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Julie Shields-Rutyna: [00:00:00] Good morning everyone. My name is Julie Shields and I am the director of college Planning, education and training for MEFA. And welcome to this morning’s webinar on the mafa, the Massachusetts Application for State financial Aid. And we have a, um, wonderful guest with us this morning. I will introduce her in one moment.

Um, but I’ll just let you know that and remind you that this is part of the MEFA Institute and you can receive professional development points for this. So when we send you a copy of the recording and the slides tomorrow, you’ll see a place where you can apply to receive the professional de development points.

And again, so happy this morning to have Stephanie Barbosa with us. And Stephanie is an associate director in the Office of Student Financial Aid, [00:01:00] uh, part of the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education. And Stephanie has really taken the lead on this new and, uh, wonderful process for, um, for our students.

So, Stephanie, with that, I’m gonna turn it over to you and I will just also share, besides saying that you’ll receive. See the recording and the link to the slides that if you have questions that I’m sure you do, please put your questions in the q and a section and I will, uh, organize those and, and, and keep those, and I will present those to Stephanie at the end.

Um, if there’s a burning question, I might, I, I might bring it up during, okay, so Stephanie, with that. Turn it to you.

Stephannie Barboza: Great. Thank you Julie, and good morning everyone. Um, so as Julie mentioned, I will be talking today about the Massachusetts application for state financial aid or Mafa as we refer to it. And today I’ll just do, uh, gonna do a brief overview of [00:02:00] our requirements for students who are eligible to complete the mafa, and then do a little overview of the application itself.

Our current 25 or upcoming 25 26 application. So the first thing I wanna talk about is who is eligible to complete the mafa? Um, as you know, we have our federal application, the, uh, fafsa and then the state version, uh, for Massachusetts. So we. Say that students should only be completing one application. Um, they should not be completing both.

When we receive both applications, we then have to really make sure that we are, uh, reviewing the correct data for the application and making sure that students are awarded aid under the correct application. Um, so again, students who are not eligible to complete the FAFSA should be completing the state version.

The application and for those who kinda meet those qualifications versus that they should be [00:03:00] living in Massachusetts and then that they must meet the high school completer status requirements under our Massachusetts tuition tuition equity law that was passed back in July of 2023. So again, if the student is eligible to complete the fafsa, so if they’re a US citizen, an eligible non-citizen, um, they should not be completing the MAs ffa.

The MAs FFA was not designed for students who, um, are eligible to complete the fafsa. It’s really for students who are unable to, uh, complete the FAFSA due to their, um, immigration status. So for high school completers, um, again, it was passed under the tuition equity law. It carved a pathway for students to be able to receive in-state tuition rates and state financial aid.

So the requirements for high school completer status is that a student must have attended a Massachusetts High school for at least three years. They should have graduated from a Massachusetts high [00:04:00] school or received their equivalent of the high school diploma, so A GED or high set. Also in Massachusetts, they can’t have an ineligible non-immigrant status.

So as I’ve indicated on the slides here. Eligible status is a student who, um, be daca, TPS, um, students who are right now in the process of applying for asylum. Those students would be eligible, um, to complete a mafa and students who have undocumented status as well. Um, they must be admitted to a public or private institution of higher ed within the Massachusetts, his higher ed system, and again, they must physically reside in Massachusetts.

And I just wanna bring attention back to, uh, the first bullet point there where they should have attended Massachusetts High School for at least three years. Um, because I know that is one of the questions we usually get, uh, regarding that specific point. So when we say attended three years of high school, um, they don’t have to be consecutive.

We have some students who have, [00:05:00] um, you know. Gone to high school, maybe ninth grade in Massachusetts. They moved away to, um, New York for 10th grade, completed 10th grade, and then came back to Massachusetts. Finished up their 11th grade, and they’re now maybe, you know, in their senior year completing 12th grade.

That would constitute three years of attendance in a Massachusetts high school. We have some students who maybe come in, you know, in the middle of a school year, they. Start in December or February, that would also count as having attended one academic school year. So again, as long as they’ve had the three years of attendance, they would meet one of the requirements for the Massachusetts high school completer status.

Julie Shields-Rutyna: And Stephanie, can I ask you one question right up front? Um, does the student need to attend college in Massachusetts to complete the mass fall?

Stephannie Barboza: Yes, they do. Yes, because it’s specifically for Massachusetts State Aid. Thank you, and the majority of our state aid programs are only for [00:06:00] public and private institutions in Massachusetts.

Thank you.

Hopefully you can all see this, but this is just kind of a little graphic in terms of, you know, again, who qualifies to complete a FAFSA and who should uh, be completing the masa. So again, if you’re a US citizen eligible non-citizen. Students should be completing their, uh, FAFSA if, uh, you do not have an non-immigrant visa status, and you meet the again, high school completer requirement of attended high school for three years and earned your Massachusetts high school diploma.

And you’ve resided in Massachusetts for at least 12 months prior to the start of the academic year in college, then you are eligible to complete the mafa. And we add in that requirement of having lived in Massachusetts at least 12 months prior to the start of, um, college because most of our state financial aid programs also have that one year residency requirement.

