Student Advisor Blog

Like preparing an income tax form, the federal student aid application is complicated for some. Others aren't sure when they prepare their application if they have made a mistake - a mistake that could boot them out of the virtual line for aid. Other people may not have the time or interest in preparing this 130+ questionnaire that the current and past Secretaries of education have complained as being complex. Just like income taxes, the federal government offers two ways a student can prepare the form - either by themselves on the U.S. Dept. of Ed form OR by getting fee-based professional help from a legitimate aid application preparation service. While legitimate firms, such as Student Financial Aid Services <a>http://www.fafsa.com don't charge a submission fee, they do apply a modest cost (less than $100) to ensure a student's aid application is correctly prepared so the student receives the most financial aid possible to help make a college education more affordable. To ensure you're getting assistance from a legitimate firm, check their Web about policies for not gaming the system, assisting low income students without charge, and client comments as well as the Better Business Bureau rating. Accuracy is essential and top-notch aid application preparers run a computer check of the 450 ways to make an error and have a professional read every answer. Some preparers have experts who speak multiple language, a service that many parents of first-generation college students find helpful. 
 
Some college financial aid departments assist their students in applying for aid and some communities offer a one-day annual College Goal Sunday event that offers free services. But high school seniors can't access aid experts at their colleges of choice because they haven't been accepted. And with the average student-to-counselor ratio in the U.S. at 457:1, seniors and their families cannot expect counselors to prepare students' aid applications. Fee-based professional aid application services can provide peace of mind to those who have little or no experience preparing the complex aid application. 
 
While some decry the form's long question set, it is designed to equitably share this year's $227 billion of student aid among more than 14 million college students. All those questions provide the facts that help colleges fairly share our nation's aid - most of which is paid for by taxpayers. 
 
Years ago, everyone applying for college financial aid paid a submission fee. encourage everyone regardless of financial circumstances to apply for aid, the U.S. Congress shifted to all taxpayers the cost of checking for errors and sending the applications to students colleges of choice. In that political environment, the blank form was renamed the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. It is somewhat like saying a blank income tax form is 'free.'  
 
One last advantage top aid application preparers have is that they have access to the 2012-13 aid application in advance of the January 1, 2012 first day of the aid season. That means their clients can have their aid application accurately prepared with income estimates in advance and be submitted on day one to 'save' their place in the virtual line for aid. That means peace of mind that those students will receive the most need-based aid possible. 
 
Prospective first-year, full-time college students can also use a college's Net Price Calculator to learn how much aid they are eligible to receive from a particular college. The rule of thumb is that the more questions an NPC asks, the more accurate an estimate will be - fewer than 20 questions isn't reliable. The most sophisticated (accurate) NPCs ask 30 to 40 questions and take about 8 to 12 minutes to use. Students and their families can use NPCs before applying to colleges to compare - at a minimum - free grant aid and net price. The best NPCs also determine work study, federal education loans, and military aid to show students a reliable estimate of their out-of-pocket costs.