Parents Guide to Financial Aid

There are many things that go into making sure your child is able to receive all the financial aid we can give them. Here we break down every component that goes into determining your child's financial aid award package, as well as any new terminology that may be unfamiliar if this is your first child's first time applying for financial aid.

• FAFSA
  • The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is an application you must submit in order to apply for any federal student aid, such as federal grants, work-study, and loans. Completing and submitting the FAFSA is free and can be done both electronically or as a hard copy. FSU uses your FAFSA information to determine your eligibility to receive financial aid, therefore YOUR CHILD CANNOT RECEIVE MOST TYPES OF FINANCIAL AID THROUGH FSU UNTIL THEY COMPLETE AND SUBMIT THE FAFSA
• Eligibility
  • The maximum amount of financial aid that can be disbursed to your child is determined by their financial eligibility. The factors that determine this include the following:
    • The information entered by your child on their FAFSA application
    • Any outside scholarship your child receives that is not given to them by FSU (note: any outside scholarship MUST be reported to the office of financial aid)
    • The number of credit hours your child is enrolled in
    • Your child's residency status (out-of-state vs. in-state)
    • Your child's GPA
• FERPA
  • The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a is a federal law that protects the privacy of students' educational records. Essentially, under this law the parents of an FSU student may only get access to their child's educational records if their child signs a FERPA release to grant them that access
• Need Based Aid vs Merit Based Aid
  • Need Based Aid - financial aid awarded based on your current financial situation. The FAFSA uses your taxes and other information to determine your child's financial need and financial aid is awarded accordingly
  • Merit Based Aid - financial aid awarded based on your child's academic standing. There are several scholarships available to your child if they have and maintain a high enough GPA (usually around 3.0 or higher in most cases)
• Subsidized Loans vs Unsubsidized Loans
  • Subsidized Loan - a loan that does not accrue any interest until 6 months after your child graduates. After this point, your child will have to start making payments on the loan and it will acquire monthly interest
  • Unsubsidized Loan - a loan that does accrue interest while your child is in college but does not need to have monthly payments until 6 months after they graduate 

The FAFSA is a critical part of the financial aid process, so special attention should be paid to completing it as accurately as possible. Here we will guide you through all of the important requirements and documents you will need to ensure a smooth completion of the FAFSA:

1. Create Your FSA ID
   • An FSA ID is what is used to log in to the Federal Student Aid’s online systems and serves as your legal signature for the FAFSA. Both you and your child will need to create separate FSA IDs in order to complete the FAFSA
2. Prepare All Necessary Documents (These Are Needed For Both You And Your Child)
   • Driver's license
   • Social security number or (if you are not a U.S. citizen) Alien Registration number
   • Federal Tax Return, W-2, and other records of untaxed income
   • The Federal School Code for FSU (001489)
3. Gather All Required Personal Information
   • To ensure you are prepared to answer all of the questions, verify you and your child's personal information. This includes basic information such as:
     • Permanent address
     • Date of Florida residency (if applicable)
     • Date you were married/seperated/divorced/widowed (if applicable)
     • Highest level of schooling you (the parent) completed
     • Household size
     • Does your child want to be considered for Federal Work Study?
4. Complete the FAFSA when it opens up on October 1st

Additionally, you can view the following links to get more information about the FAFSA process:

• General Steps For Completing The FAFSA
  • Simple Overview
  • Detailed Breakdown
• Steps For If You Claim Your Child As A Dependent
  • Determining which parent needs to report their tax information
• Additional Resources

When starting college for the first time, there are many potential costs and difficult financial decisions your child will encounter. Some of these costs are obvious while others may not be, and it is very important to have a good idea of these costs to avoid financial problems and secure financial stability. Here we provide some tools and information for you and your child to make it easier to determine their costs and help them to planning accordingly:

• Cost of Attendance
  • The Cost of Attendance is an estimate of how much it will cost a student to attend FSU. It includes tuition and fees, room and board costs, allowances for books and supplies, transportation, and personal expenses
• Budget Worksheet
  • Our budget worksheet tool lists the university expenses your child may have as well as the different aid types they can receive. Using this budget sheet will allow them to see how much money they owe after receiving financial aid or how much of a refund they may receive if their costs are less than the aid they receive
• Financial Literacy
  • We have a comprehensive guide to understanding how to manage finances in a responsible manner while in college