So from the, you know, [00:07:00] go, we’d like to let students know that that is one of the requirements as well.

So before we go, and Stephanie,

Julie Shields-Rutyna: can I, can I ask one more question? Sorry. That was a great chart that you showed. Is there a place where counselors can access that if they wanted to print it or something like that? I.

Stephannie Barboza: So we will, uh, we’re, we have our tuition equity website, which we are currently in the process of revising.

We’re looking at that with our whole team. Um, so we will definitely, uh, be able to share that on the website and also the slide deck will be available, so the having that and I can send it to you separately as well, so we can send that out to the group.

Julie Shields-Rutyna: Thank you.

Stephannie Barboza: So just a little bit before we dive into the, uh, Mafa application itself, um.

So the application is only available electronically. We do not have a paper application. Um, and the reason for that is that the application uses smart logic. So as the student is answering questions, then there will be another set of questions that may [00:08:00] populate or that the student can. Skip based on the questions of how they’ve answered previous questions.

Um, so again, it’s only available electronically through what we call our student experience portal. The link is also available now on the tuition equity website. I. So that’s where the student can access, uh, the application itself. And we also have like a q and a there, um, on the website as well, with questions regarding eligibility as a high school completer student, um, in-state tuition and financial aid options.

So. We ask that the students complete the application on a computer or a laptop and not on their mobile phones, while they can create their account on the mobile phone and answer some questions. The application at the end does require students to download, uh, what they have completed or the application itself.

Um, so on some phones it doesn’t work really well. And sometimes just the data itself doesn’t really connect. Um, so we asked again, [00:09:00] use a computer or a laptop to complete the application. The application itself collects data, um, that helps d determine a student’s eligibility for state and institutional financial aid programs.

Um, so at the end day, the schools will receive an ICER that has that information that students, um, that they can use to determine a student’s eligibility for aid. And again, it’s very important that the student reads each question carefully before they’re providing any answers. They have the ability to be able to skip to a next section, um, if they don’t have an answer for, you know, what they’re working on.

Um, and again, depending on the questions and how they’re answering them. Because of that skip logic or the smart logic of the form, it may qualify them to skip other sections. Um, so depending on, for example, as I’ve noted here, if the student is working on their special circumstances section, how they answer those questions may, um, skip where they need to enter parental information [00:10:00] or, you know, it may prompt other questions that the stu that are not applicable to the student.

Um, so it can create some confusion there. So again, the student doesn’t need to complete the application in one sitting. They can go in, log in, complete one or two parts of the application, and then, um, you know, collect any of the information that they don’t have to complete the application and log in at another time, um, to finish the application.

And at the end of the application, the student is required to sign the application. If they are a dependent student. The parent is also required to sign the application, so the parent will be creating their own account, um, where they can review the application to the information the student has entered.

They can also help assist with corrections and then complete that signature process. We highly, highly recommend that students complete the signature process via the [00:11:00] electronic signature. Um, it is the. Fastest way that the student’s application will be processed once it’s completed. Um, e-signature again for the parent, if the student is a dependent, um, because once the student completes the application, and in this case if the parent is also.

Signing off on the application, the Student aid index, that SAI, that magic number that’s used to determine a student’s eligibility for financial aid. Um, that number is calculated and the students will receive a message telling them also what that student aid index is. So if it’s an electronic signature, the application will go through our system, we’ll process, and then within 48 hours, the school’s also receiving that data.

The paper signature is a much more manual process. It does require the student to download the application, sign it, and then upload it to the portal again. It then requires our office [00:12:00] to review the application to make sure that there are signatures, and then after we have verified, then it goes through process.

So that takes a little bit longer. Um, and so there is a delay there. And sometimes we’ve had students who have uploaded. Other types of documents that are not necessarily the application. So then we have to go back to the student to, you know, say we need your application, your signed application. So some extra time there is taken also while we communicate with the student before the application itself is processed.

So again, e-signature is the preferred method for, um, signing the application itself.

Just a quick update on the Mafa application. Um. States or deadlines. The 24 25 um, application that is our current application. It is open and will remain open until June 30th, 2025. And that’s for students who are currently enrolled in college this fall semester that [00:13:00] just ended in upcoming spring 2025.

The 25 26 application is not yet open. Uh, we hope that it will be available, um, starting next week. We are just working with our developer on some items that need to be finalized in our application and some of the backend things that the, um, schools will need to be able to review the applications. So we’re on our final stages of testing for that, and we hope to have that application released uh, really soon.

Again, that is for students who will be enrolling in college for the fall 24 or fall 25, spring 26 semesters, and the students will have until June 30th, 2026 to complete the application. Obviously the sooner it’s completed, the better because that way these schools will have the data, um, early on to be able to make those award determinations.

And as I mentioned earlier, any of the schools that are listed on the student’s application, [00:14:00] all of those schools will receive that student data from the sspa application. And again, they’ll be using that to determine a student’s eligibility, uh, for state financial aid.

