High school seniors: have you submitted your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) yet?
If not, don’t fret; November is Financial Future Month across all NYC high schools, and now is the time to complete your FAFSA and potentially gain access to thousands of dollars in scholarships and grants like New York State’s Tuition Assistance Program (TAP).
Even if you’re a high school senior who isn’t sure about your plans after high school, completing a FAFSA now at least ensures that the colleges you’re accepted to will send financial aid packages for your review in spring 2020.
Want to learn more about submitting a FASFA? Check out our primer right here on The Morning Bell!
Students and families who complete the FAFSA will begin to receive financial aid award letters in winter and spring 2020 either through email or the postal service. How this information is presented can vary though, so it’s helpful to prepare with some key resources:
- FAFSA Forecaster – Online tool that helps to estimate a person’s eligibility for federal student aid.
- FinAid’s Financial Award Letter Comparison Tool – webpage that allows users to compare financial aid packages from colleges they’ve been accepted to—in particular, it highlights differences in the cost of attending each school.
- Tips for taking out student loans & Loan Entrance Counseling
- Loan Payment Estimator Calculator – Helps students understand loan repayments in relation to possible starting salaries.
It’s important that students regularly check their email for information regarding the processing of their FAFSA and TAP applications. You could, for example, be selected for verification, a process in which you will be asked to submit hard copies of the documents you used to complete your FAFSA. Don’t let a missed email jeopardize your financial aid award!
Want to receive an estimate of the net price of a particular college or university? Check out the U.S. Department of Education’s online Net Price Calculator.
Assessing Affordability
Now is also a good time to learn about what the cost of attending different schools would be to your family. A college’s “price tag” or “sticker price” does not convey how much any individual student will pay, which might be much less. You can use to take the mystery out of affordability by reviewing the following information:
- Net Price Calculator – Allows prospective students to enter information about themselves to find out what other students paid to attend a particular institution in the previous year, after taking grants and scholarship aid into account; and
- New York State’s Educational Opportunity Programs & Admissions Criteria.
Please exercise extreme caution when applying to for profit colleges. Many NYC students who attend for profit colleges are less likely to graduate and more likely to leave college in debt.
File your FAFSA as soon as you are able; many colleges, including CUNY, allocate funds on a rolling, first-come, first-serve basis. So submit your FAFSA now to increase your chances of enrolling in college.
Applying for Scholarships
In addition to the financial aid packages provided by colleges, you can also reduce your financial burden through scholarships. Scholarships are funds awarded to students to help meet the costs of their educational needs, and do not have to be repaid. Learn more about scholarship opportunities via these links:
- Scholarship search engines via Fastweb, Scholar Snapp, and Scholarships.com
- New York State’s Excelsior Scholarship Program
- College Board’s Opportunity Scholarship
- Posse Foundation’s Posse Scholarships
- QuestBridge’s National College Match Scholarships
- United Federation of Teachers’ Albert Shanker Scholarships
- TheDream.US Scholarship for DREAMers
Once your FAFSA has been submitted and processed, you may still make changes or edits to your application. For more information, visit this webpage.
Financial Aid Available to Undocumented Students
Thanks to the Senator José Peralta New York State DREAM Act, undocumented students and other immigrant students can now access New York State‐administered grants and scholarships to support their higher education costs, including TAP.
Eligibility for financial aid depends on immigration status as well as when and where applicants attended and graduated high school or received their high school equivalency diploma.
The NYS Higher Education Services Corporation (HESC) reports that students can qualify for State-administered grants and scholarships if they have a U-Visa, a T-Visa, Temporary Protected Status (TPS), DACA status, or no official immigration status. Students who do not live in New York State can also qualify if they are U.S. citizens, green card holders, asylees, or refugees.
Applicants must also show that they have attended school in New York State (NYS). For those applying for financial aid at the undergraduate level:
- If the applicant graduated from high school in NYS:
- They must have attended high school in NYS for two or more years.
- They must apply for a grant within five years of graduating high school.
- If the applicant has a NYS High School Equivalency Diploma:
- They must apply for a grant within five years of receiving the high school equivalency diploma.
Undocumented students applying for graduate school aid have to apply within 10 years of receiving their NYS high school (or high school equivalency) diploma.
If you have further questions about the NYS DREAM Act, you can check out the HESC’s DREAM Act website, email the HESC at NYSDREAM@applyISTS.com, or call the HESC at (888) 697-4372. Likewise, you can also visit the Mayor’s Office for Immigrant Affairs’ DREAM Act webpage.
Don’t miss out on getting free money for college! Check out available scholarships on websites like Fastweb, Scholar Snapp, and others.
Application Fee Waivers
Considering City of New York (CUNY) colleges for your postsecondary options? Through College Access for All, the DOE and CUNY provide application fee waivers to high schools to distribute to students with financial need.
Students who face financial hardship can request a CUNY fee waiver from their high school counselor. One fee waiver gives students the opportunity to submit an application to six college choices using the CUNY Application. Ask your school’s guidance counselor for more information.
Filling out forms is no one’s idea of a good time, but the financial payoff to plowing through them can be huge. And the guidance available to students and their families at their schools and through the resources provided here help make everything manageable. So, if you haven’t already, get started on your FAFSA, and feel free to use our FAFSA guide to help get the process going.
On behalf of the DOE, we wish all of our rising high school seniors success on their college applications.
