their answer, answer and incomplete. FAFSAs are deleted after 45 days. Uh, as noted here, reminders are sent every seven days. Um, so it really should not be that someone has their FAFSA deleted.

Um, but, uh, you know, if, if the student, let’s say, kind of completes their, uh, their section and a parent, um, or, or a second parent in some instances is they’re still have not completed and the student is still getting these emails. And if. Um, if you have students that might be like my younger child who sometimes ignores emails, um, that’s really important that, um, that they are monitoring email, uh, and making sure they get to complete.

So the information that’s going to be needed, um, on both the student and parent [00:07:00] side, uh, is social security number. Now of course, we are in a world where we may have a parent who does not have a social security number, and if, if not, that’s okay. Uh, they can still complete the FAFSA form, uh, date of birth, current bank statements, uh, investment records, uh, for completing asset information.

And then, you know, certain families may need their 2024 income tax return. Uh, you know. I always suggest you just have it on hand, um, in case they need to answer a question, um, you know, using their tax return. Sometimes, um, the IRS connection, um, that there was a, uh, the match did not connect and they may have to, um, you know, answer the questions, uh, themselves.

Or there are certain items like a foreign tax income, um, that would need to be reported separately. This is great information to have, um, how to get in touch with the FAFSA customer service. Um, you know, [00:08:00] it’s, um, I, I’ve, I’ve had good at times, uh, reaching out to customer service, and I’ve had incidents where they were giving bad information to a student, but for the most part, for, um, for the pretty basic questions, uh, they’re fantastic.

And, and I should just qualify that with, there was a situation that was very, you know, custom and, and the, they were giving, um, wrong information and I probably shouldn’t have even brought that up. But for the most part, um, they are giving, they’re, it’s, it’s a great resource that, uh, the student as they’re completing and the parent as they’re completing, uh, they can access, um, and, and have, uh, questions answered.

So this is just a little flow chart of the F-S-A-I-D. Um, really, really important to encourage students and the parents to make sure they’re getting that F-S-A-I-D as soon as possible, um, because they’re not going to be able to go in and actually complete the FAFSA without having that. Um, I’m the type of person that I want, if I’m gonna sit down and complete a form, [00:09:00] I wanna sit down and fully be able to complete it, not have to wait.

So, uh, the F-S-A-I-D is, um, username and password, uh, very specific to, um, to the person, to the contributor. So, um, it’s using social security number, uh, date of birth. If someone doesn’t have a social security number, um, then it’s using other information to verify that person. Um, also a distinct, um, email address.

So, uh, who needs it? Every student if they’re completing it. Um, and then really the suggestion from the Department of Education is every parent that’s listed on the FAFSA in reality. If parents, um, file their taxes jointly, um, then really only one parent needs an F-S-A-I-D in order to provide that consent.

But in a situation where there are two, um, uh, parents and let’s say they’re married, filing separately, each of those parents needs their own F-S-A-I-D in order [00:10:00] to extract that information, um, from the IRS. So that’s why the suggestion is just easier to say All parents get an F-S-A-I-D, it’s not gonna hurt anyone, um, to, to get that.

So must have an email address. Um, and just another reminder for students really just ensuring that it’s one that they check, right? It’s not a school, uh, email address. It’s a personal email address and it’s one that they check ’cause that will carry through with them, um, you know, throughout, throughout life, right?

Throughout those four years, if they go on, uh, to graduate school, uh, let’s say as well. Um. Parents without an SSN, what they’re going to do is being an, is answer knowledge based questions based on credit history. So that’s how that works. Um, and then it’s, um, student a.gov, uh, F-S-A-I-D. If they go to just the FAFSA form, um, there is a spot where you’re putting your F-S-A-I-D in, but if you don’t have one, it’s, you know, create one now.

So, uh, the opportunity exists to do that.[00:11:00]

When a student is ready, um, to go ahead and complete the form. Uh, we do, you know, we always live in this space of two years being open. Um, and I’ve been doing this for about 28 years. Uh, and there’s always a student who says, you know, I completed the FAFSA form. And, and they completed, you know, the wrong year, um, nicely once it hits that October timeframe, uh, the 26th, 27.

So the upcoming year’s form right, is a little more front and center. And, and if you need that, um, current year’s form, uh, it, it’s downplayed on, on the page. Um, but they can click on start a 26 27 FAFSA form. Again, have to use that F-S-A-I-D to log in. If they don’t have it, at that point, they can create an account, but they’re gonna have to go back.

Um, once, once that, uh, F-S-A-I-D is verified to complete the fafsa. When you get to this, um, you know, it’s asking, you’re starting the, the [00:12:00] fafsa and who are you, what’s your role, right? Student or parent? Um, the, the federal student eight really encourages that the student be the one to start, and then they, um, invite the parent.

So we’re gonna, um, kind of walk through the webinar, um, in that way that we’re starting with a student. We’re not gonna sit and watch these videos, but there are four kind of onboarding videos. They’re, they’re quick, um, students do not have to watch them if they don’t want to, but it’s just an introduction to the fafsa.