So what are some of the items that a student needs to, uh, provide on the application? So the first part is gonna ask the student, um, as they’re completing the application for a date of birth, a mailing address, phone number, and a personal email address, and we say personal email address. We highly recommend, again, not to use that high school email address.

Um, sometimes because of firewall issues, any communications that are set out from our application or from OPA itself, um, do not go to or. Do not get received to those high school, um, email addresses because of those security blockings. And also we communicate to the students after they have graduated from high school and some schools, you know, disable those student accounts.

So they’re not [00:15:00] receiving our messages either. While we have the ability to update that, um, on our end when we work with our developers to update a student’s email address. Um, it is also a kind of manual process. It’s not something that the student or our office can just do, um, go in and out to correct.

Um, so we just say from the get go, the student should be using their personal email address that they have access to at all times, where they’ll be able to see, um, the communications that are being sent out from the application itself, and anything from our office as well. Dependent students are also going to be required to provide their parents’ date of birth, a mailing address, and an email address as well on their application.

The application does ask if the student has a social security number or an individual taxpayer identification number. If the student does not have one, they can still complete the application. They’re just going to leave that field blank. The application will also ask if the parent has a social security number.

If the [00:16:00] parent does not have one, uh, they’re prompted to enter nine zeros on the application. And so again, the student, if they do not have a social security number, they’re still eligible to complete the application. It’ll ask for high school information, school names, city, state, and dates of attendance.

And then tax, financial information is asked on the application if the student and or parents have earned any income for the prior, um, tax year. So in this case, the application is going to be asking for any earned income or tax returns from 2023. Um, in this case, again, if the student is under the age of 24, they also have to provide, uh, parent information, even if the parent is not contributing to the student’s educational expenses.

Um, that is a question that we get asked a lot frequently. Um, yes, parent information is required, um, and. If the student [00:17:00] has any extenuating circumstances where, you know, they do not live with the parents, there may be a ward of the state, um, or other conditions, they can include that on the application.

And so the application, again, will tailor some of the other questions based on the circumstances that the student has checked off on the application. Um, and the questions are tailored where they might not be needing to provide parent information. Um, so. Also the student can include the parent information.

And then once they’re speaking to their school, if there’s any professional judgment that needs to be made, um, that’s a conversation that the student can have with the institution and the school will then communicate that so we can make corrections if necessary, on the backend, on the application as well.

Okay, so I’m just gonna, um, dive into, uh, what it looks like to create the application itself and then provide with a couple of screenshots that show, uh, you [00:18:00] know, some of the updated questions. Um, we’ll look for the application itself and the process as we go through it. So again, uh, the students will create their account via the student experience portal.

On the sign in page there at the bottom, they’ll click on the sign up tab and then they’ll be prompted to, uh, read a registration eligibility question, essentially, you know, stating there should only be one application completed. If the student is a US citizen or non-eligible citizen, um, it’ll ask ’em to provide a yes or no.

If they answer yes, the application will tell them that they do not qualify to complete the sfa. They should complete a fafsa. If they answer no, the continue button is highlighted and it prompts them to continue their registration. So the first step then is to enter their email address, create a password.

They’re going to be asked to validate that email that they just, um, [00:19:00] submitted. So they’ll get a little, um, email saying to, and what you’re seeing here is kind of my beta account, so as a test account. Um, so it’s very, um, slim the information that it has there, but they’re provided with a link in their email to click on and it’s going to bring them back.

To their portal page that they were at, and it’ll just say, thank you for validating your email. And then it brings ’em to the signup page where they’ll reenter that email and password that they had just previously submitted.

Then they’ll just go through the steps of finalizing the account registration. So they’ll enter their first and last name, and again, as the, um, screen also prompts ’em, they should be entering their first and last name as it appears on their social security card. Um, or I 10 card or their passport so that when we need to match any data or the schools, I should say, when they’re receiving their documentation, it matches up, you know, the [00:20:00] name, social security number, um, to the data they’re providing.

I. Once they’ve logged in, they’re automatically redirected to the dashboard. That just provides ’em a little message about the portal, and they’ll be able to see the application. So for our current, let’s say high school seniors, when they log in, they’re going to see. See the two applications, the 24 25, because it is an active application.

And they’ll also then see the 25, 26 application. Um, if a student has already created account. At this point, they’re only seeing our current application since the 25, 26 isn’t yet released. But once it is, again, they’ll see both of those. Um, or seniors should only be completing the 25 26 application, um, since it’s for their academic school year.

They also have the ability to go to the documents tab, where they’ll also see the two applications right now that are available. [00:21:00] And when they’re on that, my documents tab, they’ll click the review and update button that will just enlarge screen there, and it’ll give them the start, edit, or complete I form.

That will bring them to the MASA application. And so the student will be completing the following section, student information, college and career, school plans, student circumstances, family information, financial information. They’ll provide the school list, um, parent information again for our dependent students.

Financial information, MVP signature, the flow and the questions pretty much mimic the FAFSA as well. So for something may be very familiar or counselors may be familiar in terms of the questions that are being asked. Um, so when we log in, again, this first page there, the first tab is the student information.

