001Nukem. I'm one of the school counselors and the school counseling director at Exiter High School. We've got a couple of our counselors out back. Um, Mr. York and Miss Bowen. And hopefully you saw Miss Leech as you walked in the door. I think she was directing you down um to the auditorium. We are so excited to have you here tonight. This is our first in-person financial aid night since we closed for CO. So, it feels really good to have people in the auditorium and be able to do this with you tonight. So really appreciate that you are here. Um wanted to just let you know about some of the things that we are doing with your seniors before I turn things back over to Chris to get started. We have been meeting in the counseling
002office with your seniors for individual senior meetings talking about what their plans are for after graduation. we have been asking and making sure that we have that release so that we can release those transcripts as they go through the application process. So, if you haven't signed a release and sent it in, please do that as soon as possible. Um, and we're talking about those plans and walking them through the different aspects of the um college application uh process. This year, new at Exit High School, on October 28th, we are going to be having an apply New Hampshire day. Apply New Hampshire means that your students prepare their um applications. They're just ready to push the submit button and they are waiting to come into the library during their scheduled um time. We are scheduling students
003that would like to participate in 15minute slots to come in and they can apply to any New Hampshire school, private or public, without the application fee. They'll get a code that day that will allow them to apply for free. And then we'll be participating in some fun activities as they do all of this and an exit survey. And if they participate in that day, they will also have their name entered um into a scholarship drawing for $500. That $500 scholarship can be used if they attend any school in New Hampshire or if they end up going out of state and they are the winner of that scholarship, they can apply it to that school as well. So, it's a really cool opportunity. We've never participated in this before. It's brand new and we're looking forward
004to having as many seniors as possible participate. They will be um receiving information on how to register for that 15minute time slot um this week I believe. And then as I said that is October um 28th in the library here at school. I think I've covered what we're doing at Exit High School. So, I'm going to turn it over to Chris and he is going to um walk you through um financial aid. >> Good evening everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this evening. Thank you to Exit High School for having me. My name is Chris Cox and I am an education and career counselor with Granite Advance. Um just making sure if I stand here maybe pace a little bit. Can everyone see the screen? Okay. Can everyone hear me? Okay. Awesome. So,
005yeah, we're going to talk about financial aid 101 this evening. For those of you that um are just joining us or kind of just got situated in the last couple minutes here, first welcome. Second, I mentioned before we got started that all of these slides, the entire slide deck, as well as a digital copy of the financial aid insider, that booklet that you guys received when you walked in, will be sent to the counseling staff in the morning. And not only that, but this session is in fact being recorded and a recording will be sent to you guys when it's been properly rendered and edited. Um, another thing that insider if you wanted a digital copy of it for yourself, you could scan the QR code up there. It is a really great and helpful
006booklet. It will give you a lot of really great insights even beyond some of the things that we discussed this evening. Um, it's got tips, tricks, advice, and really all different ways to help set yourselves and your students up for success in this process. So, I'll bring this back at the very end of the um at the end of the presentation. I'll be doing question and answers with you guys. If you feel like you maybe want to discuss something with me a little more directly, then I will also be just staying up here for as long as I need to so you guys can chat with me more directly if you'd like to. So, a little bit about who we are at Granite Advance. We are a free resource for New Hampshire students and families
007to really help you guys through the college and career process. And we do that a number of different ways. Whether it's presentations just like this one, whether it is um publications like the insider, we also have a hand in producing the apply and days like we mentioned on the 28th. I'll be there. So, I will be really excited to help exit with their inaugural apply and age day. Another thing that we offer are one-on-one appointments on any of these different topics among others. um whether it's career and aptitude exploration, exploring different future options, assistance with either financial aid um in general or help with specific financial aid forms, reviewing different financial offer letters or for students that are already in college, help with being as successful as they can be in that college setting. These
008appointments can happen either virtually on a Zoom call or they can happen in person up at our offices in conquered. And the best part is everything that I've mentioned, the presentations, the publications, the appointments, they are all 100% free for you guys. So, if any of them sound like things that you might be interested in taking advantage of, please feel free to either talk to me afterwards, um, find us on social media, give us an, you know, give us a call, shoot us an email. There's actually a QR code on the back cover of your insiders that will take you to our appointment our appointments page or you can talk to your counselor here at Exit High School and they will put you in contact with us. So, that's a little bit about who we
009are. Now, let's talk about what we are here to talk about, and that is financial aid. This can be a huge and crucial piece of the college search process that many of you find yourselves right in the middle of. And so, we're going to try to talk about as much of it as we can. Talk about what financial aid is, talk about what it isn't, talk about what it means for you guys, and talk about some ways that you can make the most of it. So, let's start with just the basics of financial aid. And kind of the simplest loosest definition of financial aid is the system that is in place to help students pay for college. And so whether that system is put in place by the federal government, whether it's put in place
010by individual colleges or universities, even private organizations and charities, they all can factor into this in one way, shape, or form. Now, financial aid is offered in the formats of scholarships, grants, student loans, and work study jobs. Now, ultimately, the way that that is achieved, the way that financial aid is sort of figured is by evaluating a family's ability to pay for educational costs. And ultimately, that's all distilled down into one number. And that number is known as the student aid index or SAI for short. Now parents out there, if you have maybe helped an older student through this process or maybe if you yourself have gone through the higher ed process recently, you might know this by a slightly different term because previously it was known and referred to as expected family contribution or
011EFC. about three two to three years ago they changed the terminology and with the terminology also came some changes in the way that it's calculated and one of the biggest changes is that your SAI can be in fact a negative number it can go as low as minus500 now if you are to complete the financial aid forms that you need to and your result is500 I don't want you guys stressing out thinking that you broke it. I don't want you guys stressing thinking that you've done something wrong. That is entirely an achievable outcome. Now, no matter what the number is that shows up once you've completed those forms, it is still the responsibility of whomever, whether it's the government, the schools, etc. to provide ultimately limited funds in as equitable or as fair a manner
012as they can. And so the biggest way that they try to do this is by providing a balance when they're able to of what is called gift aid and what is called self-help aid. So here is that difference between the two. So, first off, when you guys hear the phrase gift aid, and that's a a phrase that a lot of schools tend to use, I want you to think free money because ultimately that is exactly what it is. It's money given to your student to pay for school that they do not need to pay back. And so, that can be offered for one of two reasons. The first one is merit. So, merit-based aid, that's usually your scholarships, and that's based off of either your students achievements, something they have already done, or their abilities,
