The 2019–20 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA^®) form is available—and with it, we’re making history. You can complete and submit the FAFSA by accessing the redesigned https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/fafsa or downloading the new myStudentAid mobile app.

Why does mobile matter? A mobile-ready FAFSA form means that you can apply for federal student aid from virtually anywhere, using nothing more than the phone in their pocket.

To fill out the FAFSA form, you can simply

• download the myStudentAid app (iOS or Android) and fill it out from a mobile device, or
• visit https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/fafsa and fill out the FAFSA using the device of their choice, including a smartphone, tablet, or laptop.

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is notoriously difficult. With over 100 questions about detailed family financial history, it has consistently low completion rates. In fact, only three out of five high-school seniors complete the application and one out of seven students eligible for financial aid, who enroll in college, do not complete the application. Completion rates haven’t gotten much better with time either. In 2017, 60.6% of graduates completed the form and in 2018, 60.9% of graduates completed the form, a disappointingly low improvement percentage.

View the full article, Applying for College Financial Aid is Finally Going to be Easier.

Con artists love to take advantage of anyone who is stressed out during the days leading up to the next semester. So, the scams need to be discussed each and every year as the kids go off to college. 

To view the full article, visit https://www.freep.com/story/money/personal-finance/susan-tompor/2018/08/22/back-school-scams-financial-aid/1040177002/

Please allow 4-6 weeks for processing of documents submitted to us in late July and August.
All charges must be paid in full by 5pm on Friday, August 24th.

Options for covering tuition and fees include:

1. Add the installment plan to divide your bill in to four equal amounts, with the first installment payment due on Friday, August 24th. The charge to add the installment plan is $15. If you do not pay the first installment, a late fee will be added. More information at https://sbs.tamu.edu/accounts-billing/payment-refunds/installments/.
2. Apply for an Emergency Tuition and Fees Loan at https://sfaid.tamu.edu/stlapp/. This loan can cover 100% of your tuition and fees. It must be repaid within 90 days. After you apply, you will receive an approval email to your TAMU email account within one business day. The email will include instructions on signing the promissory note online. After the promissory note is signed, the ETFL will apply to your bill immediately and pay your tuition and fees.

You might see two types of federal student loans in your letter: Direct Unsubsidized Loan and Direct Subsidized Loan.  It’s important you know the basics about these two types of loans before you sign to accept either of them.

To learn more about Subsidized and Unsubsidized loans, visit the article.

FEDERAL STUDENT AID

The Department of Education will take another step this week toward making the federal student aid process fully accessible from mobile devices like your cellphone.

The department will launch a mobile-friendly version this week of fafsa.gov, the website that hosts the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Then it plans next month to roll out the beta version of a student aid mobile app that would let financial aid recipients complete the FAFSA application as well as make loan payments and complete other financial aid tasks.

To view the full press release, visit FAFSA for Your Phone.

A quote from the 41st U.S. commander-in-chief, a 58-mission World War II combat aviator, states his top priority after discharge from the Navy in 1945: “We had a lot of catching up to do. I needed to get my degree and go into business as soon as possible. I had a family to support.”

Seventy-three years later, his words resonated in the George H.W. Presidential Library and Museum, which contains his records and the story of his life and presidency, at College Station, Texas. There, a moderated panel discussion Thursday welcomed “The Greatest Generation: An American Legion Centennial Salute to the GI Bill” traveling display and recognized the 10th anniversary of the Post-9/11 GI Bill. The American Legion Department of Texas coordinated the event.

To view the article about the event, visit Opportunities of the GI Bill celebrated at Bush Library & Museum

Identity theft scams are on the rise! Scholarships & Financial Aid will never contact you and ask you to provide your full social security number or passwords to accounts. Always use caution when conducting business over the phone or email. Utilize the secure Financial Aid Portal through howdy.tamu.edu to get information on your financial aid account, whenever possible.

If you are contacted about your personal information regarding financial aid and you are in doubt, don't answer any questions! Hang up and call our office directly at 979.845.3236 or email us at financialaid@tamu.edu.
 

In our last post, we talked about the phenomenon of summer melt, where up to 1/3 of the students who graduate high school with plans to go to college never make it to a college campus.  We discussed what the student’s support team could do to help keep the student on track—but there’s also plenty the student can do to make sure their college plans don’t get derailed.

To view the full article, visit How Students Can Avoid Summer Melt.

When it comes to financial aid for higher education, even "free" sources of money could leave you owing the IRS.

Scholarships, fellowship grants and teaching assistantships are instrumental in helping families pay for college.

But those free sources of financial aid may come with an unexpected price tag in the form of income tax.

To read the full article, visit https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/23/heres-why-that-scholarship-might-not-be-free-after-all.html.