Welcome to part two of the Financial Aid Finder’s online FAFSA workshop. (Go here to read Part 1: The Essential Document Checklist .) The FAFSA is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid and it is your key to unlocking the treasure chest of federal financial aid. In order to help you maximize your student aid award, we are running a five-part series on FAFSA basics. This week, we are looking at the FAFSA Pin — what is it? Do you need it? And how do you get it? Coming up soon, we will cover: •    Common FAFSA Blunders & How to Avoid Them •    What’s your FAFSA deadline? •    FAFSA FAQs So, without further adieu, on to the FAFSA PIN. You probably already know by now that you can complete the FAFSA on paper or online. There are numerous benefits...

Do you need help with your financial aid application? Are you worried about how to complete your FAFSA in order to maximize your student aid award? If your answers were yes and YES, then you need to know about College Goal Sunday. I just read about this free nationwide program in my local Saturday paper. I was so impressed with what I read that I jumped online to learn more. Here’s the deal: The goal of College Goal is to help students and their parents navigate the financial aid process. On Sunday afternoons throughout the winter, College Goal Sunday stages free help sessions at different sites across the country. Financial aid professionals will be on site to offer hands-on help completing your FAFSA and answering your other financial aid questions. To learn more about this fre...

February 4, 2009 by Mara Strom Welcome to the Financial Aid Finder’s online FAFSA workshop. The FAFSA is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, which is your key to the treasure chest of federal (and even some state) financial aid for college. If you want to qualify for federal student loans, federal grants (that’s free money, people!) or federal work-study programs, you must fill out the FAFSA. Every college has its own deadline, so check with your school’s financial aid office immediately. In the meantime, you can start working your way through our five-part workshop on completing the FAFSA and maximizing your student aid award. Here’s a schedule of topics: Checklist of essential documentation What’s a PIN and how do you get one? FAFSA Blunders W...

The month of January is winding down, which means the days are rapidly ticking away until tax the dreaded tax filing deadline (AKA April 15, 2009). If you are planning to apply for financial aid, however, you have even less time than you may think. That is because you can not complete your FAFSA, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, until you have your and/or your family’s federal tax return in hand. So, while you busily scurrying around searching for receipts and calculating itemized deductions, you might also want to start figuring out what you will need to complete your FAFSA. If that sounds to daunting to deal with just yet, take five. Five minutes that is. I found this great five-minute video on You Tube, which is the perfect introduction to completely your FAFSA. F...

We got a great question from one of our readers the other day about financial aid for members of the military. Rather than just responding to her, I wanted to share the information on the blog since I thought there might be more of you out there with a similar question. Here’s what LeeAnn from Freedom, Pennsylvania (how appropriate!) wrote in to ask: I have a few questions.  My husband is a veteran from the Marine Corp and he was in Desert Storm.  Is there a list of financial aid, grants, scholarships, and loans for these kinds of veterans?  Our son (a dependent) is attending college in the Engineering Field and I am looking for possibilities to help fund his college education. Can you please respond and let me know what applications I can fill out or what applies to us? LeeAn...

Credit is retracting in nearly every sector – home mortgages are dwindling, business loans are down, car loans are non-existent.  But there is one area in which credit has actually expanded: Government-backed, higher education loans. The total number of student loans made in 2008 is up 18.6% from 2007, according to an article in today’s Wall Street Journal.  Home mortgages, on the other hand, were down 38%. At the same time that federal lending has increased, private education loans have shrunk.  Thirty-nine private lenders stopped making private loans, according to the WSJ.  The private loan sector, which accounts for one-fifth of total education lending, fell by as much as 25% in 2008. The Federal Reserve Bank is trying to kick-start private lending with a $200 billio...

May 28, 2008 by Mara Strom If you’re a community college student applying for financial aid, then know this: You’re in exceedingly good company. The number of your fellow students in need of aid has skyrocketed over the last five years, according to Robert Shireman, president of EconomicDiversity.org: “As costs like housing and textbooks continue to rise along with tuition and fees, financial aid is becoming a necessity for more community college students.” Shireman’s organization reports that in 2000-2001, just over one-quarter of all community college coeds completed a FAFSA; in 2005-2006, that number jumped to 34%. While the percentage of students applying for aid from two-year colleges is lower than at public four-year (59%) and private four-year (66%) sch...

Every year, the federal government spends more than $86 billion to help young people go to college. As the single largest provider of student aid in the world, the US federal government offers grants, fellowships, loans and work study programs. Your key to this massive treasure chest is the FAFSA, otherwise known as the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. The application, which can be filled out on paper or on-line, calculates your family’s ability to pay for your college degree. Calculations are based on income, assets and other factors, such as the number of additional dependents in college. The FAFSA is used not only by the federal government to determine your aid eligibility, but also by your college or university to allocate its own scholarships, plus state and private a...

May 14, 2006 The First Rule of Financial Aid is to apply! It should be rule number two and three as well, it’s that important. Why is it so important? Because you will never know how much money you can receive until you apply, if you don’t apply you are guaranteed nothing. This may seem quite obvious but a recent article in the WTOP (Capital News) has shown that lower income earning families are not applying for federal aid. The FAFSA can be a pain to fill out but think of how much more of a pain trying to juggle all your debt will be down the road. Federal aid comprises the bulk of financial aid so filling out the FAFSA is a good idea. The form is now online and the FAFSA website can be read in both Spanish and English. In addition there is information that will help ...

Februrary 20, 2006 The first thing to remember is that you are not alone. Students have been dealing with this reality for a long time. Do not assume that you won’t qualify for aid since your parents earn over the eligibility mark. Always fill out the FAFSA no matter what. You may qualify for a Stafford Loan. It will be more difficult to try to get a large loan as a student but federal loans like the Stafford will help. Try making your case to the financial aid office of your choice. This does not always help but it is worth a shot. At the very least they deal with students in your situation all the time and will have some helpful advice. Don’t forget to scour for scholarships and grants as they do not need to be paid back. Most importantly get your information in as...