Financial Aid

Thank you for viewing this Highland Community College video to learn more about the financial aid process. My name is Kathy Bangasser and I am the director of financial aid at Highland Community College. In this video, we will cover the basics of financial aid including questions such as what is it what types of financial aid are available, what is the FAFSA, what is meant by “expected family contribution cost of attendance and financial need” and finally, what are special circumstances in terms of financial aid.

Financial aid refers to specific borrowed given or earned money that can be obtained from various sources to help you pay for college and makes college affordable for you. It is intended to make up the difference between what your family can afford to pay, and what college costs there are. Two basic types of financial aid, gift aid and self-help aid. Gift aid is usually awarded in the forms of grants and scholarships. It is assistance that generally does not have to be repaid. Grants are usually awarded on the basis of a student’s financial need or limited ability to meet the cost of college. Scholarships may be awarded to reward merit such as academic achievement, athletic ability, artistic talent, background, or other attributes you may have. Highland Community College offers many scholarships through the Highland Foundation. I highly encourage all students planning to attend Highland to visit the website and fill out as many scholarship applications as you can.

Self-help aid requires you to take a bit more responsibility and includes work opportunities and loans. Federal Work Study is a program that allows students to earn funds through part-time employment to help meet their financial needs and obtain work experience. All funds awarded must be earned and students are responsible for securing a job on campus. Student loans are financial aid that must be repaid.

Financial aid comes from a variety of sources. Federal financial aid programs are administered by the U.S Department of Education. This includes the pell grant, the supplemental educational opportunity, or SEOG grant, the teach grant, and federal student loans in Illinois. State and some federal financial aid is administered by the Illinois Student Assistance Commission, or ISAC. This includes the map grant, the Illinois veterans grant, and the Illinois national guard grant. The financial aid offices on campus is the best place to inquire about institutional financial aid options. Many agencies, associations, corporations, and civic, religious and philanthropic groups award scholarships to college students. Check with local service organizations such as the lions club and you or your parents place of employment for scholarship opportunities or for tuition assistance by completing the FAFSA.

Students are considered and may qualify for the Pell and map grants in Illinois. These are the largest grants that students may be eligible to receive. The map grant is an Illinois grant available to students from Illinois attending an eligible Illinois school be aware that map funding is limited and the amount available runs out each year. This is why it’s important to file your FAFSA as early as possible the Pell grant is a federal grant available to students attending eligible schools nationwide. If eligible, a student will receive the same amount no matter what school he or she is attending.

Federal work study is a need-based financial aid program that allows eligible students to work part-time on or off campus. A work-study job is different from other jobs for the following two reasons: one, the hours are flexible to ensure that students have enough time to study, and two, when students apply for financial aid the following year, money earned through this program is not used to determine financial need. the career services center coordinates the student worker program at Highland Community College, placing over 80 student workers in 40 different areas of the college.Iif you are interested in working on campus at Highland, contact the career services department located in building H on the Highland campus.

There are two types of federal loans available to students: subsidized and unsubsidized. With a direct subsidized loan, the federal government pays the interest on your behalf while you are enrolled at least half time and during grace periods and authorized periods of deferment. With a direct unsubsidized loan, interest begins to accrue right away. You may pay this interest while you are in school or you can allow it to accrue and capitalize. Both loans have a grace period of six months after the student either graduates or falls below half time before repayment of the loans begins.

There are limits to how much money you can borrow from the federal loan programs. As a freshman dependent student, you may borrow up to five thousand five hundred dollars, but only three thousand five hundred of this can be subsidized. These loans are in the student’s name only, do not need a cosigner, and are not credit based. In addition to federal loans, parent plus loans are available if the student has received the maximum amount of financial aid in their name but still has room in their total financial aid package for additional aid. Plus loans offer the parents an opportunity to borrow federal loans in their own name to supplement a student’s financial aid. Parent plus loans do not have a grace period, so repayment generally begins within 60 days of the final disbursement.

The first step in applying for federal and state financial aid programs is to complete the free application for federal student aid or the FAFSA. The FAFSA is free and simple enough to complete by yourself. Your eligibility for financial aid will be determined by your and your family’s financial situation and by filing your application on time, be sure to stay in contact with the financial aid office regarding any additional forms or information they may need to process your financial aid. The preferred way to complete the FAFSA is on the web at studentaid.gov.

Information reported on the FAFSA will be used to calculate your expected family contribution your EFC and your financial aid eligibility. Filing the FAFSA online has many benefits. It only takes about 20 to 30 minutes to complete. For first-time users, should you need it, there is a wealth of instructions for common questions related to the FAFSA. Put your cursor in any answer box and a dialogue box displays the definition of the requested information and exactly where to find the answer. Filing the FAFSA online also offers the use of the data retrieval tool which we will talk about later in the presentation.

At Highland, we receive the results of submitted FAFSAs on Thursdays each week. The FAFSA application determines your financial aid eligibility.

The FAFSA first becomes available on October 1st each year to high school seniors and college students who are U.S citizens and eligible non-citizens. Students should begin filing their FAFSA October 1st of their senior year of high school and every October thereafter. Some financial aid is awarded on a first-come first-served basis, so filing early is important. Contact the financial aid offices of the schools you are applying for admission and ask them for the school’s deadline for institutional aid to ensure you do not miss out on any grants or scholarships from the school. Keep in mind that each school may have a different deadline.