So it’s asking for first and last name, date of birth. [00:22:00] It will then prompt also for a social security number. Again, if the student does not have one, they can leave that field blank. They’ll also provide their, um, phone number, mobile phone number, and email address will already be pre-populated on that screen since it’s the one that they use to register their account.

Student’s marital status, their high school completion status is of 25 26 school year. The question for state of residence. ’cause that one could be a tricky one for students sometimes to answer. It’s in what state do you reside in? Um, and then the month and state, month and year that that student became a full-time resident of that state.

And then there’s demographic information, again, similar to the fafsa, which is optional on race, gender, and ethnicity. The second part here is the college and career plans. So again, when will a student begins the school year, what college grade level will they be? Freshman, second year, [00:23:00] junior and other.

Then there’s even an option for, um, master’s and graduate programs. When the student begins the 25 26 school year, will they already have earned their first bachelor’s degree? Yes or no? Will the student be pursuing an initial teaching certification at the elementary or secondary level? Yes or no as well for that question.

And you’ll notice as you go through, the student goes through the application as they’ve answered all of their questions. On the left hand side there, they’ll see the check marks that indicates that the student has fully answered all of the questions for that section. So the student special circumstances, again, they can go through each of those questions that are listed there.

If one is applicable, they can check that off, and at the bottom there’s the section that says it does not apply, so they’ll able to check that off as well.

The second question under special circumstances is regarding student homelessness. [00:24:00] Then the unusual circumstances. So are there any unusual circumstances that prevent the student from contacting their parents? And so the um, form provides ’em with what constitutes, um, those special circumstances. So if any of those are applicable, then the student check yes or no, if it’s not applicable.

And again, you’ll also notice as we’re going through the form quickly here, um, the questions are in English and right below, they’re also, um, listed in Spanish. Right now, Spanish is the only language that is on the form. Um, we are looking again to see other languages, but right now the form itself is just in English with, um, Spanish.

Under the Student Family Information Section. Um, so again, did either parent attend or a complete college? Um, was the parent’s, student’s, parent or guardian killed in live duty? Again, [00:25:00] so familiar with the fafsa. These questions really match what the fafsa, uh, form has as well. So again, some of these questions may not be applicable to students.

So yes or no, uh, student financial information. Um, so did the student file a 23 IRS tax form? Yes or no? It’ll also ask if the student had earned any foreign income and maybe filed a foreign tax return, yes or no for that. Then if the student indicates no on these questions, then this third one here, again using the smart logic, indicate the student’s income filing status that one would disappear or would not appear if the student answered no to the previous questions of they did not file a tax return or foreign tax return.

Questions on assets as well for the students, so total of cash savings and total of the total current total of cash in a savings or checking account. Any investments, business and investment [00:26:00] firms as well.

And then we’ll get to the student lists. Um, listing the schools here, so all of our Massachusetts public and private institutions are listed on the, um, application. The student can list up to 20 schools, so against to the fafsa. Also, you’ll be noticing that you’ll see that for, uh, the majority of the fields on the application, it is required.

So it does highlight that if the student is skipping. And I will make a note again that you can do the skip ahead feature if the student wants to, you know, move to one section and needs to go back afterwards while they collect some information. So you can always do the skip ahead feature if you wanna skip through any of the different, um.

Tabs here and can, you can go back at any time to make those, um, corrections or add in the information that may be missing. So for this demo, the way that I’ve completed the application, again, there were no [00:27:00] special circumstances. Um, I. Students living with parents, so they’ll be prompted here to enter their parent information.

So again, as I mentioned, first and last name, date of birth, the social security number. Again, if the parent does not have a social security number, then in the field they will be prompted to enter nine zeros. We’re asking for that information because at the point of parent creation, uh, the parent, in order to kind of identify, um, the parent will be prompted to enter the last four digits of a social security number.

So in this case, if the parent does not have one, they’ll enter that four digs, four zeros. And that’s one of the ways when, uh, for authentication when the parent is creating their accounts. So again, for the parent information, first and last name, date of birth, social security number, their contact information, their marital status as of the day they’re completing the application.

The state of [00:28:00] residence. Again, where does this, what state does the parent reside in the month and year? The parent became a full-time resident. That’s what that should say. How many people are in the fair’s household? Um, how many people in the parents’ family will be in college between July 1, 25 through June 30th, 2026?

Federal benefits, if they’ve received any. And essentially, uh, what’s listed there are, for example, um, staff benefits, um, wic, any of those federal benefits. If the family is receiving any, they can check that off, and if not, there’s the option where it says None apply. Then the application also will ask for the parent’s filing status.

So did the parent earn any income? And you’ll see that on the right hand side. Um, did they file a tax return for 2023, yes or no? Did the parent file a 23 tax return with their current spouse if the parent has indicated in the previous section for marital status that they were married, [00:29:00] um, and then the income status or filing status for 2023.

So again, if the parent answers yes, it will prompt them to enter their text information. If they answer no, the prompt will be, um, a set of questions. Her options to why they did not file a tax return. So it could be, um, you know, one of the options are they did not earn any income or the income was below the filing threshold, so no tax return was filed.