013something they're capable of doing. It could be that they got amazing grades in high school. It could be that they are a star athlete, that they are a gifted artist, they're a community leader, things like that. Those would all be examples of merit-based aid. And then the other side is needbased aid. These are usually your grants. And so these are based on the family's finances. So one grant that some of you may have heard of um is known as the PEL grant and that is a grant that's given out by the federal government and it is based on who needs it the most financially. So the other side of the coin is self-help aid. So, self-help aid, it's divided into federal student loans, which it being a loan, you do need to pay back. Though,
014there are two different types of federal loans. There are subsidized loans and there are unsubsidized loans. The subsidized loans, they do not gain or the verb is acrue. They don't acrue any interest while the student is in school. So, if say your student is offered $3,000 in subsidized loans, that number is going to stay $3,000 until they either graduate, drop out, or drop to a point where they're only taking about one class worth of credits a semester. Now, unsubsidized loans, they're the exact opposite, meaning that they start to acrue interest as soon as they pay out. So, if you were to borrow, you know, that same $3,000 but in unsubsidized loans, then that's gaining interest as long as you're in school. Most students get a balance of the two or a combination of subsidized and
015unsubsidized loans. And then the other piece of self-help aid is work study. So, work study is unique in the different things that I've mentioned in that it doesn't actually or at least it's not designed to reduce the cost of college. doesn't make the tuition any cheaper. Instead, it's money that's set aside for your student to get a part-time job while they're on campus. It's ultimately up to the student to find that job, apply, work the hours, all of that. But this money is set aside to pay that student's salary. So, this is a way not necessarily to reduce the cost of college, but for your students to have a regular source of tax-free income while they are while they're at school. So, now that you know the different types of financial aid, now let's talk
016about how it factors into the actual college search. Um, I'll take questions at the very end, but you'll be the first person I look at. Okay. So the GI bill is considered separate from financial aid in terms of in terms of federal students but thank you for that. I will be taking questions at the very end. Um so thinking about how that factors into the college search. So, it's important to understand that cost is a factor for a lot of students and it's important to have that conversation about money and affordability earlier on in the process to make sure that everyone is on the same page. Now, having said that, it's important to talk about cost and affordability in the right context. And one of the pieces of context that a lot of folks need
017is understanding the difference between a school's sticker price and a school's net price. Here is that difference. The sticker price of a school is the cost of attending that school. Tuition, fees, meals and housing if your students living on campus, all of that together. That's the number that you might see on the school's brochure or on their website. And that number for a lot of schools out there can look really big and scary. And you can sit there thinking, how on earth am I going to afford to send my student to school, you know, when it costs 20, 30, 50, $80,000 every single year. That is very rarely the amount you actually end up paying. And that is where the net price comes in. So the net price is the cost of attending college minus
018any and all financial aid the student qualifies for. And a lot of times after the aid that the student gets, that number can be thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars less than the sticker price was. And so your very next question might be, okay, how can I find out what that net price might be for a given school? And the answer is net price calculators. Most, if not all, schools have them in some way, shape, or form on their website. If you're having a hard time finding it for a specific college or university, sometimes you just need to type into Google school's name plus net price calculator, and it will take you right there. The way that it works is you will enter in some information about your student. Um, it could be
019their academics if they do merit-based scholarships. Um, and then a little bit about the students finances and then a little bit about the family's finances. And then based off of that information that you put in, it will calculate everything together and it will provide you with two crucial numbers. First, it will tell you the amount of aid that your student might qualify for for that year. And then by subtracting that from the original sticker price, you will receive that net price. And so it can be a really great way to sort of get a ballpark of what you may need to either borrow, pay out of pocket, or find scholarships to come up for or some combination of the three. And we found that an upto-date net price calculator can be pretty accurate, give or
020take a $1,000 up or down, um, or a couple thousand depending on the school. Now, they can be incredibly helpful, but they do deserve a couple of grains of salt that you need to consider when using them. The first one is I mentioned up to-date. Not every college does the best job in the world of keeping their net price calculators up to date. So, you're going to want to really try to see if it says somewhere what school year they're talking about because over because year-over-year, colleges can change their costs. They can change the way that they allocate aid. They might put more of an emphasis on merit versus need one year versus the next. So, if your net price calculator that you're using is out ofdate, then it could affect the accuracy of your
021results. Another thing to keep in mind is that net price calculators can differ from college to college. Not just that they'll ask different questions, but you could potentially enter the exact same information into net price calculators at two different colleges and get wildly different results like net prices that are tens of thousands of dollars different. And number one, that can be 100% correct. And number two, it can be 100% normal. There might be a few reasons behind that. One, like I mentioned, colleges emphasize different things when they are awarding financial aid. Some colleges may have a greater emphasis on merit-based aid. Some colleges put a greater emphasis on need-based aid. Some try to strike as close a balance as they can between the two. And even then, some schools just simply have more to give
022in aid than other schools. So regardless of your student's merit, your student's need, you're just simply getting more money because the school has more money to give. So any one of those things could happen. So I just don't want you to be overly surprised if you get wildly different results even though you put the same information in. And then ultimately a net prize calculator is just an estimate. It's not a guarantee of anything. Your student still needs to apply, be accepted, and fill out all of the necessary financial aid forms in order to get any aid, much less the aid that the calculator says they might qualify for. But it can be a really great and crucial piece of information to really help color that conversation about affordability and about cost. Now, while we are
023on the topic of cost and, you know, pivoting a little to cost savings, there are a couple of programs that are out there specifically for residents of New Hampshire to increase their cost effectiveness of their educations. The first one is the granite guarantee. So, this program applies to New Hampshire's public colleges and universities. So that is the University of New Hampshire, both Durham and Manchester, Keen State College, and Plymouth State University. And so the way that the program works is if a student is accepted to one of the schools and is eligible for the PEL grant, which is that need-based grant that the government gives out, then the university or college will work to make that student's tuition go to zero. So it's free tuition. Now, that does not mean free college. There are still
024fees that the student will need to cover and plus if they live on campus, they'll need to cover meals, housing, etc. But it does mean that this significant piece of their bill, sometimes the biggest piece of their bill, will be reduced down to zero. and not just for one year, for up to four years total as long as the student continues to qualify for the PEL grant. So that can be an absolute gamecher for students and can sometimes spell the difference between one of our colleges, one of our public colleges being unaffordable to becoming affordable. Another option is community college. And they offer some of the most cost effective tuition out there in terms of cost by credit. And that's part of the way that they are so affordable is that they structure their tuition
