Happy New Year! I’ve been busy onboarding new juniors so my January post is a little late. This month my webinar and blog focus on paying for college in conjunction with the release of the new FAFSA on New Year’s Eve. (You can read a sage counselor’s thoughts here.)
If you have been following along, I wagered in July that the Department of Education would have to punt this to next year. I put my monopoly money on that bet and I lost. They did a soft opening on December 31st. Ron Lieber, the NYT columnist that writes about personal finance and the author of the book, “The Price You Pay For College”, dug in on December 31st and wrote about it here, “I Spent New Year’s Eve Trying to Do the FAFSA. It Didn’t Go Well“.
Families often ask me if it makes sense to fill out the FAFSA. They do not think they will qualify for aid, so they wonder if it is worth it. Here are six reasons to fill out the FAFSA:
- Some states require FAFSA completion for graduation.
- Some colleges require the FAFSA to award merit scholarships.
- If you want your child to take out a federal loan to have skin in the game, the FAFSA is required.
- If anything changes in your circumstances and you want to appeal to a school for aid, you will have the paperwork filed.
- FAFSA submission can release state aid in certain places.
- There are colleges that will not allow you to apply for financial aid if you do not apply during a student’s first year. If you have a change in your status during sophomore, junior or senior year, the student is precluded from consideration.
The FAFSA had a rough start on December 31st, but is open and ready to go. Good luck!