Um, you know, talking about the different documents they may need, uh, the concepts of a contributor, uh, information about consent and approval and a time estimate, uh, and, and how to kind of save and, and come back to things later. Um, but once you are through those kind of four pages, uh, then you can click on start FAFSA form.

I have watched those videos again, they’re fairly short, but it’s nothing earth [00:13:00] shattering. Um, so if a student is like, Hey, do I need to, you know, sit through those, um, you can, it, it’s not required. So what the student will be presented with is, um, the information that, um, they’ve already provided and that is attached to their F-S-A-I-D.

Um, I would hope in a scenario of a, a student who’s a senior in high school that they’re not going, going to need to make any changes, but perhaps in, in another year, um, maybe there’s something that has changed, um, and, and they need to up that date, that information. Um, they actually can’t do it here. They need to go into student aid.gov, uh, itself, um, and go into account settings to make any update.

But again, hopefully, um, since the student will be just creating a FSA id, they’re not going to need, uh, to do that. They’re going to be asking about, um, the state of legal residents of the student. I mean, this is really important because, um, by answering that question, um, data is shared, uh, with that [00:14:00] state so that they can assess, uh, what a student might be eligible for in state, um, based funding.

Uh, this, uh, red, um, arrow is just noting that, um, you see these, uh, little question marks with circles, um, and the, those give you. Additional information for any of the questions. Uh, and actually those can be really helpful, especially I remember back when, when students actually had to put in a GI or taxes paid, and those were really helpful ’cause it gave a line, uh, items, uh, for, for that information.

Uh, so, uh, so they do a good job of, uh, providing that additional information. And I would suggest, just like I do to my own staff is, you know, do some exploration and use the tools, uh, available to you before you then, you know, go to chat or email, uh, or call, uh, for help. So, as I noted, um, all parties need to provide [00:15:00] consent since this is just the student, um, portion.

The student is the one that’s providing consent. Um, here, um, even if they didn’t, um, complete a, a tax return, they still have to provide consent. Uh, and the, and the same goes on the parent side. Um, we’ve had, you have situations where say, a parent isn’t even in the country, right? And they still have to provide consent, um, to complete that form

after providing consent. Now, if they, if they don’t provide consent, you, you can bet that there’s a screen that comes up, you know, alerting them that they’re not gonna be eligible for anything. And do you wanna rethink that answer? Um, but assuming they, um, provide consent, which we, we see all of our students really doing that.

Um, a screen’s going to show. Noting that, okay, it’s importing information. The student’s never going to see that information and they’ll never see it, you know, on any sort of output that they get from the FAFSA form. Um, the [00:16:00] IRS actually has very, very strict, um, data sharing, uh, and privacy, uh, rules. And in fact, us, um, on the institutional side, we had to set up, um, and, and sign, sign off, uh, in blood, um, on new mailboxes actually to receive, um, this, uh, FTI federal tax information.

So, um, so it’s, it’s very, uh, secure. If someone is a non filer, they’re just going to get a message that, um, you know, which is correct, that no, uh, tax data was found and they can continue on.

Next, we’re going into kind of personal circumstances now. I’m sure we all, um, and, and, and really this gets to determining do we need parent information? So is the student a dependent, um, or is the student to be considered independent? Um, and then they do not need to provide, um, parent information.[00:17:00]

So it goes through, you know, what’s your marital status? Because married students are considered independent. It’s going to ask about the college plan. Um, and, you know, what will, uh, this student be? Um, it’s, you know, if a student is coming out of, um, high school, they really should be selecting that first year freshmen.

Um, and really important to, um. Not select that they already have a bachelor’s degree. It’s just amazing sometimes what you see, uh, coming through on our side, um, because, you know, if they do then they’re not eligible for say, a Pell grant. Uh, and then obviously graduate students are always considered independent.

So other per personal circumstances, these are the, the remaining questions to kind of determine dependency status. Uh, so, you know, students who are 24 or older are considered independent if they have dependents who receive support from them. [00:18:00] Um, active duty, um, military or veteran. Um, if since the age of 13 they were an.

Orphan in foster care ward of the court, they’re considered independent, um, an emancipated minor or in a legal guardianship. Now, um, it should be noted that if a student is in one of these situations, um, they, the, the institution may, um, ask for some level of verification. Um, I, I would say one of the things that I see a lot is like, is in illegal guardianship when a student actually isn’t in illegal guardianship at all.

They were like, oh no, I live with my parents. And so I don’t know how they ended up kind of selecting that, but just, um, just noting that if, if you have students who are in particular, um, you know, challenging circumstances, an institution may, uh, require some sort of verification. And sometimes it’s even just good to counsel the student to, um, to reach out to the school, um, and, and let them know, you know, what their, um, [00:19:00] circumstances are.

And then students who are homeless, um, or self-supporting and at risk of being homeless are also considered, uh, independent. And again, um, depending on the institution, there may be, uh, more information that, that might be required to receive for that before they can potentially, you know, fully package a student together.

And then we have, um, the, the department has kind of, um, broken out these two, right? There’s the personal circumstances and then these unusual circumstances. And these unusual circumstances are that a student doesn’t kind of naturally, um, fit into being an independent student, right? But they have something going on.

