MK Aid: Five Easy Steps

 

Step 1 Campus Visit

• At least a year before attending college, visit the college web sites of your top choices. Even better would be to visit the actual colleges when on furlough (even if this is 1-3 years early).
• Leave your virtual visit knowing financial aid:
  1. deadlines,
  2. applications required (federal, state, and/or institution),
  3. aid available to you as a new student, and
  4. policies regarding the electronic filing of the FAFSA and/or corrections.
• Remember: Each school will have different financial aid requirements, forms, deadlines, and policies!

Step 2 Apply for Aid Early!

• COMPLETE the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) before March 1.
  1. Request Personal Identification Numbers (PINs) for both the student and one parent. This can be done at www.fafsa.ed.gov The student's PIN and the parent's PIN become the required signatures on the FAFSA.
  2. Please review our Special Instructions for Parents Living Outside the U.S. before entering any information.
• RESEARCH private sources of scholarships. See “Researching Scholarships.”

Step 3 The Student Aid Report (SAR)

• Read the first page of the SAR as it contains important instructions.
• Find the EFC number (Expected Family Contribution).
• Review for accuracy. Make corrections as necessary. Please note: the school to which you apply can also make corrections for you. This may save you a lot of time!

Step 4 JBU Award Offer

• As soon as the student is accepted to JBU and has a completed financial aid file (we will notify you if your file is incomplete), the student will be emailed an award letter offering various types of financial aid.
• Remember the initial offer may not be the last offer – it is generally only a starting point. Talk to your Admissions Counselor or Financial Aid Counselor if you have questions or need additional assistance.

Step 5 Determine How to Pay

• How much will you be able to use from your savings and other assets? (You may want to consider a home equity loan, passbook savings loan, or borrowing against the cash value of a life insurance policy.)
• How much will the student be able to save from summer or school year earnings?
• Do you want to use the monthly payment plan? (Divide the amount of financial aid that your savings will not cover for the semester, by six months, and pay each month beginning in July for the fall semester and January for the spring semester.)
• Investigate the Federal PLUS (parent) loan program to borrow some or all of what the aid offer and family savings do not cover. In addition, many lenders offer “alternative” educational loans to families with needs beyond the federal loan programs.
• If you have decided to borrow funds with a student loan, you can complete the required entrance counseling for a Perkins loan at Mapping-Your-Future's web site by clicking here.
  You can complete the required entrance counseling for a Stafford loan at
  www.mapping-your-future.org/entrance counseling.