Navigating the maze of financial aid can be about as exciting as your average visit to the DMV. However, like the DMV, despite knowing not being quite half the battle—you can save yourself a lot of trouble if you are prepared.
Below are my top tips for getting the most from your time in Building 10 Room whatever.Terms, terms, terms.
Avoid getting too jumbled up in the aid office by doing a little research before going to your appointment. The less you know of the basics, the more you’re going to potentially be sidetracked by. Learning new information is going to put aside those questions you came in with. Don’t set yourself up in a way that you’ll leave more confused than when you arrived.
COA is your Cost Of Attendance. This is your tuition; room and board and book costs bundled together. FAFSA doesn’t sound as daunting when you understand the acronym. Your FAFSA is your Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Pretty straightforward. More on this in a moment.
The EFC is your Estimated Family Contribution, calculated and then subtracted from your COA to determine your Need. The EFC will remain the same while the tuition; room and board and book fees will differ from school to school. Your Financial Need is that remaining balance.
Financial Aid refers to the conglomerate of grants, work-study, loan options and awards from the federal government towards your education. Your Award Letter is viewed by the WebAdvisor option on my.sinclair.edu, located under the student tab and then found under the financial aid section. This letter will tell you what your entitlements have been found to be. You can see your loan options, subsidized or unsubsidized, any award of funds and other options.
Be sure to decipher what the different aids are, as your loan options will often distort what I consider the actual, concrete aid you can receive at no charge. Terms aren’t everything you need to be familiar with to tackle financial aid, unfortunately. You also need to be aware of a few concepts, and the earlier the better.
Your award is split for the year, often unevenly.
Within that financial aid Award Letter, you will see the lump sum of your aid. This is for the entire period of the FAFSA. That means, for most schools that run semesters, this aid will be split between the Spring and Fall terms. The aid may be split unevenly depending on your schedule. Don’t budget to have all of that money available towards tuition, only to find out you will receive most of it the Fall term.
Be your own advocate—prepare for the customer service comparable to the DMV. Chances are, even the best people are not going to go out of their way to make sure you understand or that you leave with your questions answered. There are some 30,000 kids at Sinclair Community College, you are one.
I can’t stress this enough, especially to new students. You need to handle this stuff NOW. If you have questions, you NEED to ask and you should not leave until you understand and have a plan. Don’t get tricked into simply heading out early. It is paramount to have a plan. You don’t want to spend more of your time in the back and forth. One visit can turn into 13 all too quickly.
Financial Aid workers are people, and people are prone to mistakes. We are only human. However, like all professions, these people are trained professionals who it is reasonable to expect decent service from. It is perfectly fair to expect that your concerns be addressed, that the work you ask of them be performed in a timely manner, and that they work to the best of their abilities to minimize inconveniences and human error.
If you asked them to do something, check back in a few days. If you haven’t heard from them, or if they promised to contact you, take matters into your own hands and contact them back. It is not unusual for papers to end up in the wrong place, for them to be overlooked or lost in the void somewhere. This is your sensitive information most often, you should take steps to protect yourself.
None of this means that you should ever forget that mistakes happen. You can be irate and express your dissatisfaction, but remained focused on your goal: getting your education. Stay focused, actualize your plan and if someone messes up, problem-solve, it is much more effective than wasting your time being angry.
Here’s the kicker: if mistakes happen, it can mess up your aid for the entire semester. It can push back the process by weeks, and unfortunately months in some cases. This means, in some cases, you won’t receive your award until the refund periods at the end of the semester. If you filled something out wrong once, you may not get aid. If they processed something incorrectly, or slacked off, you may not get your aid until the thirteenth week of class.
The response to an unfortunate situation like that is usually good luck and move along. Be persistent and if misfortune’s on your side you’ve got to reschedule or tough it out.
Do everything you can early. Make sure every form is filled out fully. Make sure your tax information is filed correctly. Take every form with you they could possibly ask for, and if you don’t have what they need go back at the very next convenience to submit it. Ask for confirmation that the forms have been received, as you will not see the same advisor each visit. The longer the game of telephone goes on the more likely the mistakes are to happen.
Know key locations like the Federal Building in Dayton to acquire tax documents. There was a cyber security hack that left students in 2015 without an electronic access to these documents, meaning students had to retrieve them in person.
Be prepared, the stress from handling the financial aid or the lack of financial aid can distract you from your studies. Keep focused on your education and be proactive.
Barton Kleen
Managing Editor