Um, so there’s a couple of options that the parent has to choose from for the reason that they did not file a tax return. Parents’ financial information will also ask, you know, was there any child support received and parents’ assets as well? So. Cash in a checking savings account if they have any investments as well.

And if they don’t for these questions, the students and the parent when they’re completing the section can answer zero. If the parent, again, depending on how they have [00:30:00] answered the marital status question, if they have indicated that they are married, then the spouse and partner information will be requested.

Um, and so in this case, again, first and last name, date of birth, social security number. Income earned as well for that spouse. And so again, those are just all of the, um, items that are asked on the application. Again, the flow set of questions being asked are very similar to the fafsa. Once they have completed all of the, um, set of questions, you, again, you’ll see the check marks here on the right hand, uh, left hand side.

And then we get to the e signature page. So again, it does prompt tells you that, you know, there are two options. You can do the electronic signature or you can choose the other option, the paper signature as we refer to it. Um, so you are gonna check off, sign the e document. It’s gonna prompt the student to again, um, download the [00:31:00] application.

The idea is that the student will review the application that they have downloaded to make sure that the information that they have entered is accurate. Um, if there are any corrections that need to be made, they can go back to the application, make those corrections before they sign. Um. Because I will tell you if the student signs the application and they are a dependent student, the student is not able to make any corrections to their application until after the parent signs the application.

So this is kind of the first step where students can check to make sure information is accurate before any signatures are processed. Um, so again, the system prompts the student to download the application. They’re gonna acknowledge that the information that they entered is accurate. And then for the e-signature process, what it does is it asks you just to enter your first and last name and your password for your account that you created, and then you’re just completing the e-signature process.[00:32:00]

Once the student submits their application, they’re going to get a confirmation email that the application has been submitted. Um, the subject line is Massachusetts application for State financial aid 25 26 has been submitted. Um, it will tell ’em that it has been e-sign and that the next step is to invite their parents to complete their parents section and sign the document as well.

So once the e-signature process has been completed, the student will be redirected to the documents page if they’re an independent student. Um, the application is complete once the student has signed the application. Again, if it’s a dependent student, it requires the parent’s signature. So you’ll see on the, uh, application and the My Documents page, it will prompt the student.

It will show them that there is a signature pending, so they have to request their parent signature. [00:33:00] They’ll review an update, which then brings down the dropdown here that has the request to parent signature button. They’ll click on that. And what we’ll populate are the parents’ names on the application.

So once the parent student chooses, uh, the parent, it’s going to pre-populate that email address that was entered on the application. So the student does not need to, you know, manually, um, add the email or anything like that. Each parent will have their own separate email. So right now, just one signature is needed.

So they’ll click on again, that parent and send off the invitation. They’ll get a confirmation that that email, um, invite has been sent. The parent will receive an email invitation with a link to create their own specific account in order to create the e-signature process. And again, once the parent completes that process, the student will also receive an email that [00:34:00] the parent has signed off on their application.

I quickly like, have screenshots here also for the parent side, um, as we’ll go through it, I’ll go through it a bit quickly as well because it looks very similar to the student, uh, facing portal when their student is creating an account. Um, there are some things that will be pre-populated, for example, as long as that parent is using the link.

That was provided in the email, it’s automatically going to bring ’em to the account registration page and it’s going to pre-populate their email. You’ll also notice, and I didn’t include that here, but the URL that the parent receives, it says parents in it. So that’s how we also can differentiate between the student and the parent accounts.

Again, they’ll go through the process of validating their email, they’ll get that confirmation email. They’ll then sign in with the email, um, and the password that they have created. And as I mentioned earlier, that [00:35:00] parent account validation, this is where the parent will enter again, the last four digits of their social security number as the prompt shows here.

If they do not have one, they’re entering four zeros and the date of birth. This information, name, last name, social, and date of birth must match what the student entered on their application. Um, sometimes we have, uh, students who will incorrectly enter a date of birth, so as the parents trying to create their account, they’re getting an error message that the credentials don’t match.

The workaround right now is that the parent needs to create that account with the incorrect date of birth, and then once the parent is logged into their account, they can go in and make the corrections to the application and update the date of birth. Um, but so that’s very important again, from the beginning that the student enter that information correctly, uh, because that is one of the things that we do see, uh, date [00:36:00] of birth.

Last names are entered incorrectly. So as the parent is trying to create their account, they’re getting these error messages, but it’s just that the data has to match again, for authentication purposes. Whatever was entered on the application is what needs to be entered on the screen in order for that account to be created.

Again, the parent has the ability to download once they’ve logged into their account. Um, they can download the application and see what the student entered on the application. If there are corrections to be made, they can click on the edit and complete form, uh, where they can go in and review each of the sections of the application and make their own corrections there.

Or if they’re viewing the application, everything looks good, they can just click the sign form button there. It’s gonna prompt them to go automatically to the last page, to the e-signature page. So again, e-signature is what we recommend that the students or the parents also complete, uh, for the application.

