FAFSA Form & Financial Aid Form Blog

The Department of Education has released screenshots for the 2008 - 2009 FAFSA on the Web application. Download the FAFSA preview as a PDF file here! (5.9 MB PDF, requires free Adobe Acrobat Reader)

This application will be available and usable on January 1, 2008.

Did

you

know

that…

if you have been convicted of possession or sale of an illegal substance during a period of enrollment…you will not be eligible for Federal student aid, including Federal student loans? In some cases, even if you have been convicted in the past of sale or possession of an illegal substance, you may not be eligible for federal aid in the future. Students at Truman State University, in Missouri, are able to voice their opinions on the subject mostly due a national campaign run by the Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP). In an article written by Heather Turner, she explains why this topic is up for debate:

“In July the Senate passed the Higher Education Access Act of 2007, which expands funding for federal aid, with the question still on the FAFSA form, according to Library of Congress Records. SSDP members hope to convince enough members of the House of Representatives to keep the question off of the FAFSA form before the bill is passed sometime in October or November. Richardson said he thinks there is a good chance the question will be removed because the House drafted an earlier version of the bill that did not include the amendment containing the question.”We’re hoping there’s a good chance that it will go through the House without the question, and then when it comes to the committee that decides on the final bill, they’ll end up siding with the House version,” Richardson said.Rep. Rebecca McClanahan, D-Kirksville, said she is open to discuss the issue with students, even though she is not involved directly with the legislation.”I’ve been concerned about some of the enforcement of very minor offenses that sometimes appear to be overblown when we could be using our energies on things that are more of a problem,” McClanahan said.She said her experiences working as a nurse with individuals who had substance abuse disorders has given her a broad understanding of the issue.”[The question] doesn’t even speak to the issue that a person that’s even addicted has perhaps gone through treatment and has achieved sobriety after a significant addiction,” McClanahan said. “I assumed that would still apply to them, which seems like an unfair restriction when a person is doing well.”Ryan, a former Truman student who asked for his last name to be withheld, was found to be in possession of marijuana on campus his freshman year at Truman. He said there still are ways to find funding to cover education costs. Ryan said he has been able to keep his scholarships and would have been able to keep the scholarships offered to him through the University by completing a program that included writing a paper and attending meetings, had he not opted to go to another college.

“I honestly think Truman has the right idea with the writing of the paper, and I had to go to a counseling meeting, like a group counseling session,” Ryan said.

Completing a drug rehabilitation program like the one Truman requires after a student commits a drug offense involving illegal substances is part of the criteria for regaining eligibility for federal aid, according to an amendment in title IV of the Higher Education Act that went into effect in 2000.

“The scholarship that I have kept four years now is A+, and drug offenses are not, I guess, considered a reason to lose it,” Ryan said.

Ryan has not had to file for federal aid to cover his college expenses but said that even though he understands where the government is coming from, it seems like it violates personal rights to ask whether or not students have been convicted of a drug offense.

“I think that it should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis for repeat offenders perhaps,” Ryan said. “I don’t think on a first time basis you should lose your scholarships or federal money.”

Data the national SSDP chapter received through the Department of Education shows that more than 189,000 applicants have been disqualified nationally since the question was added to the FAFSA form in 2000 because of their responses, including about 2,800 applicants in Missouri.”

What do you guys think?

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For the full article quoted above click here

Here’s a quick summary of changes on the 2008 - 2009 FAFSA form to be available on January 1, 2008.  We’ll be going through the 2008 FAFSA line by line in an ongoing blog tutorial starting soon!

Summary of Changes - 2008-2009 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)

Colors - The 2008-2009 FAFSA colors are orange for student information and purple for parent information.

Year References - All year references are to be incremented by one year.

Design – The design and layout of the FAFSA is essentially unchanged from the previous year.

Data Elements – The wording of two questions have been revised, however the question numbers remain the same as in 2007-2008.

School/College References – Where applicable and if reference is beyond high school, replace the word school with the word college.

Application Pages

Page 7

Question 21 - We revised question 21 asking are you male by adding are you female.  This is a more direct question to determine if a student is required to register with the Selective Service.

Question:  Are you male or female? (Most male students must register with Selective Service to get federal aid.)  Male _____  Female ____

Question 27 - We revised question 27 asking whether a student will have a high school diploma or GED before the 2008-2009 school year to include two additional options (home schooled or other). The Notes on page 2 refers students to new instructions for reporting an option.

Question:  If you will complete high school or its equivalent before you begin the 2008-2009 school year, enter the correct number in the box.  See Notes page 2

Page 10

Step Six - We revised the text in Step Six to refer to “colleges” instead of schools.  This is more consistent with education beyond high school.

Step Six:  Indicate which colleges you want to receive your FAFSA information.

Notes Pages

Page 2

Notes for question 16 (page 7) - We added instructions specifically for question 16 regarding marital status to clarify changing this information after signing the FAFSA.

Report your marital status as of the date you sign your FAFSA.  If your marital status changes after you sign your FAFSA, you must not change this information.

Notes for question 27 (page 7) – Enter the correct number in the box in question 27.

Enter 1 for High School Diploma
Enter 2 for General Educational Development (GED) certificate
Enter 3 for Home Schooled
Enter 4 for Other

Notes for questions 34 (page 8) and 78 (page 9)  - We added a sentence at the end of these instructions to emphasize another condition for answering “Yes” to this question.

“If you filed a 1040 and were not required to file a tax return, you should answer “Yes” to this question.”

Page 4

Notes for questions 71-75 – We added text to the instructions for dependent students and their parents explaining that answering these questions will not reduce their benefits from the five federal means-tested benefit programs.

“Mark an oval … 2006.  Use … household.”  “Answering these questions will not reduce your eligibility for student aid or these other federal benefits.”

Notes for questions 92-96 - We added text to the instructions for independent students and spouse explaining that answering these questions will not reduce their benefits from the five federal means-tested benefit programs.

“Mark an oval … 2006.  Use … household.”  “Answering these questions will not reduce your eligibility for student aid or these other federal benefits.”