2011-12 FAFSA Training for College Goal Sunday Volunteers

1. 2011-12 FAFSA Training for College Goal Sunday Volunteers

2. Housekeeping • Phone • Lines are muted • Don’t place on hold • Presentation materials at collegegoalsundayusa.org/uploads/2011FAFSAtraining.PDF • Ask follow-up questions via “contact us” feature on www.collegegoalsundayusa.org

3. SPONSORED BY: Maine Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators 3

4. Agenda Review of the federal aid application process Examine the questions for the 2011-12 FAFSA on the Web using the worksheet Show some of the changes to the online process for 2011-2012

5. Explaining the Application Steps for Federal Aid to Your Participants Gathering documentation Completing the FOTW (FAFSA on the Web) Worksheet Completing the FOTW Signing the FAFSA Reviewing the results Making corrections as needed Submitting other documents requested by each college or university

6. What Can You Do When There May Be Special Circumstances? The FAFSA submitted by the family must reflect estimated or actual 2010 income figures and current asset values (if required). Students and families may bring a variety of situations to your programs including concerns about independency and special financial or other circumstances. The college/university will need to make the official decision about using a different income or other data to make the award based on their policies. Remind the applicant to get in touch with the financial aid office – the earlier the better.

7. Refer to the actual forms when possible, e.g., the Social Security Card, the federal tax return or W2. Recheck responses before submitting the application. Use estimates if tax returns are not completed, but remember to update the figures once the tax forms are done. If possible, utilize IRS transfer process. For more assistance with the FAFSA contact the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 800-433-3243. Other Suggestions for Your Participants

8. Helping Families Move from the Worksheet to the Web Reminder – not all questions that are on the FOTW are on the worksheet, e.g., household size, number in college, assets, other income amounts Consider how this may impact your counseling – will you use the worksheet, the FOTW, the paper FAFSA, the fafsa demo site or a combination to help families complete the FAFSA?

9. Three student options for applying: Online PDF FAFSA Paper FAFSA FAFSA Filing Options

10. What Has Changed?…FAFSA on the Web (FOTW) Redesigned site to guide applicant through all phases of application process Provides new approach for correcting information Reduction in number of questions and thus pages presented particularly designed for applicants with the greatest financial need

11. FAFSA User-focused improvements continuing for 2011-12 Simplified home page Customized experience for each applicant 2010 IRS data retrieval Jan. 30 Resources for Students: Live help (chat) Online help and hints 1-800-4-FED-AID DRAFT Redesigned FAFSA Home Page

12. FOTW

14. Other Changes Enhanced, interactive tools such as FAFSA4caster, Student Aid Deadlines, Federal School Code Search and Browse Help Added commas to financial fields Added dashes and hyphens to date fields, SSN fields, and telephone number fields

15. Question Changes Deleted question about enrollment Deleted question about completing coursework necessary to become a teacher Added high school question if the applicant reports that he/she received a HS Diploma – collecting name, city, state (asked only if grade level is “0” or “1” on FOTW – can select from a list or enter data)

16. Question Changes Changed question about “types of aid interested in receiving”… to… “Are you interested in being considered for work-study?” – Yes, No, Don’t Know

17. Change to Unemployment Reporting • From NASFAA 1/10/2011 - The 2011-12 FAFSA instructed students and parents to include "the first $2,400 of unemployment benefits received" as untaxed income. However, the tax provision allowing the first $2,400 of unemployment benefits received to be untaxed was not extended through 2010. ED is in the process of removing the wording that instructs students and parents to include the first $2,400 of unemployment benefits as untaxed income.

18. What Hasn’t Changed…the PIN Process Can obtain PIN now from www.pin.ed.gov or access from the www.fafsa.gov page

19. PIN Reminders Parent and student can create own PINs (remember both parent of a dependent student and the student will each need a PIN), or can request FSA to generate a PIN that will display on the screen in real time, request that it be emailed in real-time, or have it sent via postal mail. Follow up includes a match of name, SSN, and date of birth. If the match is successful, the PIN becomes permanent. If the match is unsuccessful, the applicant is sent a SAR for signatures and the PIN is disabled. 19

23. Start Here Start a FAFSA Continue a FAFSA Complete a FAFSA Check status of completed FAFSA View or print processed results Correct FAFSA information Print signature pages, or Review correction history

24. One Log-in for all Functionality • Name re-ordered to first name and full last name.

25. Reconfirmation of Identifiers • New student identify confirmation to reduce incorrect entries

27. “My FAFSA” page – New Student • Dynamic messaging guides the applicant through all phases of the application experience • Application Status • PIN Status

29. “My FAFSA” page - “Continue” • Applicant may Continue to complete a saved application from where he/she left off or Start Over

35. Student can Select the school attended from the list. If the student does not find the school on the list, the student selects Next to continue and the search criteria are saved. High School Search Results – Matches Found

41. Definitions • Homeless means lacking fixed, regular, and adequate housing, which includes living in shelters, motels, or cars, or temporarily living with other people because you had nowhere else to go. • Unaccompanied means you are not living in the physical custody of your parent or guardian. • Youth means you are 21 years of age or younger or you are still enrolled in high school as of the day you sign this application.

43. The applicant should contact the financial aid office for assistance if • “you do not have a determination but believe you are an unaccompanied youth who is homeless or are an unaccompanied youth providing for your own living expenses who is at risk of being homeless. If you are older than 21 but not yet 24, you should also contact your financial aid office if you are homeless or are self-supporting at risk of being homeless. Note that if you answer “Yes” to any of the previous three questions (55, 56, or 57), the financial aid administrator at your college may require you to provide proof of your status. • Answer “No” if you are not homeless, self-supporting and at risk of being homeless, or do not have a determination from a district liaison, director of a cited program, or your financial aid administrator.”

50. IRS Data Retrieval • Can begin to use IRS data retrieval process for income questions after January 30 if • Valid SSN • Filed 2010 federal tax return, and • Unchanged marital status since 12/31/2010