025based on the number of credits that you're taking as opposed to charging a flat tuition rate like some of the other colleges and universities do. And so to kind of demonstrate how cost-effective it can be, I know it's getting late, but I'm going to do a little math. So $230 per credit. A full-time education is about 15 credits per semester. So that becomes about 30 credits per year. So that means that the cost of a year full-time of community college is between between like $7500 and $8,000. Which means that a student could um spend a second year at a community college and potentially receive their associates degree for a total price tag of about 15 to $16,000. Now, by comparison, just one year's tuition, not other fees, not meals and housing, just tuition at UNH's
026Durham campus is between $18 and $20,000 last I checked. Therefore, you can potentially get an entire associates degree and could potentially transfer into another four-year school in the same place as anyone else in their third year of college. All for less than the cost of a single year's tuition alone at UNH. So, it is really, really hard to beat those savings. Zooming out just a little bit. Um there's also a program called the tuition break program. And the way that this works is students are going to be eligible for the program if they enroll in an approved major that's not offered by a public college or university in New Hampshire, but is offered at a public college or university in one of the other New England states, whether it's Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, or Rhode
027Island. Now, there are, like I said, specific programs that this applies to. So, I would definitely check out that um that link on their website. It does not necessarily mean that it's free tuition, but it is going to be reduced tuition. And the average student sees a reduction in their tuition of about $8,600 per year. So definitely worth checking out, especially if your student is interested in something that they couldn't learn at a public college here. Now, we know a little bit more about some of the different programs that are out there. We know more about the different pieces of financial aid and what they mean. Now, let's talk about the actual process of applying for financial aid. This is something that is not only vitally important when it comes to making college more affordable,
028but it's also something that's very timely because a lot of forms have opened right now. So, the two forms that we're going to talk about and that are kind of far and away the most common um are the FAFSA and the CSS profile. Now, the FAFSA, which is far and away the most common and the one that most of you will want to fill out if you if your students are considering college. It stands for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. It is owned and operated by the United States Department of Education. It is free to fill out on their website, studentaid.gov. And while the slide does say that it is available to the public as of yesterday, the Department of Education actually released it a week early. So it was made available on
029September the 24th. And so that form is open as we speak. If you felt so inclined, you could go home and complete it tonight. Um the other one we'll talk about is the CSS profile. This one is considerably less common. There are only about 2 to 300 schools nationwide that require it. Um, it is owned and operated by the College Board, which should be familiar, if not to you guys, to your students because it's the exact same place that owns and operates the SATs, the PSATs, and advanced placement testing. And so that's also available on October the 1st. Um, ultimately it depends on individual schools which forms the student needs to fill out. So you'll want to check with each school that your student's considering to find out, do they need the FAFSA? Do they
030need the CSS profile? Do they need both? Do they only need one? And you'll want to consider that in terms of both which forms you're filling out and then when are you filling them out? Because while most schools have their own kind of set deadline for when they need to have either your FAFSA or your CSS profile in by some schools might require it slightly earlier than others based on different factors. And another thing that might play a role in when you fill it out as well is that there are some schools, not all, but some schools, if you are looking to apply early, whether it's early action or early decision, they may want to see your financial aid information a little sooner as well. In terms of which schools will need that, it's really
031a school by school thing. So, just check with each school as to when they would need it by. So, when we talk about the FAFSA, and most schools that accept federal funding will require the FAFSA, it is ultimately designed to collect a family's personal and financial data in order to calculate that student aid index or SAI. And so, in terms of who should be filing the FAFSA, the short answer is everyone should. The slightly longer but still relevant answer is any student whose interest in going to college next year is greater than 0%. So if unless they are adamant I do not want to go to college next year then maybe they don't need to fill it out. But if they either do want to go or they're not quite sure, they should still fill
032it out. Not just to keep their options open, but also to determine if they qualify, cuz a lot of people will qualify for some form of federal aid, whether it is grants, whether it is student loans, or potential work study jobs. But there are also a lot of private scholarships that require the results of the FAFSA as part of their um as part of their application process. So it's really three different levels that you are that this information is applicable to. There is the federal government because you can get you know potential loans, grants, etc. from them. The colleges themselves oftent times base what they give in terms of grants or scholarships. They or at least their grants, they base that off of the data they get from the FAFSA. And then private organizations and
033charities who give out scholarships, they take their information from the FAFSA as well. So there are a lot of different ways that filling out a FAFSA can be beneficial to a student. And it's also worth noting that the FAFSA has to be completed every year that the student is in school. It's not like the admissions application where you fill it out once and then you're set until the student graduates. This one has to be filed and renewed and renewed and so on and so forth. Now, you file the FAFSA online at studentaid.gov. Um, it is free to do so. In fact, the very first letter in its acronym stands for free. Um, and it's also worth noting that if you need any kind of help with the FAFSA, like you can reach out to studentaid
034to studentaid.gov or call that hotline if you have kind of specific issues or glitches with the form. But if you need help with navigating it and filling it out, we at Granite Advance can help you with that. Whether you want someone with you from start to finish, from first logging on to pressing send, we can do that. If you find yourself either confused by a question or getting stuck with how to answer a question based either on your situation or just the way the question's worded, we can help you with that. If you're all the way through the form and just want a second set of eyes to look it over before you press send, we can do that. And the best part is we can do all those things for free. So, please don't
035hesitate to reach out to us. We are very, very happy to help however we can with this process. Now, before you actually file the FAFSA, you'll need both your student and usually a singular parent will need to create an account with studentaid.gov. Now, again, parents who maybe helped an older student through this or went through it themselves in the past few years, you may have heard of this referred to as an FSA ID. It's the exact same thing, just different terminology. Ultimately, it's a username password set that both you and your student, they're separate accounts, but they're used for the same thing to log on to studentaid.gov and to access and complete the FAFSA form. Um, if you already have an account for yourself or for an older student, you do not need to create
036a new one. And another thing worth noting is if you have multiple students that are in college at the same time, the same parent can contribute to multiple FAFSAs. So don't feel as though, you know, each separate kid needs a separate parent. That's just not the case. Now, for those of you that do need to create one from scratch, what you'll need is first off your social security number as well as a unique to you cell phone number and email address in order to confirm your account and then to authorize yourself to get on each time. So, like I mentioned, the student needs their own account. A parent in most cases needs an account of their own. And we'll talk a little more about sort of who needs it as we go. But another thing
