Double FAFSA warning:
Double FAFSA warning: financial aid what you need to know
By J.D. Wyczalek (why-zall-ick)
What you need to be aware of, or should I say beware of.
Some families believe their income and assets warrant them to not fill out any financial aid forms because of the unfounded belief of ineligible. Many other facets of financial aid come into play such as number in the household, age of the oldest parent, how many children are in college among a few things. These things can push your student into the “Yes, you are eligible” category.
Let’s get up to speed. The main “mother of all financial aid forms” is the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). It can be found at fafsa.ed.gov.
Every family needs to fill out the FAFSA because, even if they believe they are not eligible for aid, it may be surprising that they actually are eligible or may be eligible for low cost, low interest rate student loans. Families won’t get these loans or aid if they don’t apply.
Primarily many families render themselves ineligible for financial aid because of inaccuracies on the form resulting in incomplete or erroneous data. Filling out the form correctly could be the difference between financial aid or zip. Reporting assets and income incorrectly can adversely affect aid eligibility.
Similar to a good CPA who knows tax laws, can fill out tax forms accurately. So when the tax forms are filed then you can rest assured the CPA did everything in their power (legally) to get your tax bill as low as possible.
This is the same with the professional service here at AZCollegePlanning.com. We know and understand the financial aid intricacies and provide an estimate of what your FAFSA would look like and in many cases, months before so that we can plan accordingly.
Like an unsuspecting child who was not paying attention to the cookie they were holding that was snatched up by a hungry dog, student and parent need to be on guard when filling out this form. If the form is filled out incorrectly resulting in little or no aid, this just simply puts more money back in the pockets of the big tycoons on the college boards.
Don’t kid yourself college is big business. Many college and university endowment funds have reached the seven digit mark and in some cases, the Billion dollar endowment fund mark. Go ahead; I dare you to Google “Colleges with the largest endowment funds.” You may be shocked at the money that is out there.
The key is to properly position your child (and your assets) so that you can get the biggest slice of the pie that you can.