So, um, typically it’s going to be something that is, is kind of significant, severe. Uh, maybe some level of abuse, abandonment, you know, something like that. Um, and they’re able to answer this question, um, and [00:20:00] rather than in the old FAFSA world where they really could not progress, um, through the fafsa, they’re able to move forward as this kind of provisional, independent student, um, and, and complete their form.

And it gets to an institution. I can 100% tell you, um, you know, here it says colleges will follow up if they require more information. Um, I’d be surprised if institutions didn’t follow up, but I would, if I was in your shoes. I would encourage students who are in these more like, unusual circumstances. So really they have, um, uh, you know, a a as I’ve already noted, some kind of significant severe, um, situation.

They don’t qualify to be, um, independent naturally, um, have them reach out to the school directly. Um, it will help facilitate, um, you know, getting information sooner. I would say. So in this example where, you know, the student is dependent, um, and, you know, but they’re, they’re going to be told here [00:21:00] what, um, has been determined.

Um, and then additionally, and thank goodness, after that first iteration of the, the, uh, simplified form, uh, they changed this wording to be very clear. So let’s say a parent isn’t going to, um, provide information, refuses to, uh, the student can still. Secure an unsubsidized loan. I rarely see this coming through, um, as yes.

Um, because typically, um, they’re, they’re either just not applying at all. Um, or, um, you know, the parents are, are providing that information. But, uh, that option is there and if the student selects yes, you know, a popup does appear, just warning them, um, that, um, that if they proceed in this way, you know, they’re not going to be considered for any, you know, additional funding.

It’s just that unsubsidized loan. So I think really important in these next couple of questions, [00:22:00] um, you know, just to point out that these questions do not affect aid eligibility and even more, it’s not shared with the colleges, um, at all. So that information doesn’t go further than, uh, this application asking about the student sex, their race and ethnicity.

Um, and then we move into asking about student citizenship status. Uh, so who’s eligible for federal student aid, US citizens, and then eligible non-citizens. Um, and you know, we’ve kind of listed out here some bullet points of, uh, what those eligible non-citizens look like. Um, and again, as long as the student is either a US citizen or an eligible non-citizen, they are eligible for funding, even if say their parents, um, are not US citizen or eligible non-citizens.

And then depending on how that question is answered, um, if they say I’m a US [00:23:00] citizen, um, it, there’s a, a check with the Social Security Administration. If they answer, I’m an eligible non-citizen, it’s gonna be a check with, um, department of Homeland Security. And sometimes I see that a student maybe has answered US citizen, they’re actually an eligible non-citizen.

And so that check with social security comes back, you know, flagged. Like, we can’t confirm that this student’s a citizen. Uh, and, and then we just have to co collect documentation. So, so it’s important to answer that, uh, correctly. It asks about parent education status. That is not, also not something that, uh, that we see, um, on the.

Uh, um, actually I’d have to double check on that. I, I, I guess I don’t use it on our side. Um, but, but it probably does, uh, flow through, um, to the institution and then parent killed in the line of duty. Fairly simple question there and it really kind of defines out, um, who that might be. High school completion status.

[00:24:00] Um, what will the student’s high school completion status be at the beginning of the 26, 27 year? Sometimes this question can be a trip up, like, wait, ’cause I don’t have my degree yet. Right. Um, but, but they’re answering it for when they begin that first year. Uh, you know, in, in college they’re in that 26, 27 year and if they do answer, um, high school diploma, they’re going to have to just, um, report in, uh, their high school.

Uh. For tax return information. Um, there’s some additional, um, questions that get asked, and these will be asked of student as well as of parent, um, I would, I would bet, um, that probably 99.9% of students coming out of high school are going to answer zero for all of these questions. Um, one of the, um, one of the ones that I, that I find is always, um, a trip up is this amount of college grant scholarships, um, that were reported as [00:25:00] income on the IRS.

Um, usually that zero, even students who are in college and they’re receiving some sort of scholarship, I like that they, um, that they really, you know, say students typically answer, um, zero on this and parents as well. But every once in a while, we’ll, we’ll see information there. Um, but it’s rare that a student is taxed, um, on their scholarship.

Um, so, uh, everything else is automatically comes in through the tax return. These are some additional items that are just asked, but usually for, particularly for a student coming out of high school, but even oftentimes for most of our undergraduate students, uh, they’re gonna be answering zero for all of these.

They will ask about assets, right? Current balance of cash savings and checking account, um, and then net value of any investments. Um, you know, and, and, and it defines what, uh, that is. Um, again, you know, typically I, I see most students do not, uh, report a lot here. Um, but sometimes you have [00:26:00] students who might ask about, um, you know, particular assets they, that they might have, or, um, you know, there are sometimes instances where someone has, uh, you know, a, a trust fund or something like that, and they’re wondering, but it’s, you know, like, but I can’t access it still, you know, X and typically all of those do need to be included.