037to remember is again because you are filling this out each and every year, make sure that both your student and yourselves are holding on to this information. And also when you create your account, you will get a unique backup code. Save that as well because it is very important that you are able to access this account because it is permanently tethered to your social security number. So if you forget your password or you change your phone number and can't access it again, there is no just creating a new account. You have to be able to access this one. and it is possible if you lose the other things, but it's just not especially fun. So, this backup code has made things a lot easier for those folks. So, please make sure that you're holding on
038to that stuff. So, I mentioned that parents need to contribute in a lot of cases to students um FAFSAs. It all hinges on how the form defines your student, whether they are dependent or independent. And so this is something that the FAFSA form itself will ask a number of questions to your student at the start of their form to help deduce are they dependent or independent. And so if your student is determined to be dependent, then that means that they require a quote unquote contributor, usually a parent or guardian to the form. And it's also important to understand that for a lot of people there, myself included before I started learning about the FAFSA forum, when you hear the word dependent, you oftentimes think of it in context of your taxes. And it's really important
039to know that the FAFSA defines dependency differently than the way your taxes do. And so it is an entirely plausible scenario that a student may be considered independent on their taxes but still dependent for the sake of the FAFSA. Now on the other side if a student is determined to be independent then they will file the rest of the form alone with no contribution from anyone else. Now your next question might be okay if dependency is determined differently then how is independency def or independence defined and the way that it is defined there is I believe a more complete list in your insider but if a student meets one of these criteria and they are able to verify that they meet these any one of these different criteria. So whether it is they are married,
040they have dependence of their own, they're over the age of 24, they have a bachelor's degree or higher already, they have um they are or were a member of the US armed for armed forces for purposes other than training. If they are unaccompanied, homeless, or self-supporting and at risk of being homeless. If at any time since the age of 13 they were adopted a word of the court or in foster care. If at any time they were an emancipated minor, if they were in a le if they are or were in a legal guardianship with someone other than their parent or stepparent, or if contacting their parents is a potential risk to their health or safety. So if any of these conditions are met, then the student will be designated as independent and they will
041they will still need to verify that with their individual schools to make sure that they are actually telling the truth. But there is kind of a set of paperwork that can be used to define each of them and most financial aid offices will tell you upfront sort of what they need to see to satisfy that requirement. Now, for folks that are dependent and do need contributors, the next question becomes who needs to contribute? And so, there are a lot of different scenarios that could transpire because family situations, they can be, you know, they can be complicated. There can be a lot of nuance to it. And we understand that and the FAFSA understands that to a point because they will ask a series of questions to again help deduce for the student who needs to
042be contributing to that form itself. And so the sort of the line of questioning that they use they call the parent wizard. And you can actually access it independently of the FAFSA itself by following this link. So you can sort of get out ahead of who needs to be included. Now in the event that the students biological or adoptive parents are married or the students biological or adoptive parents are not married but do live in the same house. The next question is going to be did they file their taxes jointly? If the answer is yes, they file taxes jointly, then only one of those parents will need an account with studentaid.gov. On the other hand, if either they filed taxes separately or they didn't file their taxes at all, then both parents are going to
043need to contribute to that student aid account. Another question that I get a lot is in instances where there are sort of both parents in the household and they're told that just one parent needs to um needs to contribute. The question then becomes which parent needs to contribute and there are two things that I tend to tell or sort of ask parents to maybe help them determine which one is the better parent. The first question is, does a parent already have an account with studentaid.gov? Whether it's through helping an older student or through getting through the process themselves. If one parent already has an account and the other one doesn't, then it should be that parent. Another thing to consider is not necessarily thinking about this year, but thinking about in subsequent years when the
044student is off at college and suddenly their schedule might be a little less conventional or predictable than it might be while they're still at home. So the next question is, is there a parent whose schedule is better adapted to handle that unpredictable or unconventional schedule? If there's a clear answer there, then that parent should be the one to create their account and contribute. Ultimately, if you, you know, if you switched off each year even, it wouldn't necessarily matter because ultimately it's joint financial aid data. And if you guys are filing jointly, then it's all the same data regardless of who contributes. Now, in the instance that biological or adoptive parents are divorced or separated, then it will ask sort of a series of questions of the student. First, it will ask are your parents married
045to one another? If the answer is no there, then it will ask do your parents live together? If the answer is still no, then the next question will be roughly worded, but has one parent provided more financial support than the other over the last 12 months? And so if there is a clear answer that one parent has provided more financial support than the other in the last 12 months, then that will be the parent that needs to contribute. Now, if that if that level of support is roughly equal, but one parent has greater income and assets, then the FAFSA requests that that students or yeah, then the FAFSA will request that that parent be the one that needs a student aid account. And then once you've made that determination, the next question it'll ask is,
046has that parent in question remarried? If the answer is no, they have not, then just that parent needs to be included. If the answer is yes, but that parent and their new spouse filed their taxes jointly, then still just that one parent. If they have remarried, but they filed taxes separately or didn't file taxes at all with that new spouse, then both the parent and that spouse would need to be included and contribute. Now again, I understand that family situations can be incredibly complicated. So if you are still unsure after looking at this maybe who needs to be included or who should contribute or anything like that, I am more than happy to chat with you afterwards. You can come up and talk with me and we can maybe help kind of work together through
047who needs to be a part of this form. Now ultimately the FAFSA is a financial form and it will be looking at a lot of your and your students financial data and so it's ultimately kind of worked into two different areas. There's income and there are assets. So your income will in a lot of cases be transferred directly from the IRS. Very early on in the form, both the students and the parents will be asked to consent to a transfer of their tax info directly from the IRS to be pasted directly onto the FAFSA. If that's done successfully, then a great deal of your tax return will just be directly pasted onto the FAFSA. If you need to fill it out manually, it is certainly doable. it will tell you sort of which boxes you
048need to pull from your 1040, but it's still it's easier if it's done for you automatically. Um, and then there are your assets. And so there are a lot of different things that go into assets. There is a more complete list in your insiders as to what counts as what. But two things that I really want to make sure you guys know that do not count that you don't have to factor in when you're talking about this. The first one, your home, your primary residence does not count in the FAFSA's assessment of your assets. And it's also worth noting that assets are self-reported. So you'll be asked to to you know kind of come up with a number on the day that you file. So the first thing is your home. The second thing is