Again, just for the processing of the [00:37:00] application itself, it is much, much quicker when the e-signature is the one that’s selected. They’ll also download the application again, uh, check off the box that they acknowledge that the information is accurate. And then they’ll also just enter their first and last name, their accounts password, and uh, click the sign button.

And then that just again completes the application. Um, it will bring this parent back to their, um, documents page, and they’ll see that you’re all caught up on required documents. No additional documentation, um, is needed at that time. So that’s a way for every party to know that the application is complete.

Um, and then the statuses up here, the students also see those status bars in there, um, documents tab. So once it’s complete, that satisfied green button there will be checked off to show that the uh, application has been completed in its entirety by both parties. [00:38:00] And then this is just a quick overview of what the student, again, this is in kind of my testing phase here.

Uh, but what the students will see when their application is, um, completed and it has been signed by their parent. Um, so they’ll get an email saying, your parent has signed the application. Your calculated student aid index for the year is da, da, da, dah. Once, uh, again, so this email on the left hand side is from the application itself, uh, that is generated.

Once the application is completed, our office will also send students a separate email. Inviting them to go into a separate portal at this time, um, to view the status of their application as well. So this is an automated message that goes out to students. Uh, once their application is complete, it invites them to see their application status, that student aid index, and a tentative mass grant award.

And [00:39:00] that mass grant award is again, tentative. And it’s based on the first institution that was listed on the student’s application. Um, so it obviously can vary if a student ends up going to a different institution, but it just gives the student an idea of what a tentative mass grant award and only mass grant is listed because that is a program that we oversee.

Any other type of financial aid that the student may qualify for that is handled specifically. Through the school’s financial aid office. Once the school has that data, the master data, uh, the schools can determine, um, if the student is eligible to receive financial aid and what financial aid programs they qualify for.

On the student portal, if the student has any ineligible reasons that, you know, that we may have flagged them for. So for example, you know, they may have listed a different state, um, a residence or they may have listed, um. That they [00:40:00] didn’t earn a high school diploma. So for whatever reason, maybe it could have been an error on the application.

So we’ll flag that and the student, and through this portal we’ll see that red flag and it will with instructions on what they knew need to do to make those corrections. The most part, a lot of students are just submitting, um. Sometimes a high school transcript to our office or to the school, and then we verify it with the school.

But they’re provided again with instructions if there are any ineligible reasons. If there’s none, then that means their application is looking good on our end, and then the school will just kind of do their part once they receive it. And then finally, uh, just a, a few more updates. Um, we had completed or had done verification for students, uh, starting for the 24 25 academic year where we were collecting additional tax documentation to verify the information on the application.

Um, that was suspended a couple of months ago and for the upcoming 25, 26 year, we are also suspending [00:41:00] that. So we are not collecting any additional tax documentation, uh, for the students. So again, we just ask that when they’re completing their application to make sure that the information that they’re entering is accurate.

Because with the information that’s on the application, that is what we’re using. That’s the data that we’re using, and we’re not collecting any additional documentation. Once the student’s application is complete, it’s going to be processed by our office. Then that ICER data, again is shared with the schools listed on the student’s application.

So if they list one school or 10 schools, that data will be shared with those specific schools again, so that the students, um, for the institution that they enroll in, that they’ll use that data to just determine the student’s eligibility for in-state tuition, any need based state financial aid. Students should contact the financial aid office of the college they’re planning to attend for more information on their financial aid eligibility and next steps.

And the reason why I say that is, um, because we do get calls [00:42:00] asking, you know, about what financial aid the student qualifies for. And aside from a tentative mass grant information that is posted on that, uh, a mass portal, as I indicated before. I have no way of knowing, you know, what institution a student is enrolled in, how many credits they’re enrolled in, program that they’re in.

So our office is not able to determine the type of financial aid that a student qualifies for because we don’t have that enrollment data that is all specifically with the school. Um, so it’s very important that the school. Students speak with the school’s financial aid office, um, their admissions office, as well as their beginning the process just to know what other documentation, any they need to submit, and just the process or timeline for when they would be receiving a potential financial aid award letter.

And then that’s just, um, my contact information there. Um, Robert Run also, um, is, um, [00:43:00] working on the MABA applications. A lot of the black backend. For, uh, platform information, um, on the backend, working with the schools and the processing of financial aid awards and any information. So if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to either one of us.

And then the link for our tuition equity website, again, through the website is where you have, um, the link to the, uh, SSPA application portal. Uh, and there’s a FAQ there with a couple of. Questions answers on anything from financial aid and eligibility for high school completer status.

Julie Shields-Rutyna: Thank you so much, Stephanie.

Uh, we have, we have some good questions, so I think we have a little time, if you don’t mind. I’m just going to take them, take them one by one. I we have 12, I think. That seems like about what we’ll be able to handle, so that’s great. Um, so the first one is, um, and some of these you covered, but I think sometimes it’s good to hear confirmation of things.

So the first one is, [00:44:00] is refugee status. Um. A status that would have you do the, the Mafa or the fafsa?

Stephannie Barboza: Um, that’s a great question and I would have to get back to, uh, whoever’s asked that once I confirm with the legal team, um, because I don’t have the answer on that.