A student’s applications will include parent information and step-parent information unless the student meets the criteria to be considered an independent student. Independent students are 24 years or older, married, have a child or dependent, they are an orphan or ward of the court, they have a legal guardian, or they are certified as an unaccompanied youth or enrolled in a graduate degree program. Independent students will only include their information and their spouse’s information on the FAFSA. Dependent students whose biological parents are separated or divorced will require a parent and step-parent information if their parent is remarried, only from one household. The FAFSA determines the household information based primarily on where the student lives 51% or more of the time and secondarily by who provides 51% or more of the financial support for the student.

For financial aid purposes, only biological adoptive or step-parents should be reporting information on the FAFSA. No one else should report their information unless they have legally adopted the student legal guardians are not considered parents for purposes of the FAFSA. Before completing the FAFSA, be sure to gather all the documents needed to fill out the form using the list on this slide. Be sure that your social security number is correct.

Every student and one parent in the household must create an FSA ID prior to completing the FAFSA. Students will use the FSA ID to access and sign the FAFSA electronically and access federal websites related to their financial aid. Parents will use the FSA ID to sign their child’s FAFSA electronically and if they choose to borrow a parent plus loan. Note that students and parents must have separate IDs. An email address can only be associated to one FSA ID and it is important that students and parents have an email address that will be used for a few years since you will use your FSA ID yearly and receive important financial information throughout the process.

The FSA ID requires a social security number, however parents who do not have a social security number can still sign the FAFSA using a signature page that must be printed, signed, and mailed to the Department of Education or turned into the school.

To simplify the process of entering tax data on the FAFSA, students and parents are able to transfer their tax data directly from the IRS using the IRS data retrieval tool or the DRT. The process includes an extra security measure by never showing your tax return data on the screen. The data is encrypted and only becomes visible when the college or university receives the application and unencrypts the information to award your financial aid. To determine your financial need, the U.S. Department of Education uses a formula established by congress called Federal Methodology. This formula uses information from the FAFSA to determine the amount that you and your family are expected to contribute towards your college education, which is called the Expected Family Contribution because it is based on family information. Your EFC will remain the same regardless of the college you attend. After the fafsa is submitted, a report called the student aid report or SAR will be sent to the student which includes the EFC. The SAR provides a list of all the questions and answers on the FAFSA. The information should be reviewed and any errors corrected at studentaid.gov.

The cost of attendance is an estimate of expenses that students may incur while attending college for the year this figure is used to determine how much financial aid can be awarded to the student the cost of attendance will vary by school, but it is important to note that the number is only an estimate and what a family actually pays is generally less depending on a variety of things.

At each college, the financial aid office will calculate your financial aid by subtracting the EFC from the cost of attendance. The EFC will be the same at each college, but the cost of attendance will differ from college to college. Keep this in mind: the cost of attendance varies, EFC remains the same, financial need varies. Colleges will combine all sources of aid available to try to meet your financial need, however in many cases the college may not be able to meet 100 percent of your financial need. The difference between the financial need and the amount of financial aid offered by the college is often known as the gap which the family will be responsible for paying out of pocket.

The examples on the slide show how financial need is calculated and how it will vary from college to college based on cost of attendance. Remember your EFC will be the same at each college, but your cost of attendance will be different. As a result, your financial need will not be the same at every college. After you complete the financial aid application process, the financial aid administrators at each college that you are considering will send an award offer for consideration. Because each college has its own packaging policy, the types of financial aid offered to you will probably vary from college to college. The financial aid offer may include a combination of financial aid programs from various sources such as grants, scholarships, work study, and student loans. As you review the award offers, consider the cost of attendance, the EFC, your financial aid eligibility, and the types of financial aid programs offered and your anticipated out-of-pocket cost. Ideally you want to look for award letters that include more gift aid because this is typically money that you won’t have to pay back.

When completing the FAFSA for the 22-23 academic year you will be asked to provide tax information from 2020. If there is a significant difference in your current financial aid situation from 2020 due to, for example, a change in employment or parent marital status or large medical expenses not covered by insurance, the financial aid department may be able to make some adjustments to your application so that it more accurately reflects your current financial situation. You must first complete the FAFSA with the 2020 tax information as directed, then contact the financial aid office at the school you plan to attend for further instructions. Each school will have its own policy and procedures regarding adjustments for special circumstances and the decisions made by the school cannot be appealed.

As you make your way through the financial aid process, keep the following tips in mind: Apply early. You may be asked to submit documentation to the financial aid office for verification purposes. Keep track of application deadlines. Remember that schools will have different deadlines. Keep a copy of everything you submit. Make sure to reapply for financial aid every year. Do not become overwhelmed by the sticker price of a college, it may not be what it seems.

Here are a few steps to remember: It is never too early to start planning for the future. The first step in the financial aid process is the FAFSA. Receive, review, and edit the student aid report as appropriate. Check with the financial aid office if you need help. If you are selected for verification, submit any necessary documentation. Consider all your award offers. Respond to college offers by designated deadlines, including those colleges you decide not to attend. Advise schools of outside scholarships and renew the FAFSA every year.

The Illinois State Student Assistance Commission’s website at www.isec.org contains many resources that you and your parents can take advantage of, including calculators to estimate how much to save for college and repayment calculators for student loans. The department of education also provides resources at studentaid.gov.

Thank you for your time. Feel free to contact the financial aid office at Highland Community College with any questions you have. You can reach us directly at financialaid@highland.edu or by phone at 815-599-3519.