049qualified retirement accounts. So these are 401ks, IRA, 403bs, pensions, specific accounts that are earmarked for retirement do not count. Now, the rest of these things, whether it's, you know, cash, checking, savings, they're supposed to be on the other side of the slide. Sometimes it formats weird, so my apologies. Um, then things like stocks, bonds, money markets, mutual funds, 529 plans, cryptocurrencies, additional pieces of property beyond your home. Those are all things that would count um in the assessment of your assets. And then also um if you own a business, I believe it is over a 100 full-time employees. I will double check that, but if you own a business and it's over that threshold, I believe, then we'd also need to know the net worth of that business as well. So, some other common questions
050that we get about the FAFSA, um whether it's from students, whether it's from parents, just kind of some common things that we want to make sure that you guys know those answers. First off, whose FAFSA is it? The answer is it is the students FAFSA. It is their education. It's their future. It is their responsibility to get it done. Now, parents, there are going to be a lot of questions on it that, you know, students just simply aren't going to know. And there will be a section specifically for parents to complete, but ultimately it's the students responsibility to have the form completed and submitted by the deadlines. Speaking of deadlines, when is the deadline to complete the FAFSA? So, that will vary from school to school. They will all sort of have their own ones
051posted. A lot of schools though will post what's called a priority deadline and have that be the one that they feature the most. And that is no less important because a priority deadline, it's not the last day that you are able to submit a FAFSA and receive aid from the school. Instead, it's the last day usually that the school can guarantee that if you f that if you send them your FAFSA, you will get 100% of what you qualify for. The last day they can guarantee that is usually the priority deadline. And those deadlines are usually in the spring around like March to April. And so you can certainly still send them a FAFSA after that, but you might only get 99% of what you qualified for or 95 or 90. And that number keeps
052going down the longer you wait. Which year's tax return should a family use? So, for this year's FAFSA, which is for the 2026 2027 school year, still feels weird to say, we are looking for your 2024 taxes. And by we, I mean the FAFSA is looking for your 2024 taxes. So, it's the last round of taxes that you completed. So, I would recommend if you don't know where they are, just get a hand on them, whether a physical or a digital copy, just in case you need them, even though the transfer is something that a lot of people can take advantage of. Um, does the number of college students in the household impact financial aid? This is kind of a controversial question because the answer changed as of a couple years ago. And the answer
053is no. And so in previous years um if a family had multiple students that were in college simultaneously, they would reduce the at that time it was EFC of each student to help reflect that they're trying a family is trying to send multiple kids through college at once. They stopped doing that a few years ago. So each student's SAI would be the exact same. Now, all of that being said, there is still a question on the FAFSA asking how many students in the household will be in college next year, which means that the colleges themselves can see your answer and they will be able to um and they might be able to adjust their financial aid package accordingly to maybe help make it a little easier. year for student for families that are trying to
054send multiple students to college at once. It's not a guarantee, but it is still there. So, colleges could do it. And then if a student isn't sure that they are going to college, should they still complete a FAFSA? My answer is absolutely for not only all the things that they could qualify for, but also to help keep those options open. kind of when I think about this kind of the nightmare scenario that I would go through is if a student is, you know, maybe not sure in the moment what they want to do, but they decide later on down the road that they do want to go to college and so at the last minute they send in their application, submit their FAFSA, all of that. if their FAFSA comes in after that priority deadline,
055the worst case scenario would be the reduced package that they get ends up not being enough to make that college affordable for that student. So for that reason and just to keep those options as many options open as possible, if your students interest in college is anything more than zero, they should fill out a FAFSA. So we'll quickly pivot to the CSS profile. So, like I said, there are only about 250 to 300 colleges nationwide that require the CSS profile, and most, if not all of them will require both the CSS profile and the FAFSA together. So, be ready if your student if your student's interested in a school that requires them both to fill them both out. Um, it's owned and operated by the College Board. So, that's one of the first differences between
056the FAFSA and the CSS profile is with the FAFSA, you need at least two accounts to complete it if your student is dependent. Um, for the CSS profile, you can only use the students College Board account and you can use that to log in and complete the form. Um, also another big difference, the CSS profile is a lot more in-depth than the FAFSA is. They will ask questions about the equity on your home. Um, if you are divorced, they will ask questions about both the custodial and non-custodial parents. Um, so be ready for a kind of higher level of scrutiny of your finances. And then the other key difference is the FAFSA is free to fill out. The CSS profile costs money. Um, the CSS profile costs $25 to register and send it to the
057first school and $16 for each additional school. Though, there are fee waivers available for certain students that meet certain qualifications. Um, the full list of not only the qualifications for those waivers, but also the full list of colleges that require the CSS profile are right available on their website, cssprofile.org. Now, if your student is not looking at a school that requires the CSS profile, don't bother with the form at all. There's nothing to gain by filling it out if it's not going to a school that requires it. So, another thing I wanted to touch on is the fact that some of you may have seen that we are, again, not we, the FAFSA is looking at your 2024 taxes. And that might make some people a little nervous because their financial reality in 2024 is
058very different from their financial reality now for any number of reasons. And so I want you to know that colleges have thought of that too. And while the FAFSA may not be able to illustrate those changes, there is still a chance to make the school understand. And that is where special circumstances comes in. Each school is going to have kind of their own specified process to it. So you're going to need to reach out to each school individually and contact financial aid professionals to explain your situation. A lot of times there will be a form that you'll need to fill out. Sometimes you'll need to meet either virtually or in person with a member of the financial aid office to just kind of explain your situation a little more. And so when we're talking about
059those special circumstances that may have changed your um that may have changed your um situation, it could be things like the loss or reduction of employment. This does also mean retirement. Um, it could be separation or divorce of parents or spouses. It could be the death of a parent or spouse. It could mean high unreimbured medical expenses or dental expenses or unusual or significant losses in business investments or real estate. So any one of those things could be a factor that the school might take into account and they might be able to based on your circumstances make adjustments or changes to the student's financial aid package to maybe make it a little easier to um make it a little easier for your family to afford. Now, ultimately, we want you guys to have realistic expectations
060when you walk into this process because ultimately the school has the final say over what they can and can't and for that matter will or won't do. So, just make sure that you're kind of keeping that in mind as you go through. But it is good to know that there is that process out there for folks that have had, you know, really significant things happen in their lives that the FAFSA wouldn't be able to otherwise illustrate. And that's another thing worth noting is if this is you and you know that say your 2024 income isn't, you know, isn't you know at all the same of what your 2025 income looks like. Do not attempt to edit the FAFSA to make it look like what you are, you know, making now or what you have now.
