Financial Aid Night��January 9^th, 2025

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Agenda

• Overview of Financial Aid
• Promise Programs
• Applying
• What happens Next
• That’s Good to Know!

Sources of Financial Aid

• Primary Sources
• Government
• Federal and State agencies
• Colleges & Universities
• Private Sources

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$122 Billion

federal aid every year

Types of Financial Aid

• Grants
• Scholarships
• Federal Work Study
• Loans

Grants (Free-not repaid)

• Federal
• Pell grant
• SEOG (Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant)
• TEACH Grant*
• State
• Wisconsin Grant
• TIP (Talent Incentive Program)
• TAG (Tuition Assistance Grant)
• Institutional

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*Not all schools participate in TEACH Grant—even if they have an education program

Scholarships

Where do scholarships come from?

• Colleges/Universities
• Civic Organizations/Private businesses
• Parental affiliations
• Online Searches (fastweb.com)

What are scholarships based on?

• Merit
• Need
• Involvement/Activity/Leadership etc
• Just for being YOU!

Thinking About Scholarships

When applying:

• Is the scholarship RENEWABLE?
• Who is my competition?
• What makes me unique?

When awarded:

• When are funds distributed, and how?
• Is there anything I need to do after receiving the funds?

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Your Scholarship Search

• Start Now!
• Begin close to home
• Search the college/university websites
• Create a Scholarship file
• Resume
• Transcripts
• Essays you’ve already written
• Letters of recommendation

Federal Work Study/Employment

• Federal Work Study
• Institutional Work Programs
• Off campus/summer employment
• Paid internships

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*Studies show that students who work part-time perform better academically*

Loans (Paid back)

• Federal Direct Loan Program
• Subsidized-based on need
• Unsubsidized
• Federal Parent PLUS Loan

(Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students)

• Other Loans

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Loans Interest Rates

*Interest rates for 2025-2026 released in Summer 2025

Promise Programs

• Considered a “Last Dollar” grant… what does that mean?
• Federal grants—Pell, SEOG
• State grants—Wisconsin Grant
• Anything tuition specific—WI GI Bill, Athletic aid
• Private Institutions—may include subsidized loans
• Cover any ‘gap’ in tuition and base fees* not covered by above programs
• Cannot be used towards other fees

Promise Program Eligibility

• Wisconsin Residency
• Admissions deadlines may apply
• FAFSA Completion
• Adjusted Gross Income per FAFSA*
• Student Aid Index—as calculated by FAFSA*
• Enrollment requirements
• Some programmatic requirements
• Review schools websites to know school-specific requirements

Promise Examples

UW Promise Program Websites

• https://www.wisconsin.edu/tuition-promise/

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• https://www.uwp.edu/apply/admissions/promise-programs.cfm

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• https://financialaid.wisc.edu/types-of-aid/tuition-promise/

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• https://uwm.edu/cost-aid/tuition-promise/

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Promise Programs--Continued

• Gateway Technical College
• https://www.gtc.edu/admissions/gateway-promise-program

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• Milwaukee Area Technical College
• https://www.matc.edu/promise/

• Carthage College—The Carthage Commitment
• https://www.carthage.edu/admissions/undergraduate-students/undergraduate-financial-aid/the-carthage-commitment/

Applying For Financial Aid

Before the FAFSA

• Create FSA ID’s
• Can take up to 3 days
• This should be done NOW to prepare for the FAFSA launch
• Student
• One or both parents

Info Needed For FSA ID

• SSN
• Legal Name
• Permanent email address
• Home address information
• Reset questions/information

• SSN—Options for parents without SSN’s to create
• Legal Name
• Permanent email address
• Must be DIFFERENT than the student
• Home address information
• Reset questions/information

STUDENT

PARENT(s)

FSA ID Guide—Parents Without SSN’s

• FSA ID tool—English
• https://www.uwp.edu/live/offices/financialaid/upload/FSA_ID_without_SSN.pdf

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• FSA ID tool—Spanish
• https://www.uwp.edu/live/offices/financialaid/upload/Spanish_FSA_ID_without_SSN2.pdf

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Coming Soon

• FAFSA launches December 1, 2024
• Studentaid.gov
• Can sign up for text/email alerts
• Website in English/Spanish

Information needed for the FAFSA

• Personal info will pull in from FSA ID’s
• If you have an ‘old’ FSA ID, make sure your address/info is correct
• Financial Information—Checking, savings
• Assets, other financial questions not pulled from taxes (IRA, Rollovers, Americorp benefits, etc)

Student Portion

• Personal identifiers
• Personal circumstances
• Demographics
• Financials
• Colleges
• Signature page

Personal Identifiers

Personal Circumstances

• Questions used to determine if parental information is needed

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• Additional questions for those with ‘unusual’ circumstances which may prevent availability of parental information

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What Is A Contributor?

