 |
| |
Year round full-time workers
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, 2006 Annual Social and Economic Supplement
The difference between income levels becomes even more apparent in graph format.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, 2006 Annual Social and Economic Supplement
Remember to carefully evaluate all relevant aspects of the schools you’re considering. Just because a school participates in our federal student aid programs doesn’t mean we’ve endorsed the quality of education the school offers. We don’t approve a school’s curricula, policies or administrative practices, except as they relate to how the school administers our federal student aid programs.
|
When we refer to “school” in this guide, we mean a two-year or four-year public or private college or university, or a career or trade school.
|
- Does the school offer the courses and type of program I want?
- Do I meet the admissions requirements?
- Does the school offer a high quality education?
- Does the school participate in federal student aid programs?
- Does the school offer services
- Read the school’s catalog or introductory materials.
- Talk with students who currently attend or attended the school you’re considering to get their opinion of the school.
- Check the school’s Web site.
- Visit the reference section of your local library.
- Talk to high school counselors and your state higher education agency. (See the section "State Higher Education Agencies" for a list of agencies and their phone numbers.)
- Check to see if any complaints about the school have been filed with the local Better Business Bureau or the consumer protection division of the state attorney general’s office. Search for Better Business Bureau offices at www.bbb.org.
You’re paying for a high-quality education. Make sure you get it.
Before enrolling, make appointments to visit the colleges or career schools you’re considering. Bring a list of questions to ask school representatives. Your education is a major investment, so find out as much information as you can before you enroll.
- Find out if the school participates in federal student aid programs.
- Ask about the school’s Accreditation, licensing and campus security.
- Find out the school’s loan Default rate (the percentage of students who attended the school, took out federal student loans and failed to repay their loans on time). You might not be able to get aid from some of our programs at a school that has a high Default rate (the percentage of students who attended the school, took out federal student loans and failed to repay their loans on time). You might not be Default rate.
- Find out the school’s job placement rates (the percentage of students who are placed in jobs relevant to their courses of study).
If the school advertises its job placement rates, it must also publish:
- the most recent employment statistics,
- graduation statistics, and
- any other information necessary to back up its claims.
This information must be made available at the time you apply for admission to the school.
Make sure you get the information you need and check out all of your options as you prepare for education after high school. It’s never too early to get started pursuing a career, so don’t wait until the last minute to get started! Know what to expect from the schools you’re considering.
You have the right to receive the following information from the school:
- The location, hours and counseling
procedures for the school’s financial aid office.
- The financial aid assistance available,
including federal, state, local, private and institutional
financial aid programs.
- The procedures and deadlines for
submitting applications for each available financial aid program.
- The school’s criteria for selecting
financial aid recipients.
- The school’s process for determining your
financial need.
- The school’s process for determining the
type and amount of assistance in your Financial Aid Package.
- The method and timing of financial aid
payments made to you.
- The school’s basis for determining whether
you’re making Satisfactory Academic Progress, and what happens if
you’re not. (Whether you continue to receive federal student aid
depends, in part, on whether you make satisfactory academic
progress.)
- If you’re offered a Federal Work-Study job, the nature of the job, the hours you must work, your duties, the pay and the method and timing of payment to you.
If you enroll but never begin classes, you should get most of your money back. If you begin attending classes but leave before completing your course work, you might be able to get some of your money back.
If you receive federal student aid from any program mentioned in this publication (except for Federal Work-Study), and you withdraw from school, some of that money might have to be given back to the source by you or by your school. Even if you don’t finish your course work, you’ll have to repay the loan funds you received, minus any student loan funds your school has returned to your lender.
If many students withdraw from a school, it might indicate a problem with the school. A school is required to disclose to current and prospective students the percentage of students who complete the school’s programs and the percentage of students who transfer out.
DID YOU KNOW …
You can create a FREE, personalized student account folder at our Web site Student Aid on the Web at www.FederalStudentAid.ed.gov. Just click on the “MyFSA” icon at the “Students, Parents and Counselors” option and follow the instructions. Your personal account will allow you to do online college and scholarship searches and populate your FAFSA with information you enter for your account. It’s entirely free. |
FAFSA4caster is an online tool to help students and families prepare financially for college before officially applying for federal student aid. It provides an estimate of federal student aid eligibility by instantly calculating an estimated Expected Family Contribution—the indicator used to estimate a family’s or a student’s ability to contribute toward the cost of an education after high school. FAFSA4caster determines what type of federal aid (grants, work-study and loans) the student is eligible to receive and provides an estimated award amount for each.
FAFSA4caster is not just for high school juniors. Parents of younger students can use it to receive early estimates, create scenarios based on future earnings, and establish college savings strategies. Students considering going back to college can also use FAFSA4caster to get an idea of how much federal aid they may qualify to receive.
The benefit of using FAFSA4caster goes beyond early estimates. Some of the data entered in FAFSA4caster will populate FAFSA on the Web when the student officially applies for federal student aid. Note: To apply for aid, students must use FAFSA on the Web at www.fafsa.ed.gov.
FAFSA4caster also:
- Reduces the time it will take to complete the online application, FAFSA on Web
- Helps users become familiar with the
student aid lifecycle
- Conducts a data match with the Social
Security Administration; this gives students the opportunity to
resolve issues prior to applying for federal student aid. If a
Social Security number match fails, students will be notified to
have the issue resolved before officially applying for aid.
- Automatically generates and e-mails the Federal Student Aid PIN for the student to use when applying for federal
student aid at FAFSA on the Web.
You can access FAFSA4caster at www.FederalStudentAid.ed.gov. Remember that the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or FAFSA on the Web, the online version, is the application used to apply for federal student aid. But if you’re not ready to file the FAFSA, you can submit a FAFSA4caster to receive an early estimate of your student aid eligibility. You’ll need:
- Your Social Security number;
- To create a password, used to secure data and allow you to retrieve your saved or submitted FAFSA4caster;
- To refer to your and your parents’, if
you’re a dependent student, W-2 forms, bank statements and
business and mortgage information; and
- Your Alien Registration number (if not a U.S. citizen).
When you submit your FAFSA4caster, you will be able to see what college might cost depending on the type of school you plan to attend. If you plan to attend school full-time at a four-year public school, it shows the types of federal student aid that might help cover that cost, listing your estimated award amount for the Federal Pell Grant Program and providing examples of award packages showing in-state and out-of-state costs. Finally, FAFSA4caster shows any estimated financial need that remains after the estimated aid amounts and EFC are taken into account.
|
|