061Answer the FAFSA, you know, answer the questions that they are asking as they are asking them. So if you know that say you took a pay cut from 2024 to 2025, if they ask for your 2024 income, give them your 2024 income even though it's, you know, it's higher than what it is now. and then tell the colleges afterwards, hey, I have had a reduction in my income. Do not lie on the FAFSA, even if it's to reflect what it looks like now. Um, so another thing we want to quickly talk about, we are kind of in the tail end of this presentation, but we want to talk about scholarships because that can be a crucial source of free money for students and families alike to help afford college and university. And it is a
062really great opportunity for a lot of people, but it's a sadly underutilized opportunity for a lot of people. Every year over a hundred million dollars worth of scholarships go simply unclaimed. And every year there are hundreds of millions of dollars that are given out over thousands if not millions of scholarships that are out there for students. It's all about knowing and understanding where to look and find them. And so the first place you can look is your school. And so I'm going to turn it over to Kathy to quickly tell you about some of the ways that you can find scholarships available to students. not only for exit high school but for the exit community. >> So at exiter high school we try to make it as simple a process as possible for you you
063and your students. We list all of the local and community scholarships in school links under a tab that as we've been meeting with your students we're showing them what tab that is. Um it is not up to-date and accurate yet although we are starting to input some of those scholarships. Um we will meet somebody from the school counseling department will meet with the whole senior class in January. We will have a recorded um slideshow that will show the students exactly where to find the scholarship list and how to read the scholarship list um and how to fill out the applications. And then we have somebody that is in our office that will sit down onetoone if they need to and and walk your students with the application process itself and making sure that they are
064choosing scholarships that they meet the criteria and are eligible to apply for. >> Awesome. Thank you. So another place that you can look is um your employer or your students employer. A lot of times there will be either employee or family scholarships out there and some places have begun offering tuition reimbursement as another option to sort of have the school or have the employer pay for part of your students schooling. There are also some New Hampshire specific scholarships including one that's offered by us at Granite Advance. In 2025, we awarded over $750,000 to New Hampshire students, and that came in award amounts ranging from$1,000 to $3,000. We have programs available both for students enrolling in four-year programs as well as two-year um certificate and trade programs as well. Um the deadlines for those will kind
065of vary depending on which program, but for the four-year school scholarships, those will be available in the spring of 2026. Once we have more exact dates, we'll be sure to share them with you guys as well as with the staff at Exiter High School. There's also the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation. They are another very huge entity in terms of giving and scholarships for the state of New Hampshire. They also have a four-year program um or scholarship for students in four-year programs that's usually opens in January, closes early to midappril. And then they have 2-year um two-year scholarships that are available kind of all year round. So, you'll check their website for that. I remember reading on the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation's website that for every five applicants they receive, they award one scholarship. That's one
066in5 odds for your student which are easily the best that I've seen. So definitely worth checking it out. Now there are also some national search engines and here are a list of some that we trust um that are good consistent sources of scholarships and you know the number of scholarships they grow when you get to the national level but also so does the applicant pool. So, just be ready for those and be ready that you are competing against a lot more students as you go. Some things to maybe keep in mind as you are applying to scholarships in general, whether they're local, whether they're statewide, whether they're national. First off, it's probably worth it to create a unique and appropriate email address specifically for kind of all things college. And that can help a number
067of different ways. Number one, colleges send a lot of emails and they can vary pretty significantly in importance. It can be everything from, "Hey, we have a new hoodie at our bookstore. Please go buy it." to, "Here's your admissions decision. Find out if you go here or not." And everything in between will all be sent by email. So having a unique email address for that means that number one, you will save your personal inbox a lot of spam. And two, every time the school sends something important or that you need to respond to, you don't have to waste time looking anywhere else because it could only ever be in one place. Another addendum to this piece of advice, it's more of a warning. Do not use your high schoolisssued email for any of this because
068more often than not that email address gets deactivated shortly after you graduate. So, it's going to be really hard to try and connect or check that email if you no longer have access to it. If you are going to be providing an essay as a piece of your um as a piece of your scholarship application, make sure that it is directly addressing the prompt that is given. There are a lot of prompts that are remarkably similar when you are getting um when you're required to give an essay as a part of the scholarship application. But make sure that you are directly addressing it because if it sounds similar but doesn't quite answer the question that they've posed to you, then that might be a little bit of a red flag. It might hurt your chances.
069And then finally, do not ever pay money to apply for scholarships. There are way too many out there that are completely free to apply to that it's rarely ever worth it to actually pay money. So, here are some kind of action items now that we have kind of covered the different things that we want to cover. These are some of the things that you guys can do kind of walking away from this meeting to set yourselves up for success in the financial aid process. First off, make sure that you are gathering your personal and financial information necessary to fill out either the FAFSA or the CSS profile. Um, so that could be things like your taxes, get an idea of what your assets look like, you know, make sure that you have your, you know,
070your accounts set up, all of those things. Make a charter list of each school's submission deadline. Frankly, this should be for both financial aid and admissions. These deadlines are very serious things and the last thing we want is for anyone to be scrambling because they're trying to meet a deadline that snuck up on them. You can complete the FAFSA. Make sure that you are listing every school that your student may attend. So, that's another important thing that you guys should know. It is completely okay to send your FAFSA or your student's FAFSA to a school that they have not been accepted to yet. A student can send their FAFSA to a school that they have not applied to yet, and that is 100% okay. A student could end up never applying to a school they
071sent their FAFSA to, and that is okay. So, I always say the rule of thumb is any place your student might end up. They are worth adding to the FAFSA. And you can add up to 20 schools at a time to the FAFSA as well. So, you can really cast a pretty wide net if you are so inclined. Make sure that both for the FAFSA and the CSS profile, if you need to fill that out as well, make sure that you're filling all of those out before the earliest deadline available. And by doing that, you will have completely checked this box off and taken a pretty major burden off of your students shoulders for a while so that they can focus on the other exciting things that both senior year and the college search process
072has to offer. So at this point, I am more than happy to open the floor up to any and all questions that you guys have. I want to truly thank you guys for your attention and for your stamina because I've been talking for a little over an hour. Um, so thank you for that. Any questions that you guys have, I will be more than happy to answer. Once again, I'll also be happy to take anything more one-on-one afterwards. So I remember you had a question. Yes. >> Yep. Yes. So the question was about the GI Bill and how it factors into school. Um it is kind of a specialized thing. So a lot of schools have a dedicated VA benefits coordinator and so that would be the person that I would talk to kind of
073specifically to not only coordinate it with the school but also with the VA and how it's administered. But that is a great question and I'm sorry for your loss and thank you for your husband service. All right. Um, what other questions do you guys have? Yes, up here. So that is a great question. It was about the priority deadline and there is sort of a conception that the earlier you apply the more money you get when it comes to financial aid. And with the exception of the priority deadline I have seen nothing to confirm that. So, I wouldn't worry about it. I mean, the reasons I would recommend doing it sooner rather than later would be if your student is considering applying early because some schools require or request that for early action or early
