By Monica J. Ehalt
Using your high school email to create your FSA ID
What could be the harm in using your school email to file your FAFSA, you ask? Well, once you graduate, that email address will be deactivated. This means that if you forget your FSA ID username or password and you try to reset it, all the information will go to that email address that you no longer have access to.
The best email to use is a personal one that only you have access to deactivate. If you don’t have one, it’s really easy to set one up.
Mixing up student and parent financial Info
Getting these confused could cost you to lose out on a lot of money. Roughly 20% of a student’s assets are counted but only about 5.64% of the parents’ assets are counted. So, as you are filling out your FAFSA, be sure to look for the banner that indicates if it’s the student or parents’ info that needs to be reported.
Not reporting your parents’ accurate marital status
A lot of students misinterpret question 58 on the FAFSA. The question pertains to the marital status of the students’ parents. If the legal parents of a student are divorced but the student lives with one of the legal parents who is remarried, you would answer married or remarried to this question on your FAFSA. This can be confusing, but you must report your step-parents info as well as their financial information.
Reporting unneeded financial information
You do not need to report all assets on the FAFSA. If you report unneeded assets, you could end up getting a higher EFC than you really should.
Here is a list of some of the assets that do not need to be reported:
- The value of retirement accounts
- The cash value of life insurance policies
- The value of the home you live in
- Business assets if you have less than 100 employees
Using the wrong website
The FAFSA is a FREE application. FAFSA stands for Free Application for Federal Student Aid. If a site ever prompts you to enter your credit card info, you are in the wrong place. The official FAFSA site is studentaid.gov
Mistyping your Social Security Number
Your SSN is the most important identifying information on your application, and it also happens to be the only thing that you cannot update once it’s entered.
ROAD BLOCK! Make sure double-check and even triple-check this entry for accuracy.
Failing to use your legal name
Got married? Don’t change your name yet.
When you submit your FAFSA, it goes through a few checks and balances.
One is the Social Security Administration (SSA) Office. The SSA will make sure your name, social security number and date of birth is accurate.
Moral of the story: The name you report on your FAFSA must be the name that is on your social security card.
Not asking for help when you need it
The FAFSA uses tax information from two years ago. A family’s financial situation often changes from the time the FAFSA was submitted to the time the student starts their first day of class. If these changes are significant enough, you may be eligible for more aid than you think. If you fall into this category, contact your Financial Aid Office for more information.