Julie Shields-Rutyna: Okay. And I will also say we have a slide in one of our presentations, um, that.

That lists out all the statuses that are eligible to file the fafsa. So I will, um, I might add that slide to this presentation when we send it out to you. Okay. So I’ll, I’ll, I’ll send that out too. Thank you so

Stephannie Barboza: much. Yeah, and I would just say if there’s a specific question about a student status, um, because.

It’s brought and not brought in the sense, and every student can be in a unique situation, so we just don’t cover it under one umbrella. So we really, when the situation is brought up, we really speak with our legal team and they’ll, you know, ask the [00:45:00] questions just to really say, yes, the student is eligible for masa, or they should be completing a fafsa.

So definitely reach out to our office if you have a question about that specific student. Um, and we can work with our legal team to get an answer on that.

Julie Shields-Rutyna: That’s perfect. That’s wonderful. Okay, so that I’ll ask, um, I’m gonna hold a couple of these, which are the same themes. So let me see. Do students still need to complete the affidavit first to get access to the application?

Stephannie Barboza: No.

Julie Shields-Rutyna: Okay.

Stephannie Barboza: No. So at this point I would say, um, the affidavit should be completed once the student has. We’ll be enrolling at the institution, the institution that they will enroll in. That’s when they should be completing the affidavit, but they can complete the application. Yeah,

Julie Shields-Rutyna: that’s fine. That’s great. Um, and you said this, but maybe in case someone missed it, when will the application be available?

And I know you don’t have an exact date either.

Stephannie Barboza: We don’t have an exact date, but, uh, just crossed. We are hoping next week, um, it will be [00:46:00] out. Yeah, before the end of the month it’s going to be out. And

Julie Shields-Rutyna: is the form available in different languages?

Stephannie Barboza: So it is not, again, um, it’s in English and it just has prompts in Spanish.

Um, there are no other languages right now that are available on the application.

Julie Shields-Rutyna: Thank you. And, um, so the student completes the ma mafa and the parents sign it. Do the parents complete a separate application?

Stephannie Barboza: So they’re just going to create their account, uh, where they can view the, what the student has completed, make corrections if necessary, but they’re not, um, submitting any additional information or creating an account to, you know, submit some additional data.

It’s just really to go in view what the student has completed and sign off on it.

Julie Shields-Rutyna: That’s great. Should the student wait until they’re accepted into a Massachusetts College to complete the mafa?

Stephannie Barboza: No, they should [00:47:00] complete it. Yeah, they should be completing it. If they know that they meet the requirements to complete the mafa, they should complete it as soon as it’s available.

Um, because again, that is what the schools will use to determine if a student qualifies for state financial aid. Um, so we want the student to be able to see some award information prior to enrollment. Um, so the sooner the better.

Julie Shields-Rutyna: Thank you. Um, so just like the fafsa mm-hmm. If a student’s parents are not in the country with them, do they still need to provide parent info on the mafa or should they provide guardian info instead

Stephannie Barboza: if their guardian is their legal guardian? As they have court documentation that shows that you know the student is, um, you know. With them, you know, and that they are their legal guardians, then that is the information that they should be, um, you know, they can include their legal guardians [00:48:00] information, but if it’s just, you know, a family member that they’re living with, uh, for whatever circumstances, then no, they need to be including their parents’ information on the application, even if the parent is outside of the country.

Julie Shields-Rutyna: That’s great. And then we talked about this, um, someone asked, can we get a copy of the flow chart shared? And you mentioned that you are gonna be putting that together. Yeah,

Stephannie Barboza: yeah. I’ll send another copy by itself. ’cause I know, like on a presentation, it, it does show up a little bit blurry,

Julie Shields-Rutyna: so that’s great.

We will do that. Um, so this is a hard one and there were two questions like this, so I might lump them together. Um, which is. Light of the, well, I’ll ask them separately. Why not? In light of the recent election and upcoming immigration changes, uh, potential. I guess I’ll add in there. Do students or their families have anything to worry about with submitting such a form to the state?

I.

Stephannie Barboza: Um, so those are conversations that, you know, we are also having [00:49:00] within the department. Um, at this time, you know, as we’ve said before, the information that we are collecting is confidential. It’s, you know, processed in our office and it’s what only the school sees. Um, so there should be, you know, um. I can say like, no worries at the time that we’re sharing the information with any outside parties.

Um, but if there comes a request, you know, that is something that our legal team will, um, you know, certainly handle. Um, but at this time, you know, we’re just, as we’ve been doing, handling the information on our end and on the school’s end,

Julie Shields-Rutyna: and another person asked earlier. You know, sort of, I think was coming up with a potential solution.

And I, I said that that is not the process now, but I thought I’d just have you comment on it. They asked the question, if a student is mixed status, in other words, they’re eligible to file the FAFSA and their parents don’t have a [00:50:00] social security number, um, would it be a, a solution to file the mafa? To get around that, right?

