‘Tis the season for financial aid.
This month, high school students, parents and returning college students are filling out and filing state and federal scholarship and grant applications that could determine when and where they attend college.
But officials at colleges in North Georgia and Southeast Tennessee say changes to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) will make applying easier than before.
An application that sometimes took more than an hour to complete now takes under 30 minutes, officials said.
“This is huge,” said Holly Woods, interim financial aid director at Dalton State College in Dalton, Ga. “A lot of students would just give up in the past.”
The U.S. Department of Education simplified the FAFSA form late last year.
“In the past students were stumbling over (parts of the FAFSA),” said Willie Thomas, assistant director of financial aid for Chattanooga State Community College.
A report by the U.S. Department of Education shows that, at two-year colleges, 57 percent of students who are eligible for Pell grants complete the required forms. At public universities, 76 percent of eligible students apply for the grants. But more than 1 million students annually do not receive federal aid for which they are eligible, data show.
Students must fill out the FAFSA to be eligible for federal college grants. State and institutional scholarships also require an FAFSA.
For those who do not qualify for grants such as Pell grants, FAFSA is used to determine subsidized student loans.
WHERE TO GET HELPCleveland State Community College* College Goal Sunday will be held on Feb. 14 from 2-4 p.m. in the Career Education Building. Volunteers will be available to help student file the FAFSA.Chattanooga State Community College* A financial aid night will be held at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 4 in the humanities building for high school students and adults.* A presentation on how nontraditional adult students can pay for college will be held Feb. 11 at World Restoration Center, 4004 Dorris St. in Chattanooga.* College Goal Sunday will be held from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Feb. 14. Volunteers from several area colleges will be available to help students file the FAFSA.Source: Chattanooga State, Cleveland State
Geraldine Parks, director of financial aid at Cleveland State Community College, said the new form drops some questions and allows students to skip others that don’t apply. Low-income students no longer will be asked complicated questions about family income, for example. In some cases, the application will be reduced from 10 pages to seven.
“It would take less time to complete, and the questions are more condensed and concise,” said Ms. Parks. “It is going to be less confusing.”
Students can upload Internal Revenue Service documents into their FAFSA, said Ms. Woods. Tax information has been a big hold-up in the past, she said.
“That will make a huge difference for people because a lot of times people don’t know where their taxes are,” said Ms. Woods.