Financial Aid Newsletter – Greenback_DEC-16_FINAL
Check out the latest issue of The Financial Aid Greenback, our quarterly Financial Aid newsletter. This issue: Manage your educational borrowing, FAFSA Filing Update, Scholarship information, Essay Tips, and more. This newsletter is designed to help students and staff members stay up-to-date on the latest and greatest in the world of financial aid.
Navigating the FAFSA:
Federal Student Aid published a new video to their YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdaGZASwjZU
This 6 minute video contains helpful information for parents of Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) applicants. It helps parents navigate the FAFSA process: from logging in, to filling out and to signing their child’s FAFSA using their FSA ID.
Creating an FSA ID:
For information on creating an FSA ID, FSA has a video with detailed instructions on how to create an FSA ID: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLi0q7hkFns
Please review these videos and share them with students and parents on campus, at high school night or SDV presentations, in your offices and anywhere else it could be seen.
To further assist you in your outreach, particularly with the 2016–17 FAFSA application, we have attached a number of FSA ID resources for your use:
Additional Resources
FSA ID website: https://fsaid.ed.gov
FSA ID Q&A: https://fsaid.ed.gov/npas/pub/faq.htm
Although the IRS Data Retrieval Tool (DRT) is still the preferred method for providing tax information when completing the FAFSA, accessing a real-time tax transcript at www.irs.gov/transcript will simplify the process of obtaining a Tax Return Transcript for those filers who are not eligible to use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool. Electronic tax filers should have access to a transcript two weeks after taxes are filed, starting about the end of February.
Federal tax filers will be required to provide authentication prior to viewing and printing their Tax Return Transcripts. Get Transcript provides:
Letters of Non-Filing
Get Transcript will alleviate the need to visit the IRS Office in person or request a transcript via mail; the filer will simply go to www.irs.gov/transcript. After user authentication, students or parents will provide the reason for the request, select the year(s), type(s) of information requested, and other requested information, and the document will be displayed in a printable format.
In preparation for completing the FAFSA, families are encouraged to file their taxes electronically and to do so as early as possible to meet all financial aid priority deadlines.
In spring 2015, Federal Student Aid (FSA) will implement a new login process for their student and borrower-based websites, including FAFSA on the Web, NSLDS® Student Access, StudentLoans.gov, StudentAid.gov, and the TEACH Grant website. The new FSA ID, which will be comprised of a userselected username and password, will replace the Federal Student Aid PIN as the process by which students, parents, and borrowers authenticate their identity to access their federal student aid information. The FSA ID will offer new functionality, including a single sign-on process for most of FSA systems.
FSA is making this change to eliminate the need for individuals to enter personal identifiers (Social Security number, name, and date of birth) when accessing Federal Student Aid’s systems. This change is critical to comply with new security requirements and industry best practices.
FSA is working to ensure that the transition from the FSA PIN to the FSA ID is as seamless as possible for customers. Existing users will be able to link their PIN information to the FSA ID. This change will not impact the FSA User ID log-in process that is currently in place for financial aid professionals.
Students will receive additional information regarding this change, which is expected to occur around the end of April, 2015. Please monitor the NOVA Financial Aid website for forthcoming announcements about the transition to the new FSA ID.
Thank you in advance for your support as FSA implements this important change. As always, if questions arise contact the Financial Aid Support Center.