They’re able to select up to 20 schools, um, and they can either search, you know, um, state City or just enter in that school name. Um, I also think it’s important, um, just to note, because sometimes I’ll get this question, what if, what if my child, or what if myself, I’m not sure, um, of my full list. Right? In order to complete the fafsa, you, you need to have at least one school, uh, on there.

So if a student is still making a decision, but they kind of wanna get it complete, or they’re almost done with their, with their, uh, with their list, they can go ahead and complete that form. They can log back in and add an [00:27:00] additional school. Um, I always just say, just remember to note the deadlines of each institution, um, so that you’re meeting, uh, those deadlines.

Students can reorder schools if the school’s state requires it to be higher on the list. Um, this, um, this, this bugs me because, um, I was actually doing a presentation last week and someone was asking about this, and in Massachusetts. Um, there’s, there’s information on the, the fafsa, um, you know, website around this, but, um, and there’s links for every different state, right?

And, and what they require. Um, obviously we’re in Massachusetts here, um, but the state does say that the funding, any grant funding will go to the, um, if, if it’s a state college, the first one on the list. So you’d wanna reorder. But, and I think this is really, you know, an important part is if the student changes where they end up going, right?

So it does, it shouldn’t lock them [00:28:00] in to, to being required to go to that school that they put as first. Um, they can, they can make that adjustment. They can reach out to, um, uh, the, to OSSA here, uh, in the state of Massachusetts and make that adjustment. So, um, I think that’s really important to know. ’cause sometimes that can feel like a stressful thing.

What if I had, you know, two, um, you know, of the state colleges that I was kind of, you know, thinking about which one should I put first? Just know that it can be changed wherever they end up enrolling. So the favorite question, uh, what parents, um, are on the fafsa? So biological or adoptive parents, they’re both gonna be included on the FAFSA form.

Um, include both parents if they are married or are not married, but live together. And I’ve, you know, over, over the 28 years I’ve heard, you know, a lot of different scenarios. Oh. But we’re, we’re divorced, but we still live in the same household. Well then you’re including both parents on the, the FAFSA form.

Um. [00:29:00] Married parents, uh, include same sex couples, um, if separated, but living together, you’re to select married. And, and you know, the thing is, is that some institutions may also collect, like, verification of separated status and they want to see, um, kind of proof, uh, that those parents are living separately.

So that might be, you know, uh, you know, separate bills, um, for, you know, heat or a lease or you know, what, whatever that school may require. In the case of divorce separation, um, it’s been determined that, uh, that the, the student, the parent, parent is to use the parent that provided more financial support in the last 12 months.

Um, and then if that parent is remarried, then that step parent’s information, um, is required to be on the fafsa, uh, as well. They say they go farther, right? If financial support was equal, select the [00:30:00] parent with the higher income and assets. Um, and if no financial support was given to the student in the past 12 months, select the parent, uh, who provided the most support in the year, um, uh, when the student last received support from a parent.

So obviously this last bullet point can, um, generate questions. Again. In my, the presentation I just did last week, someone came up and they were trying to ask me to determine, you know, who, who should be the parent. Um, I can tell you that the, the department is not going to, you know, they, they don’t know who some other parent might be.

Um. But to the point of, um, you know, the FAFSA not being the only form, there are some institutions that are collecting other information that may also include information from other parents. Um, and so, um, you know, I think, uh, the family just has to answer this in, in the best possible way and as truthfully as possible.

So now the [00:31:00] student, as they’re ending that application, their kind of section, they’re going to invite the parent to the FAFSA form. So they’re gonna put in the parent, um, email address, um, and send them, and then they’ll get sent an invitation. It doesn’t have to match. Um. The, the FSAI date ID email address.

Um, and so the student doesn’t have to stress if, if the parent has multiple emails, I’m like, oh my gosh, which one did they use? Um, and then there is, you know, a button of like, who counts as a parent on the FAFSA form. And it’s a, a parent, um, wizard where they can go through to determine who is the parent.

Um, that, that we are inviting. My, my, you know, personal suggestion if I was working with families when I do presentations is, you know, kind of to have a conversation about that prior to, uh, the student sitting here and kind of completing that form. Um, so that that parent and, you know, knows that they’re going to be getting that link, uh, as well.

Sometimes that’s not always, uh, the [00:32:00] case. I’ve also worked with students that, you know, have strained relationship with parents and, and that can be challenging. So, um, but. But I think if a conversation can be had ahead of time and that parent knows that they’re getting that, that invite, um, and in particular in the case of kind of separation, divorce and all of that, um, knowing, knowing, okay, who is it?

Who’s going to be on this form?

Student is going to see a confirmation, uh, that the parent receives that, um, that invitation. Um, and then the parent can access that. Um, or you can kind of see, I’m, I’m pointing as if you can see my hand, but I will use this clicker. Um, you can see that there’s this, um, this link. So the student can go ahead and, and send that.

Let’s say the parent is sitting right there on their own computer or they’re going to complete it on the student’s, you know, laptop, and they can do it right then without, um, having to go to email. The student is going to kind of review and then sign their section. [00:33:00] Uh, they can open up, um, each of these things just knowing that no financial data that came from the IRS is going to show here.