• Contributors are those who need to add information to a FAFSA
• Parent
• Second parent
• Spouse of a student
• Anyone who needs to contribute to the FAFSA should have their own FSA ID

Who is my Parent?

• Biological or adoptive parents
• Include BOTH parents, regardless of marital status, if living together
• Same sex MARRIED couple - must be LEGALLY married
• Divorced parents
• List the parent who provided 50% or more financial support
• If re-married, step parent would be included

Divorce Situations

• Which parent do you list on the FAFSA?
• Which parent provided more financial support?
• Health insurance? Cell phone plan? Car insurance?
• Is parent re-married?🡪Include Step Parent

Determining Parent Contributors

Inviting Parent(s)

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• Enter all information used to create FSA ID
• If SSN isn’t available, address can be used
• If no SSN, parent can still create FSA ID

Parent Invitation

• Email sent to parent (s) inviting them to complete the FAFSA
• Invite expires after 45 days

Demographics

• Background info for student
• Some optional, some required
• Gender
• Race/Ethnicity
• Citizenship information
• Parent education—college completion
• Student high school info

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Financials

• MOST financial info will pull over automatically from IRS
• Checking, Savings, Assets
• Some other non-taxable information

Providing Consent

• FAFSA uses a “Direct Data Exchange” with the IRS
• Information is private and protected
• Student and parent(s) must provide consent to qualify for Federal Aid
• Say YES even if taxes weren’t filed
• Manual entry of data if earnings but no taxes filed

Providing Consent

Financials

• Student asked financial questions not from IRS

College Selection

• Choose up to 20 schools
• Search by address, name, or school code

Student Signature/Section Complete

• Lists sections student completed
• Shows invited contributors to FAFSA
• Optional
• Review by section
• Change or add contributor

After Signing

Parent Section

• Less sections than student
• Must provide consent, like student, for Direct Data Exchange with the IRS
• Demographics—family size, number in college
• Financials—items that may or may not be on 2023 taxes

Parent Identifiers

• Use to determine if additional contributor is needed
• Married-filing separate
• Unmarried living together
• Married, but didn’t file 2023 joint

Family Size

• Number will pull from exemptions listed on taxes
• Can override if incorrect
• Child isn’t claimed on taxes due to divorce or being claimed on own taxes
• Supporting grandparent
• Schools may ask for documentation

Number in College

• Not used in calculating aid eligibility
• Schools may use this if the parent/family is experiencing high costs due to multiple children in college at once

Financials

• Most pulls direct from IRS
• Other tax questions based on 2023 taxes
• Other financials based on current numbers

Completion

• Student and contributors must complete their sections
• Expire in 45 days
• Student can log on to see status, get confirmation page once completed

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What is the SAI?

• Student Aid Index
• Not a ‘cash’ amount
• Used as a guide to determine student eligibility
• -1500 up to 999,999
• Use the SAI estimator, available now!

https://studentaid.gov/aid-estimator/

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What Happens Next?

• Emailed FAFSA Submission Summary
• 3-5 days after FAFSA submission
• Review for accuracy-log on to FAFSA to make changes
• Information sent to school for processing
• Is the student Admitted?
• Check university/college email!

Finish It Up

• Submit documents needed by Financial Aid
• Citizenship, verification
• Change in financial situation
• Award/Offer/Financial Aid notification
• Mid March🡪May,

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CHECK YOUR UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE EMAIL ADDRESS

Now what?

• Follow instructions on your financial aid letter
• Log on to schools student website/portal
• View and Accept (if required) your aid offer
• Loans
• If borrowing Federal loans:
• Master Promissory Note
• Entrance Counseling

Additional Financial Need

• Parent PLUS loan
• Private Student Loan
• Generally in student name, but will need cosigner
• Some Parent Private loans are available
• Payment plan options
• Balance divided either over the semester or academic year—will vary depending on school

That’s Good to Know!

• A note about loans
• The Financial Aid is an annual process, not ‘one and done’
• Watch for scams
• FERPA
• Studentaid.gov

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Heather McGee

Asst. Director-Scholarships and Financial Aid

University of Wisconsin-Parkside

(262) 595-2574

finaid@uwp.edu

www.uwp.edu

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Thank You!!!