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Financial Aid (FAFSA/CASFA)

Need support with completing your FAFSA/CASFA?

Click on the links below to schedule an appointment.

Westminster High School Individual Appointments: https://calendly.com/kprieto1229

Hidden Lake Secondary School Individual Appointments: https://calendly.com/swilliams8  

 

Understanding FAFSA & Financial Aid: https://understandingfafsa.org/

Need to Know FAFSA Updates

On March 12, the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) announced that they had started to send Institutional Student Information Records (ISIRs) to universities and colleges. They sent out 1,000 ISIRS and will gradually begin to ramp up. Students could expect aid offers to begin arriving maybe as soon as mid-April. Federal Student Aid (FSA) will send an email to all students with a submitted form indicating that their form has been processed and that the information has been sent to their institution.

Students will be able to print and review their FAFSA submission summary to help them understand if any additional actions are necessary. Please note: Students will not be able to make corrections on their FAFSA form until the last week of March.

After months of waiting and workarounds, the USDOE announced that they corrected the application to allow contributors without a Social Security number to use the online applications, with two limitations. The first is that student-contributor matching requires the exact entry of personally identifiable information. The second is that the system cannot retrieve IRS data for those contributors, so they must enter their information manually.

Financial Aid (FAFSA/CASFA)

Sometimes students don’t realize that there is money available to help them pay for college and they think that they can’t afford it. Here is what you need to know!

What is Financial Aid?

Financial aid comes from either the state or federal government. It is based on your family’s financial status and provides money that helps you pay for your college expenses. Examples include:

  • grants - does not have to be re-paid
  • loans - must be repaid, however, federal loans have lower interest rates
  • work-study - money that is earned through an on- or off-campus job

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Q: If my family owns their own business, can I still fill out FAFSA?
    • A: YES!!
  • Q: If my family works in a cash only business, can I still fill out FAFSA?
    • A: YES!!
  • Q: If members of my family do not have a social security number, can I still fill out FAFSA?
    • A: YES!!
  • Q: If my parents are divorced, can I still fill out FAFSA?
    • A: YES!!
  • Q: If I am not sure where I want to go to college, or if I want to attend college right after graduation, should I still fill out FAFSA?
    • A: YES!!
  • Q: If my family does not file taxes, can I still fill out FAFSA?
    • A: YES!!

FAFSA/CASFA

How do I apply for financial aid?

You complete an online application - either the FAFSA (if you are a US Citizen or an eligible noncitizen) or the CASFA (if you consider yourself DACA, Undocumented, a non-US Citizen or International student) in your senior year. It is free to complete and aid is awarded on first-come, first-served basis so the sooner you apply, the better! 

What do I need to apply?

Here is a list of the documents and information that you need to complete your FAFSA/CASFA:

  1. Student’s social security number (for the FAFSA)
    • It is very important that you use the correct SSN and your name as listed on your ID or Birth Certificate
    • If a student does not have a social security number, they should complete the CASFA.
  2. A copy of the 2022 income taxes for parent/guardians and student and other records of money earned (including W-2s)
    • If your family doesn’t file taxes, you will need an estimate of how much money the family gets per year and you will need to have some documentation to prove this estimate later on.
    • If your family files taxes in another country, you will need an estimate in dollars of how much they earn for the year and you will need to have some documentation to prove this estimate later on
  3. Amount of money in checking, savings, and cash for parent/guardians and student (on an average day, after all bills have been paid for the month)
  4. If parents/guardians are married, date of marriage or remarriage
  5. If parents/guardians are divorced, date of divorce
  6. If parents have social security numbers, you will need those. If they don’t have those numbers, you won’t need this information (do not use ITIN numbers)
  7. Parents’ dates of birth
  8. Number of years family has lived in Colorado
  9. Value of businesses or farms owned by you or your parent/guardian
  10. Up to 10 colleges or universities that you have applied to or will apply to in the future