Simplifying Student Financial Aid: Tackling FAFSA

Enrique Paz, Editor-in-Chief

October 8, 2019

Students and families have to manage their money and save up to pay college tuition and fees. It costs thousands of dollars for these expenses, so financial aid is often a necessity. Photo by; Enrique Paz

FAFSA Officially Opened

*Helpful links and scholarship information can be found at the bottom of the article.

On Tuesday, Oct.1, 2019, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) was made available for students this year. The application allows students either in college or heading on to it apply for federal and state financial aid. It’ll hopefully lower the cost for their college expenses, and aside from that, a number of universities also require that students complete it.

Although some students have already been accepted to a college or university, a number of them are either getting ready to apply or still in need of financial help.

“I don’t need money per se, but filling out and submitting the form are important parts of the application process,” Amelia Burke said. “And for a large majority of families, the FAFSA is the easiest and most reliable way to attain the necessary funding for higher education.”

Setting Up the Account

Now that the FAFSA opened, students and their parents/guardians are able to create an account and ID. This will allow them to go through the process of filling out all the information

“Make sure you have your tax paperwork…,” Burke said. “… and your parents might not understand parts of what they need to do so try to help them.”

Furthermore, there are facts and statistics students must have ready as they’re filling out all the questions and information on the website.

“We had to pull our tax return which took a couple of weeks but I got it done ahead of time so it was okay,” Burke said.”When you get your loan offers, check out the company assigned to manage your loan. If they don’t have a good record, make sure to stay 100% on top of your payments to avoid legal trouble.”

Moreover, Amelia and other seniors have been getting ready for the next step of their education. They’ve been applying for college, scholarships, and getting letters of recommendation.

“I’m pretty prepared for college, assuming I get accepted,” Burke said.