It’s only the questions that the student actually answered. And then the student is kind of signing off, right? That they’ve answered this truthfully. Um, and what they need to do if certain things happen, uh, and uh, terms and condition, uh, as they call it. Um, but the faf is not complete. Um, and it’s not gonna be processed until all sections, right?

So all contributors, um, have actually completed their section, that last contributor to complete, and when they sign, then the FAFSA goes off to be processed.

Julie Shields Rutyna: And can I just ask a question out loud, because we’ve got a couple of questions on sort of on this topic. Can you just say a tiny bit more about situations where one parent really isn’t involved in the family?

You know how sometimes colleges can waive that? [00:34:00] Sometimes they can, yes. Yeah. Yes.

Amy Staffier: Thank you. So, um, so with the fafsa, right? And a school that just uses the fafsa, um, and, and there’s a parent that is just, you know, let’s say just doing their own thing, like completely have, have, you know, left the situation.

In that scenario, the, usually it’s fairly easy that the student is able to complete with the, the, the parent who remains, right, who’s been supporting and, and there and active. Um, but there’s about 250 ish, um, you know, institutions and scholarship agencies that use the profile form. Um, which, um, on that form, although the main form is kind of what we used to always call the custodial parent.

There is that non-custodial parent, um, um, that, that is needing to complete their own form in a situation where a student has a parent that they’re, they have no contact with all of that. The student will need to [00:35:00] work with each institution, um, to see what their process is, um, for kind of waiving that, uh, what we’d always call kind of the non-custodial parent.

Um, so, you know, I suggest whatever. You know, not all students are in, um, you know, these challenging situations, but if students are, whatever that may be, if it’s a parent who’s, you know, uh, not involved or they’ve had, um, you know, some significant, you know, financial crisis or whatever that may be, students really need to be encouraged to, um, with their parent, hopefully to be reaching out to those institutions and finding out what their process is to be able to kind of document, um, and understand what, what options are available for them, um, in those situations.

Did that cover,

Julie Shields Rutyna: uh, that was great. That’s great. Perfect. Thank you so much. Perfect. Yes. Okay.

Amy Staffier: Yeah. Thanks for the question. Um, so. [00:36:00] Basically the student now kind of shows, you can see down here, you know, when they log in, uh, they can see this contributor. You know that, that a link has been sent, right? Once the, the contributor has like accessed that it will say that.

Um, and once it’s complete, um, you know, this all updates. So, so when they log in, they can, they can see what is going on, uh, with their FAFSA form. But hopefully, you know, in the best case scenario, the student completes it and the parent completes it, you know, uh, at the same time. But we, we know the best case scenario doesn’t always, uh, happen.

So now the parent is going to get, uh, their email invitation, they accept that invitation. Um, and you know, there, there is this kind of text, uh, that stresses that completing the FAFSA does not make the parent financially responsible. So let’s think about a scenario where. Um, it’s kind of a divorced, uh, family.

The parent who’s completing the [00:37:00] FAFSA is remarried and maybe they file separately. So now you have to have that student as a contributor, their parent as a contributor, and then the parent’s spouse also as an individual contributor. Um, they made some changes to this language because, you know, sometimes someone felt like, well, if I’m contributing, contributing, using that word right to this form, but, but I’m not gonna be actually financially contributing.

So that text, um, stresses that, you know, as a parent, it doesn’t make you financially responsible. Um, uh, and so just kind of know that, um, a parent can start the FAFSA before the student. Um, and at the very end we’ll just kind of look at what that looks like. Um, but really the suggestion is that the student be the one to start and they invite the parent.

So parent login page looks exactly like the student login page. They’re putting that F-S-A-I-D in again, if the parent hasn’t created one yet, um, they [00:38:00] can, they can move to create it, um, from here, but they’ll have to wait to then complete the FAFSA form. Um, they accept that invitation. Um, and then they’re going to see those same four, um, onboarding videos that they can choose to watch, um, or not, and kind of navigate through.

They’re also going to see that same information, just, uh, the information about, uh, that’s connected to that F-S-A-I-D and again, if they need to make any changes. Um, and it could be that a parent, because that F-S-A-I-D for the parent does not, um. It tracks between different students or themselves if they were in college.

So it could be that they need to make changes, they just need to go, um, again, through student aid.gov and account settings. If they need to make any, um, any changes to their information, the parent, again, is going to provide consent. Um, and, and a student [00:39:00] is ineligible for any funding, if any contributor does not provide consent.

Um, so that’s, that’s a really important point. And, you know, uh, a significant change from a, uh, the kind of old FAFSA to the, to the simplified FAFSA is that consent is required. I really have not seen issues in that first year. You know, maybe we saw some people who didn’t provide consent, but, but we’re really not seeing that.

But I, and I think that was just that the whole form and the process was, you know, new and, and a bit confusing. But, um, it’s, it’s been fine now. Again, importing that tax data. It will, um, uh, it will show you the screen where they’re importing it, but then they will not see, um, any information, um, asking about parent marital status.