1. The financial aid process begins with the submission of the FAFSA on October 1^st of every year
   • Following your child's submission of the FAFSA, the application will be processed by the federal government and then sent to the schools that were listed on the FAFSA application (note: FSU's school code (001489) should be entered on the application).
2. After internal processing, an award package will be posted on your child's myFSU portal and a notification will be sent to their email account
   • Before students can be disbursed any of the aid in their award package, they must fulfill all requirements:
     • Complete verification forms (if required)
     • Enroll for classes in a timely manner
     • Monitor the status of any loans
     • Review the Financial Aid Terms and Conditions
     • Regularly check their myFSU portal as well as their myFSU email for any notifications or further required documents from the Financial Aid office
3. Financial aid awards will be disbursed near the beginning of each semester that they are applicable for
   • For example, a Bright Futures award for the fall will disburse in the fall semester and a Bright Futures award for the spring will disburse in the spring semester
   • Check here for the specific time frames that financial aid will be disbursed in

Whether it's knowing when your child's financial aid will disburse or when their deadline for paying tuition is, it is essential to keep in mind several important dates in the financial aid process. We have a calendar listing these dates for you to view at any time to help you to stay on track. A very important date to be aware of is the day the FAFSA opens up, which is October 1^st of every year. The sooner your child submits their application, the sooner it can be processed and sent to us so we can get to work on getting them their financial aid

Your child may be eligible to receive several different aid types, with each having their own stipulations and requirements. For instance, some awards do not have to be paid back while others do. Here we provide a breakdown of the different aid type categories and the rules that govern them:

• Aid That is Not Paid Back
  • Grants - a form of need based aid given to students by the federal government, the state, or an institution (such as FSU). The FAFSA must be completed before receiving this type of aid. Some of the grants offered include the Pell Grant, SEOG Grant, FSUG Grant, FSAG Grant, and DFSU Grant.
  • Scholarships - a form of merit based aid awarded to students based on certain criteria, such as academic achievement, talent, or a variety of other qualifications. A common scholarship offered to students who are residents of Florida is the Bright Futures Scholarship, which can pay anywhere from 75%-100% of tuition based on high school GPA, SAT/ACT test scores, and community service hours
  • Federal Work Study - a form of need based aid given to students who choose to be considered for it on their FAFSA. Federal Work Study provides part-time jobs for students to help them earn money to pay for their educational expenses
• Aid That Must Be Paid Back
  • Loans - a form of financial aid that needs to be paid back and accrues interest over time 
    • Federal Loans
      • Subsidized Stafford Loans - need-based loan that does not accrue interest or require monthly payments until 6 months after graduating or dropping below half-time enrollment (6 credit hours)
      • Unsubsidized Stafford Loans - non-need-based loan that does accrue interest and only requires monthly payments 6 months after graduating or dropping below half-time enrollment 
    • Private Loans - educational loans offered through private non-federal institutions that are determined by your child's cost of attendance and current financial aid. These types of loans should only be considered if the financial aid offered to your child is not sufficient to pay for all of their expenses as they typically have higher interest rates and are not government regulated

As a part of the financial aid process, your child may be selected to complete some additional verification forms that need to be submitted to the university before we can complete their financial aid package. All of these verification forms can be found here. If you need assistance filling out these forms please see here as well. You may submit your completed forms through the methods listed at the top of our Forms page. Here is a breakdown of the most common forms a parent would need to fill out for their child:

• Dependent Verification Worksheet
  • Requires you to provide a verification of the number of dependents in household, earnings, filing status and untaxed income for you and your dependent student
• Non-filer Parent Statement
  • Requires you to verify your income if you did not file a tax return for the year indicated on the forms
• Tax Return Transcript
  • Requires you to submit an IRS Tax Return Transcript in addition to a cover page provided to you on our Forms page
• Statement of Parent's Assets
  • Requires you to answer questions regarding your assets if your child's original FAFSA application was submitted without answering them

The financial aid process can be daunting when completing it for the first time, and naturally many questions arise. Here we attempt to answer the most common questions that have been asked to us by parents:

Here are some additional resources that may further assist you in preparing your child financially for college

• Terms and Conditions for receiving financial aid
• FSU financial aid checklist 
• Information for Prospective Students
• 12th grade prep checklist
• Frequently Asked Questions