074decision applicants or if it's just something worth getting off your plate. >> You'll still get 100% of what you would qualify for. Now, one question that I get, I did see you, sir, and I will get to you in just one sec. But one question that I actually got that I was kind of interesting and kind of dovetales off that is when would an instance be that it would make sense to wait to submit your FAFSA? Maybe not necessarily to, you know, or past the priority deadline, but you wouldn't want to fill it out right this second. And the only answer I could think of would be if you have not actually yet filed your 2024 taxes. There may be a number of different reasons for that. That's none of my business. But if that
075is something that has happened and you are in the process of filing it, then I would maybe wait a little bit. So once the act once the IRS has your taxes, then they can sort of make that automatic transfer. If you haven't filed your taxes yet and they're asking to make that transfer, they're going to ask you to input everything manually, which is not the end of the world, but it's less fun than having it just done automatically. So sir, your question >> Yes. Yes. So the question was about the number of schools that you send to the FAFSA and how that process works. So on the students section of the FAFSA, there are kind of distinct student and parent sections. On the student section, they will denote all of the schools that they want
076their FAFSA sent to. And then the turnaround time is usually 1 to three business days. But then after that, the federal government will automatically send these students FAFSA to every school they designate. Yes. So if you are interested in sending it to more than 20 schools, then what you will do is after that 3-day waiting period when the FAFSA has been sent out, you will go in and you will make an amendment to your FAFSA and you will just change the names of the schools. Now, if you need to make other edits to the FAFSA, you can go through that same amendment process. If, say, you realize that you typed in a number wrong when reporting your assets or you checked off that you got the earned income credit when it turns out you didn't,
077you know, little things like that. You can make those changes as well. Just for any process that you are amending, make sure that you are signing and submitting the FAFSA again because that is what locks in the changes and sends it to a new school. And when you do make the changes to schools, even though you are removing a school from the FAFSA, you are not unending that data. So if say you have like you send it to 20 schools, you go back in, you take 10 schools off, put 10 new schools on, it's not as though 10 schools have just like had their info on you disappear. It just means that 30 schools now have the exact same information. But that is a great question. >> Yes, absolutely. Yes. So that is a great
078and also timely question. Um from everything that we have heard the um the function of the FAFSA like its ability to run it is predominantly automated. So, we haven't been made aware of any any effects on the actual like functionality of the FAFSA and we're honestly not 100% sure what other things are going to be affected. Some of it is going to depend on how long the shutdown lasts. Um, though I do know that as soon as we get information, we try our best to relay it to to whichever partners we have. Among those are the counseling staff at at the high school. So, as soon as we know something, we'll make sure they know something and they'll make sure you know something. >> But that is a great question. I completely understand. Yes. >>
079Yes. So you will get an email first saying that your FAFSA has been submitted right after you press submit and then 1 to 3 days later you'll get another one saying that it's been processed. So that's sort of its stages is in progress submitted processed. Processed means that the info has been sent to the schools and you will get notifications saying that that's been done. You can also just periodically check into the uh like sign into the site studentaid.gov and you can get updates on its progress from there as well. Sometimes the website will update before you get the email, but it's pretty, you know, like one after the other, but that's a great question. >> Yes, sir. >> Yes. website. >> so it's possible. Um, I would need to see the actual site, but
080I know which one you're referencing. Um, a lot of times schools, the College Board, uh, their college search engine, Big Future does something similar where they give the average net price. And so that's kind of, yeah, kind of exactly that. It's an average of, you know, the net price that students end up paying. I would still use a net price calculator because you can tailor it specifically to your situation and your students. So, it can be a good thing to go off of, but it also depends on, you know, what is the average, you know, financial makeup of the families that are applying and how are they relative to you. So, it can be incredibly helpful, but it just that extra piece of context can kind of make it a little more personal to you.
081But that is a great question. Yes. Yes. So there will be it. So the question was um if a student has multiple or if the parent has multiple students in college, will they need to contribute all the same information twice? And the answer to that, now that I think about it, is sort of yes and no. There's a little bit of overlap that will come through both um that will come through both um forms, but there will still be kind of the lion share of the information you'll need to to transfer over both times. though thankfully because it's a fairly repetitive thing, it will not take very long and the parents um portion of the FAFSA is significantly smaller than the students portion. But it's also because the questions about personal circumstances are a little
082less for parents and the higher emphasis is on their finances. >> Yes. Yes. >> Yes. So that is correct. Um though both student and parent create um separate accounts, um either the student or the parent can start a FAFSA form, we've found that it works a little easier and it's a little more intuitive if the student starts the form and then invites the parent in. Um, that's actually one of the major changes to the FAFSA this year is that the process to invite a contributor has been made a lot more streamlined because previously the student needed to know the parents first name, last name, date of birth, and social security number in order to properly invite them to the form. Now, they just need the parents email address, which helps in a lot of cases
083because not every student is going to know their parents, you know, at least their date of birth and social by heart. So, it's made that process a little bit easier and it's made it a little easier to kind of match forms together. So, it is connected. Um, it's just one has to invite the other to make that connection. But that's a great question. Yes. Okay. >> Okay. >> Mhm. >> Yes. So, >> to my knowledge, um, SSI is not factored in as income or assets. So in that instance they would be designated with an SS with an SAI rather of500 determining the sort of highest level of need because from what they are seeing like they have no other means of supporting themselves going to college. >> Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. These have been a lot
084of really fantastic questions. What other ones do you guys have? >> Yes. Y so the question was has any sort of um budget reductions or staff reductions at the department of education has that had any effect on the amount of aid given out? Um, the short answer is none that I have seen. I've not seen anything to that effect. Um, again, if something were to change, we would probably be made aware of it pretty instantly, at which point we would share and get that information out. But for the time being, the answer is no. >> Did I see someone back here? Yes. [Music] Yes. So, you go back in and you amend the FAFSA. You can change the schools up even if you're not changing any other piece of information. Um, the amendment process actually
085in the last few years has kind of gotten wise to that. So, now there's a I believe there's a button you can press to just say change schools and it doesn't even look at the rest of the form. it just goes straight to the school page and then you're able to change it. Just again, make sure that your student presses submit again because that's what locks in the changes and sends it to those new schools. Yes, sir. >> I That's not something that I've heard. I've I've helped people at least in past years amend the FAFSA multiple times for multiple different reasons. Um you would really want to look into the fine print of why that school would say that. Um but that's not something that I've heard of as common at all. >> Yeah,
086absolutely. Yes, in the back. So yes, so there is a distinct student section and then if they are considered a dependent there is a contributor section which is kind of the parent talk about and so it's designed for the student to start it and then invite the parent. But it could happen in reverse where the parent could start one and then invite the student in afterwards. So the student and the parent each need their own account with studentaid.gov. That's where they'll fill out their distinct section. Um but ultimately it comes together as one FAFSA and the FAFSA won't actually be submitted until both sections are complete. Yep. Absolutely. Yeah. Any Yeah. What other questions do you guys have? I really appreciate the questions. They've been really good. They've been really engaging. Hopefully, they're continuing to