It’ll also ask if parents receive particular federal benefits. Hopefully they should know whether or not they receive any of these. [00:40:00] Um, and, but if they don’t, then they can answer, um, none of the above. Then it asks questions about family size. Um, so it’s going to automatically use the data that comes off of that tax return.

And again, for the upcoming 26, 27 year, it’s 2024, um, tax information, um, it’s looking at, um, basically the individuals that are claimed on a tax return. So. What can happen. Right. And let’s go back to an example of, say a, a divorced family where, um, that it’s been written into kind of their divorce agreement that they switch claiming children right from parent to parent each year.

Um, and if, but let’s say the student actually was part of your, you know, household size. So a, um, a parent can update that household size [00:41:00] or let’s say because this was 24 and now we’re deep into 25, um, that there is going to be, um, dependents who are now living in the household size and being financially supported by those parents within that 26, 27 year.

They can add those in so they can update it. It used to be in the old world that they were providing the family size. Now it does come off the fafsa, but they’re able to update that. An institution may or may not, um, you know, look for some sort of verification. I can tell you as a, as someone on this side, if the, um, because we get both data points.

So if the, um, you know, kind of household size that was determined from the IRS was say, you know, three and it was updated to 10, you, you can pretty much expect that we’re gonna send some sort of, um, you know, verification of household size right to that family. Um, but if it’s been updated by one or something, that usually is not going to, um, you know, trigger a [00:42:00] school to be asking about that.

It depends. Every school is different, but, um, you will also ask number in college, um, even though the change was made that within the FAFSA formula, um. The number in college, um, actually isn’t accounted for. So it used to be if you, if you, um, worked, uh, and remember the FAFSA from years ago, it used to be that like, kind of at the bottom line, we’d come to this, it was called the EFC, and then if there were two in college, we’d cut that in half.

Um, that no longer exists. Um, although one of the things that, um, you know, I’ve seen is that for a large majority of students, um, you know, because the allowances against income are so much more generous, um, I wasn’t seeing, um, I wasn’t always seeing that if there were two in school that the number was drastically changing.

When, when the change in formula happened, certainly at the much higher income [00:43:00] levels, yes. You saw that where students were actually eligible for a little bit of kind of need based aid, where otherwise they would not have been. Um, but you’re, you’re not including parents, um, in this number and a college may choose to use this information to award institutional funds.

Um, I wish I could say that I was confident that, you know, all colleges, I would suspect that if a college is using the CSS profile form, it’s more likely, um, that they’re accounting for that in some way in that formula, um, rather than a school that is strictly using, uh, the FAFSA form. But it doesn’t mean, um, uh, that, that, that a school that’s using just the FAFSA form in collects this information might not use that number in college.

One of the things that I always say to students is ask, right? The worst they can say is no. Um, but the best they could say is, oh yeah, hey, there’s something that we can do spec, especially if there’s like significant, um, you know, college [00:44:00] cost, you know, with within a family situation. So, um, thi this is the same as on that student side where these kind of additional, uh, questions that come up, um, whether or not there might have been a rollover.

Um, and again, that that college grant scholarship, like that should 99.9% of the time be zero. Um, but sometimes we might see that this foreign earned income exclusion, uh, that that might be something that needs to be reported. And you can see right here, it gives the, um, the parent the actual, um, line, uh, item, um, and where it’s found on their tax return.

So that’s helpful.

Julie Shields Rutyna: And a quick question, Amy. Uh, would you include a student, um, if they’re in graduate school, a, a child if they’re in graduate school?

Amy Staffier: Oh, this is a great question. Um, and one where that I feel like I haven’t had in a while now that we’ve had the change, um. In my very old world, we would never include a [00:45:00] graduate student.

Um, but in later years, I feel like there was some inclusion for graduate students. Um, if they were kind of on the young, more like on the younger side and, um, and the parent is actually kind of supporting them. Right. I think it more comes down to, to that level. In, in, in this world here. I would probably, um, say that most institutions are not going to do any accounting for a graduate student.

Like as far as in college, if that’s what you were asking or were you asking in household? No, in household I think. Yes. Yeah, in household. Um, if they’re, if you’re still able to kind of claim them as a dependent and you’re still supporting them, they are in your household, then Yes. Um, I would include them.

Julie Shields Rutyna: Okay.

Amy Staffier: It really comes down more to support. Right. And, and if they’re, I know, um, they’re a dependent and, and can you still claim them, you know, on your tax return? Um, [00:46:00] does it mean you are claiming them? No, because sometimes a student can claim themselves even when you can claim them. But if you’re still able to and you’re, and you are fully support or supporting them more than 50%, um, and will continue to do so.

Um, that’s, that, that would be where kind of I would draw the line.

Julie Shields Rutyna: Thank you. Of

Amy Staffier: being able to include, um, so parent assets, um, you know, child support received is considered an asset on the FAFSA form. Um, really because the law says you can’t ask any income questions that don’t come off the tax return. So, um, so it is kind of included under this.

