Free Help in Filling Out FAFSA Forms

Doing a blog should be all about timeliness, but I just found this priceless nugget, and I'm afraid it's too late for students going to college for the first time this fall.  On the other hand, I have no doubt that people will stumble across it next fall, which will be just in time for them.  The topic is one-on-one assistance with your federal free application for student aid (FAFSA).  First-timers don't have to stumble through it without help--IF you apply at the right time.  That time has to be before the FAFSA deadline for that state.

Nationally, a group called College Goal Sunday works with local and state organizations in 39 states to set up dates--mostly in January and February--to get on-site, one-on-one counseling on how to fill out the FAFSA form.  See their directory to find if there are College Goal Sunday events in your state.  If there are similar events in some states, they will direct you to that organization's website. 
One state with its own events is California, where California Cash for College by the California Student Aid Commission stages financial aid events.  

Another possible source of one-on-one FAFSA help is the school you plan to attend.  Some of them have FAFSA events for students who are accepted or prospective students in the previous winter.  Some of them may hit the road and conduct FAFSA sessions in other towns in your state; contact the financial aid office of that school and see if they might have such an event. 

Need to File Taxes? Apply for Student Aid? Find Benefits? Just Help Yourself.

This blog has mentioned the Benefit Bank, a multi-state institution that provides conselors who sit down one-on-one with you and lets you know what benefits you are entitled to, as well as helping you fill out your taxes and getting all the credits that you may be eligible for, too.  But now the Benefit Bank brings self-serve right to your computer. 

The type of information you can get, or services you can get online, depends on what state you live in.  In Ohio, you can file your federal taxes, apply for several types of benefits and help get medical insurance.  Residents of Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, North Carolina,Pennsylvania, and South Carolina can file their federal and state taxes as well as FASFA, the federal student aid form.  Residents of other states can file their FASFA and federal taxes.  It's a handy place.

You need to indicate what state you live in, and the self-help benefit bank will open up the available services.  In Ohio, this includes a chance file for benefits, but separately, to input your information to find out what amount of benefits you can expect to receive by running an anonymous "quick check."  However, to actually apply for benefits, you must register. 

Check it out, but if you are using a public computer--like at the library--be sure you not only get off the internet when you are done, but shut off the computer so that your records are not available to the next people using it. 

For-Profit Schools and You

The Department of Education published proposals to change the rules by which for-profit secondary and vocational schools are eligible for student aid. It’s crucial because for many institution, this eligibility is their bread and butter—no federal aid, no students. The feds have been concerned about the low federal loan repayment rate from students of these institutions (at about 36%, even though the rate for nonprofit and state institutions are not anything to write home about, either—barely more than half). Even worse is a report by the Education Trust, in which they reported that for profit schools have a six-year graduation rate of about 22%.  More to the point, the feds feel that students are oversold on expensive courses of study that will not result in equally high-paying jobs, leaving the Department of Education on the hook for those loans. Under the proposed rules, institutions would have to have a track record of fairly decent repayment among their graduates, and/or their graduate would have to make money that makes them “gainfully employed,” (with a student debt/earning ratio of 12% of their total income, or 30% of their discretionary income. Schools that fall in-between may have restricted eligibility for student aid. The final rules are expected by November 1st.
In the meantime: how do you protect yourself from acquiring an overpriced, worthless piece of paper?
1) Check all the schools in your area for programs in which you are interested. See which ones may be less expensive. See which ones offer different types of aid. How much of the expenses does that aid cover? And, if the aid is in the form of a loan, it’s still not at all worthwhile unless you graduate and make the money to cover it. Could you study the same thing more cheaply at another school in your area? If your library has it, look at the College Blue Book's volume on occupational education, and the volume on college majors to find all schools that carry a particular program.
2) Check out the occupation that you want to enter. Does it require accreditation or graduation from an accredited program? Is the institution you are considering accredited? If not, your education may be entirely wasted, and your job prospects dim. Go to your library and find some national professional organizations for that profession and see if they give accreditation (for instance, the American Library Association accredits library schools. In many places, only graduates of these programs are considered for higher-ranking or even entry positions.)
3) Watch out for the hard sell and misleading information. This problem was featured prominently in the GAO report. If a person from the institution says the occupation is high-paying, there are ways of checking this out. Above all, don’t sign anything right away. If the school is a good deal, it will still be a good deal after a couple of day’s investigation. Also, use sources like the online Occupational Outlook Handbook to see what the job outlook is for that profession, and what you can reasonably expect to make.
4) Does your state require a license to practice that occupation? If so, what are the requirements? Would this school help you obtain them? A good place to start is Govspot. Click on your state and find the part re: licensing. See if your occupation needs a license. Call the state licensing board for that occupation and find out what their requirements are.