087help you guys learn more or clarify if maybe there were things that weren't clear. But yes, so in terms of ne in terms of, you know, potentially negotiating your financial aid package, um, it really kind of all depends on the situation in terms of, you know, whether it is negotiating kind of leveraging one school against another, which I have heard happen and I've heard mixed results. Sometimes it's worked. Sometimes colleges say just okay, go to that school. Like unfortunately like there's really no like kind of set you know this is the strategy. We talk about it a lot more in the context of you know special circumstances like you know our package needs to look different because our financial reality looks different. Um, but I have heard of, like I said, I've heard of it
088being successful. I've heard of it being very not successful. So, it's hard for me to say like definitely do it, definitely don't do it. So, and that might not be a satisfying answer, but it's kind of the one that I have. Yes, >> I know that it does have some impact on financial aid. Um, the ones that I remember off the top of my head are reductions in in the uh limits for what are called parent plus loans, which are yeah, which is a specific loan type that parents can get from the federal government to help pay for their students education. And then I believe either reducing or phasing out graduate plus loans as well. I have not heard anything about it affecting the PEL grant. Um, so I don't believe so, but again like
089if something changes or if it is something that becomes affected as soon as we know, we will make sure that others know as well. >> Yes sir. that. So, the question was um if you apply to a school early decision, for those of you that maybe don't know what that means, it's a binding sort of contract that you're signing with a college or university saying that if you're accepted, you will withdraw your other applications and agree to go there. So, if that happens and the financial aid package ends up being either different or potentially like untenable or unaffordable, it really depends on the contract that you sign. Some of them do have like very specific conditions for being released from that contract, but it's not something that I would ever recommend someone rely on. So
090the short answer is it depends on the school because everyone will kind of have their different contract or kind of have their different contract their different clauses. Again, not the most satisfying answer, but the only one I can really give, but that is a great question. Yes, >> you go in the that I just did last year. >> So, so the question was if you have helped a student with a FAFSA in a previous year, when you go to log into studentaid.gov, are you just amending that FAFSA and sending it out again for the new year? And the answer is no. There is a new FAFSA form that is generated each year. it will have um it'll have years assigned to it based on the school year. So if you if in that situation if
091you helped another student through the process last year, you'll go to login now and you will see uh what you contributed to their 2526 FAFSA. This like this FAFSA that just opened up is the 2627 FAFSA and so on and so forth. So each year is a new form. Each year they make edits to it. So yeah, it's a distinct form each year. >> Yes. Every year that the student is in school, you need to submit a FAFSA form. So that's the way that they qualify for aid each and every single year. >> Yes. Yep. >> So in the instance that you remarried and you filed taxes jointly then yes it would be looking at your joint income together. Um, and then even if you remarried but you filed taxes separately, they would want sort
092of both of you to complete a section of the FAFSA. And the, you know, contributor spouse section is even shorter than the contributor section, but it just kind of wants to understand sort of what income is there. >> Yep. Absolutely. Other questions? >> Yes. So they do end up like shutting down after certain points. So for example, if that's happening right now and your student is is in school for this current year, the 2526 year, you could still fill that out because the year is still in swing. I think that the final date is like the final date for the 2526 FAFSA will be I think June 30th of 2026 would be like the last day for this school year to fill out the FAFSA. So you could still like you could go back and
093do that but you can't go too far back and do that if that makes sense. >> Correct. Like you couldn't do it for the 2425 school year but you could still do it for the 2526 school year. Yep. All right. Any other questions that you guys have? >> Yes. >> Okay. So, >> so actually the applying age date is going to be October 28th for exit. >> So, so some of it like some of it will depend on the schools. So, I know that for I think both UNH and SA's their early action deadline is November 15th. So in that case, we'll at least get it done a few a few weeks before. There might be some other schools that >> Yep. And >> yeah, I mean you the thing that I would do in
094that case is um the school itself may offer a fee waiver if you either attend a tour or you know a info session. Sometimes if you just ask for them they'll give them. So, I would do that maybe for at least some of the schools, but for other ones, I would still recommend participating because you still have that chance to win a $500 scholarship. And one thing that forgive me, I I know we've both been talking for a while. I don't know if you mentioned this or not, but that $500 scholarship mentioned is the pool for that is just the students that participated for applying age at exit. So as many students, so it's not as though you're competing with the rest of the state. You're just competing with the rest of the school in
095terms of who gets that. So it could be another great chance to, you know, win some extra free money towards school. >> Yep. Yes. >> Correct. Correct. If the student is designated as independent, they would not be asked to list anyone else as a contributor. No one else would be requested to contribute. The student would complete their part, then they would sign it, submit it, it would go off to the schools. >> Yep. Yes. >> Yes. Here, I'll go back to the I'll go back to the slide. And it's also worth noting that they will be asking um like they will ask you these questions um on the actual form. But if you are married, have your own dependence, which are either children or people that live with you and rely on you for more
096than half of their support. Um, if you're over the age of 24, you already have a bachelor's degree or higher, you are or were a member of the armed forces. Um, you're unaccompanied, homeless, or self-supporting and at risk of being homeless. Um, at any time since the age of 13, you were an orphan, war to the court, or in foster care. You are or were legally emancipated minor. You are or were in a legal guardianship with someone other than a parent or stepparent. or the prospect of contacting your parents would be potentially either impossible or dangerous. >> Yes. >> So the exact wording of the question or exact as I can make it is on or after a certain date. It's usually July 1st of the previous year. So like from July 1st of 2025,
097it is or was the student um either what's the word? Either unaccompanied, homeless, or quote self-supporting and at risk of being homeless. And usually answering yes to that, like at least in years past, I haven't had to encounter it with this year's form yet, but it would then ask like, has someone specific designated you as one of these things? And that would give you a list of of people that would have kind of made that designation, whether it's like a school district's homeless coordinator, you know, the director of a shelter, things like that. >> Yeah, absolutely. Other questions? >> So the PEL grant is you're determined your eligibility for a PEL grant is determined by filling out the FAFSA. So in a way by filling out the FAFSA you're applying both for federal loans but
098also for the PEL grant itself. And so the PEL grant is a need-based grant that is given out by the federal government for students to go to school. So >> So they will know automatically based on your SAI whether you qualify or not. And then when your student finishes the form, they will be given kind of an estimate of what they would qualify for in terms of PEL grants, loans, whether or not they'd be a candidate for work study, etc. Absolutely. Other questions? Yes. So >> the only thing is um early on when you are requested to um consent to that transfer of tax info from the IRS to the FAFSA, you need to consent to that transfer. Both your student and yourself and your family does. Even if you know the student like didn't
099work or didn't file taxes, even if you know that you didn't file taxes or like something like that, if you don't say yes to that transfer, then you're not eligible for federal aid. >> Yeah, I don't know of anything like that. And yeah, I know those happen all the time. >> Yeah. All right. Absolutely. Any other questions? >> All right. >> Yeah, absolutely. Thank you everyone. Have a great night.