This kind of questions about assets. Um, but again, it’s cash savings, checking account, and then usually on the parent side there may or may not be more. Um, that is a question of, you know, what do I include as far as investments? So, um, you know, real estate other than the primary home, [00:47:00] uh, mutual funds, stocks, bonds, college savings, 5 29, college saving account only, that’s for the student, which if, if you have been away from this, you know, that did change in the simplified, uh, the FAFSA simplification, um, where it used to be for all students, but it’s just for the student that you are, um, you are contributing to their fafsa.

Um, and so again, excluding primary home value life insurance, um, and the value of any retirement accounts. And then net value of all business and farm. And then we rolled back again to accept these kind of SMI family, um, owned small businesses, so with less than a hundred, uh, employees, and then farms where the family resides, uh, on the farm.

And then if parent income is less than 60,000, they’re not even going to be, um, asked the asset questions.[00:48:00]

So parent is going to provide if there, if there’s a spouse, uh, information about other parent, um, if living, if married or living together or you know, current spouse. And then just as the student, um, you know, kind of re receive this page that they can review, um, they can go through and review those, uh, you know.

What I’ve always said is, you know, it’s good to go through and make sure you’re reviewing that, particularly let’s say on an asset, um, question. What if you randomly, you know, hit an extra zero, right? You wanna make sure that those, um, are correct. There’s going to be no IRS data. Um, but the other, uh, asset, uh, and potential, you know, income, uh, additional questions off the 10 40, um, are there for the parent to review.

So it’s important to do that. And then the parent is also agreeing to the terms, um, and conditions, and then they’re submitting the, um, parent, uh, section by kind of checking off that [00:49:00] box. Um, and then again, the FAFSA is not considered complete or processed until all sections, um, are sent. Uh, and that last person, um, who’s there is the one that’s then it gets sent off when, when all sections are signed, all contributors have contributed.

So now. Once that has happened, you’ll get this congratulation, the FAFSA form is completed. Um, and so if the parent is the last one, um, to, uh, to contribute, then they’re getting this lovely, um, congratulations, uh, you know, uh, page. Um, but the student is going to be alerted to that. Uh, they’re gonna receive an email with detailed, uh, confirmation information.

Now, if the parent wants to start, um, the FAFSA before the student, again, they certainly can. They’re going to, um, you know, this goes back right to the beginning of the presentation. You know, start new form. They’re gonna click that same button, [00:50:00] but on the next page, um, after they put in their F-S-A-I-D, they’re gonna say, I’m starting the fast form as a parent, right?

Uh, and so they’re kind of, um, setting it up, uh, who, who is beginning the form. They’re going to then have to provide student demographic information. Um, again, email address does not have to match if the student already has an F-S-A-I-D set up. Um, and the parent then kind of determines, um, the student’s dependency stats or, you know, is asked those questions and then the parent completes and finishes, um, their own fafsa.

Uh, the student is then going to get an email notification that, you know, a FAFSA has been started on their behalf. Uh, and then they can log in, provide their consent, et cetera, sign, and, um, and all is well in the world. And in some scenarios, and there are some parents that I’ve interacted with this, this is exactly how they, they want to go about it.

Um, I think one of the most important [00:51:00] things as you begin this process, and I I’m sure, uh, all of you, um, you know, kind of see this and talk about this with students, you know, this process is the perfect start to let’s have the student start and take that initiative. Because once they’re in college, it’s all gonna be on the student as far as the bill bills going to them as far as getting information from the financial aid office about missing documents, et cetera, et cetera.

Right? With those FERPA laws, all the communication is, is going to that student. So it’s a perfect time to, uh, to test the waters, uh, for some people of having the student kind of start that process. The student is going to get what’s called a FAFSA submission summary. Nice tongue twister. Uh, and this is really just a summary, again, not including um, IRS data, but of everything that is on the fafsa, um, list, when the FAFSA was received, when it was processed, um, and then there’s this aid summary [00:52:00] form that we’ll look at.

Um, there’s eligibility overview, um, and, uh, next steps. And the student should receive this within like one to three days after FAFSA submission, which is really like the same timeframe that institutions receive, uh, a student’s FAFSA data. So this kind of eligibility overview, um, talks through for them these different components of federal aid and whether or not they may, um, be eligible, um, for these items.

Pell Grant is, you know, it’s really kind of based on that, that student aid index. So it can, you can get a definitive answer typically there. Uh, and then direct loan based on, you know, if they’re independent or dependent, you know, you can borrow up to, and, you know, there’s a cap for those students. This is an independent student with a, with a 9,500.

Um, and then work study is something that’s always like you may be eligible as long as they have, um, [00:53:00] um, if their, their SAI is is on the lower side, that is so variable, um, depending on an institution and what sort of allocation they have. And now we’re wrestling with what will, uh, the president’s budget look like, because, um, there’s been proposals for a lot of slashing, um, on the federal work study side.

So we shall see, but it really. This gives some sort of information, but really just encourages students to wait until they receive information from the institutions. ’cause that’s going to be kind of the definitive, uh, source, uh, student sees all of the answers, um, and answers provided by their contributor, uh, as well.