***Update***: the U.S. Department of Justice and the states of California, Florida, Illinois and Indiana have filed a massive fraud suit against Education Management, claiming that the second largest for-profit higher education company in the country: "...consistently violated federal law by paying recruiters based on how many students it enrolled. The suit said that each year, Education Management falsely certified that it was complying with the law, making it eligible to receive student financial aid."  Stay tuned.

Will You Be Showered With Money? Depends on Whether You are in the Funding Stream...

After my last posting, I called the local one-stop career center (here in Toledo), and asked about money for job re-training. They confirmed that the online list at the state Jobs and Family Services site was the list of approved institutions for retraining. But they added, "Right now, all our money is spent until July, except for auto workers and displaced workers (workers displaced by foreign competition)."

What does that mean? It means that money for the funding streams set aside for those two groups of workers is still available, but that this money cannot be spent for any other retraining candidates. If you aren't one of these, you have to wait till July, when more general money becomes available. Maybe.

This is one of the hardest things for people to understand about the "billions" of dollars available in grants. Most of it is sent not directly to individuals, but to institutions like the one-stop career centers, who then earmark it for uses like job retraining. But the centers received the money on the condition that it be used for certain purposes that the government wants to accomplish. The funding stream for general job retraining is gone, but money came for those two other population groups. And it can only be used for that.

It happens a lot in funding. A nonprofit may create an IDA to help people buy houses, start businesses, or go to school. The funding from the first may come from HUD, and can only be spent for home buying or fixup; the second from the SBA, and can only be used to start businesses. The third might be from the Education Department, and the funds can't be mingled or used differently. And the funding doesn't last forever. If the SBA money runs out and isn't renewed, potential entrepreneurs will have to go elsewhere for funds. If you understand this, you will be more patient--and less frustrated--in trying to get funds for yourself.

Financial Help for Proprietary Schools

Finding money to attend proprietary school is a tough challenge. "Proprietary schools" are private schools that train you for a job or career, and often have certificate programs, as opposed to degrees. Because so many financial aid programs are bent toward a degree of some sort, tech training and trade schools are often left out. To check any school for federal financial aid eligibility, check it against this website. If you want to see if any school in your state is eligible, just go to that website and put in the state, and get a list of all the schools in your state eligible for federal financial aid.

In Ohio, you can find a list of licensed trade schools that are approved for federal benefits. It’s searchable by school or program, such as hairdressing or truck driving. The site is run by the Ohio State Board of Career Colleges and Schools.

In Michigan, a similar list is available at the state website for proprietary schools that offer financial aid.

Takin' It To The Bank

In your quest to find out about all the money you can get, there is free, skilled, legit help along the way. People turn up their nose at public assistance and food stamps, but the fact remains that, along with earned income tax credits, these are some of the biggest financial programs available. There are also sources of financial help you may not know about--help with fuel bills or insulation, for instance. And, for people in Arkansas, Florida, Kansas, Maryland, Mississippi, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and the District of Columbia, there are people who can tell you what major financial help programs you are eligible for.

The Benefit Bank has a network of agencies that host them throughout each of these states. When you go to their website, you can enter your address, city and state, and pick which services you would like information about: taxes, benefits, or voter registration, and click "search." It will pull up a list of Benefit Bank places that provide counseling. You can call the one most convenient to you and set up an appointment to meet with them. You will need to bring supporting documents, like pay stubs, so ask what sort of documents you need. Check out this site and find someone who can really help you get money.