Stephannie Barboza: Yeah, no, we would, if the student is eligible to file a fafsa, they should file a fafsa. Um, because again, with the fafsa, they’re getting potentially also federal aid, um, through the MASA application. We do not determine any federal aid. Students aren’t eligible for federal aid if they complete a Massachusetts, you know, the mafa application.

Um, so no, a student who is eligible for FAFSA should be completing fafsa. Our application is designed for students who are not eligible to complete the federal application.

Julie Shields-Rutyna: Yeah. And then, um, are there options for students who haven’t been in who. Have been in the US less than three years, would these students eventually become eligible for in-state tuition at some point?

Stephannie Barboza: That would be, uh, so [00:51:00] we’re talking, they’re not high school completer status. Um, I. So that would be something that they would need to speak with the school specifically, uh, regarding, you know, what for their statuses at that point, um, if they qualify for the in-state tuition rates. Um, but right now the student, the requirement as a high school completer is that you have to have those three years of high school, um, and graduated from a Massachusetts high school equivalent to meet the, um, in-state tuition and state financial aid criteria.

Julie Shields-Rutyna: Someone asked, I’m gonna do their second question first. If a student completed a FAFSA already and they should have completed the mafa, what next steps should we take with that student?

Stephannie Barboza: They completed a fafsa, but they should really have completed a mafa is the question. Yeah. I mean, they should, yeah, go ahead and let’s do it. Yeah. What happens is that what I said, like they should only be completing one or the other because we get data [00:52:00] also from fafsa. So then we’re just double checking on our end to make sure that we are processing, um, any information through the correct platform.

So that just again, takes a little bit of extra time then if we get a flag that the student has completed both. Um, but yeah, if the student is absolutely eligible to complete mafa, then they should complete it. Even though they’ve completed the other.

Julie Shields-Rutyna: Great. And then there is a last, uh, well second to last question on asylum status, but I think we covered that, that for individual students, contact Stephanie at SFA and they have a legal team that can help with that.

And also, uh, MEFA does have a slide where we list all of the statuses that would allow someone to complete ’em. Fafsa. So I will put that slide in with the materials that we are, we will send out after this, uh, this webinar. Um, and that’s also a webinar on, on MI a’s website, [00:53:00] um, that is about helping, uh, students with various immigration statuses in the financial aid process that Andrea Keenan has presented.

So you can find it there, but I, I’ll, I’ll find the slide. And attach it as well. And then lastly, um, I hear this question on both, for both FAFSA and Mafa. It’s a question on, um. The state grants being based on the first school listed. Can you talk a little bit about that? That that’s a, that’s an every year kind of question.

Stephannie Barboza: Yeah. So this is where our application, uh, differs with a fafsa. So for our application, every school that’s listed a separate icer, you know, student aid report is created. So in our system, there’s really no way to, um, determine. Or to select, you know, which school the student will be attending. So we go also through that, whatever the first school is that the student listed, or the [00:54:00] first icer that we get that is the school that is listed, um, on our portal.

That obviously does not mean that that’s where the student has to attend. Once the student, um, has enrolled at a specific institution, then the schools will provide us with that information saying, this student is enrolled. So then that information on their status portal will change. It’ll update to that school, but also the school will obviously, in a system that we have with the school, they will update their records also to reflect that the student is actually registered at our institution.

Um, but yes, I guess the. Short answer is yes. One of the schools on the application is what’s tentatively listed, um, on the. Status portal that shows the tentative mass grant award. But again, so

Julie Shields-Rutyna: this is my question then, Stephanie. Can I confidently continue to advise counselors and students when I say it all works out in the wash, and that when [00:55:00] a student sees that grant at one school, if they go to another.

Massachusetts State Institution, they, they can confidently know it will work out in the wash. Correct.

Stephannie Barboza: So as long as it’s showing that if the student has no flags, that they’re eligible, uh, that means that they will receive a mass grant or they’re eligible to receive a mass grant. The award amount may vary.

Um, you know, based on the institution that they’re attending. If it’s a two year. Four year public or a private institution. Um, and also until we receive our state budget, so that, that’s why it’s always a tentative award that we post and we make that very clear on the portal that it’s a tentative award, um, amount until we are able to verify the institution that the student will be attending, um, and then those updates are made.

Julie Shields-Rutyna: Thank you. And there is one more. Does the application allow you to add a new college after submitting the mafa?

Stephannie Barboza: So the student can always go back into their application once they’ve signed it, and if they’re a dependent student, [00:56:00] once the parent has signed, and they can go in and make any updates or corrections.

So that includes adding schools, and again, they have the ability to add up to 20 schools. So yes, they can go back in and, and make those changes or edits.

Julie Shields-Rutyna: Well, Stephanie, thank you so much. This was wonderful, informative. Um, and, and the fact that you. Put out there, and I know you’ve been doing this for a while now, saying contact us, call us if you have any questions, is amazing.

And um, thank you to all of you who ask great questions and we’ll look forward to the form being launched and an hopefully a, um, an a a an easier winter spring in, in getting all these applications completed. So thank you so much and thank you everyone. Have a very nice day.

Stephannie Barboza: Thank you.

Julie Shields-Rutyna: Bye.