Uh, and then for each of the institutions that the student has applied to, um, they now provide kind of a little, um, grid, um, with some school information looking at graduation rate, retention rate, transfer rate, default rate, um, average annual cost. So [00:54:00] that’s taking the cost of attendance minus just grant and scholarship aid.

Um, one of the things I do like to point out, which. Bugs me a little bit. Um, is the median debt upon, um, completion that only includes federal debt? Um, and so I’m just kind of pointing that out for you guys, uh, to note. Um, it doesn’t include any information on any sort of say, student private loans that a student may take at, at an institution so that that could change, uh, that, uh, information.

Uh, next steps. Um, there are, um, the, these are basically, um, things that the student needs to know, right? It’s saying what their, um, SAI is, it’s saying if they are eligible for a Pell Grant or not. Um, and then if there are things that they may, may actually need to follow up on this for your awareness section, these bullet points, some of them are just general and everyone gets those comments.

Some of them actually require some [00:55:00] action. So in the example I gave of the, um, eligible non-citizen who answered that they were a citizen, and they would end up getting, um, a little bullet point here that says, we were not able to confirm your citizenship status. You know, you need to provide, um, proof and follow up with your school.

Um, and the, the other thing is, um, there’s something called verification. Which is, has always existed. I really hoped that it was gonna go away in full. Um, because, uh, for most students, what we, if they get selected and they get randomly selected, that we would have to, um, verify a GI taxes paid, um, certain untaxed income that that used to not be on a tax return.

Uh, and then household size and number and college wealth. We, the connection with the IRS and everyone has to give consent. So I thought, well, that’s, that’s gone. So we shouldn’t have to verify. And no longer is college, um, number in college affecting the bottom line. So, um, you know, I was [00:56:00] hoping it would go away.

It looks a little bit different. A lot of what we’re seeing, um, is identity verification. Um, and so a little bit less on, um, uh, students who are selected with, for what’s called V one, like the standard verification, which was those income and household size. But sometimes I’ve seen some where it’s, they, they are selected for that and, and maybe it’s an increase in like a significant increase in those number, um, uh, number in, in household, right?

Uh, and maybe that needs to be verified. Um, but I will say from, again, being old and having done this a long time, um, it used to be, you know, maybe I’d see at my old institution, hundreds of students selected for verification. I was just looking, um, in our current, uh, year and we had 82 students, uh, selected.

So, so it should be fairly small, but, um, but they’re notified on that summary page. And then the institution is going to follow up again. That’s gonna be a follow up that’s gonna happen with the student. It might be by email. Um, uh, [00:57:00] but they should be ensuring that they’re, they’re watching their email.

Colleges will send out financial aid information, say typically March through April. Um, but again, it’s gonna depend on the institution. Some might try and get information out a little bit earlier. Um, so, uh, students again should just kind of keep their eyes, uh, appealed, uh, for that. And then things for families to do.

So, register for me for webinars. There’s so many, um, and there’s great information provided and it’s great that, you know, sometimes they can have the option of, uh, being in person maybe at, at a high school, but they can also, as, as I say, you know, maybe get comfy, uh, in some jammies and watch, uh, watch a presentation, um, you know, that’s been recorded or some of them that are done live.

Um, absolutely get that F-S-A-I-D, um, have the student and the parent get that and get that done. It just makes the process easier when they go to complete, um, a hundred percent understanding for each school what are the deadlines and what forms [00:58:00] are required. Um, it’s not just the FAFSA form, but there’s so much that goes out there around the FAFSA form that sometimes I worry, um, that, that a student can, you know, can get lost.

Especially if a student doesn’t have, you know, a good, um, uh, kind of adult mentor. Right. Um, guiding them. And then, um, you know, complete the FAFSA as soon as possible. It is open. Um, so it can get, it can get completed if a student does complete it and they don’t have their college list, you know, fully complete.

Just make sure that they’re, uh, they’re reminded that they’ll need to go back in and, you know, add a school on if they, you know, add an additional, uh, school. So, um, you can sign up for MEFA emails, uh, for the school counselors if you’re not already, um, on that. Um, but you know, I have been volunteering, um, you know, on behalf of MEFA for probably 26 years.

And I, um, just think that, um, all of the folks there [00:59:00] care so much, um, for our families, for the counseling staff, for school staff, um, and they’re just such a great support. So, uh, highly, um, endorse, uh, MEFA and you can connect with them in all of these different ways. I think that’s the last slide. Yes. And, and Amy,

Julie Shields Rutyna: thank you.

Thank you so much for that. Thank you so much. And, um, thank you to all of our participants who had good questions. Um, I don’t see any outstanding questions. It is 9 31, but if someone had one final question or something, we could cover that. But, um, other than that, yes, please stay in touch and you see the telephone number and um, email right there.

So please know you can, you can be in touch with us anytime. And we, we are so lucky because we work so closely with the experts like Amy and, um, so if you ask a question that stumps us, we have many resources to, uh, to find tho those answers. So anyway, I, I, I guess the board [01:00:00] looks clear, so I’ll, I’ll say thank you again Amy, and thank you to everyone and enjoy this, um, this beautiful fall day.

Thanks.