Financial Aid 101
SUNY Orange
Financial Aid Office
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Financial Aid 101:
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Where does financial aid come from?
How do students and families apply for financial aid?
How do I help families with special circumstances?
How are financial aid awards determined
Agenda
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The federal government establishes federal aid availability
for each program on a fiscal basis.
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Eligibility for federal aid is determined by congressionallymandated formulas and data base matches and by using
data on the student’s federal application. (FAFSA)
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The federal government establishes the Pell Grant payment
tables which determine individual Pell student awards.
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The same federal regulations apply to all schools.
Federal Aid Regulations
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Pell Grant
Campus-Based Programs
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Direct Student Loans
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SEOG
Federal Work Study
Perkins Loans
Subsidized: based upon financial need; 3.4% interest rate
Unsubsidized: not based upon need; 6.8% interest rate
Parent Plus Loans:
7.9% interest rate
Types of Federal Aid
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FAFSA stands for “ Free Application for
Federal Student Aid.”
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The FAFSA is the form that the federal
government uses to determine a student’s
eligibility for federal aid, including grants,
scholarships, work-study and loans.
What is the FAFSA
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The FAFSA becomes available January 1st
of each year and students must apply
annually.
Families can:
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Download or complete the FAFSA on the Web at
www.fafsa.ed.gov.
FAFSA on the Web has a link to the New
York State TAP application.
FAFSA
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You are independent in 2013/14 if you meet one of
the following:
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__You were born before January 1, 1990
__You are married
__You are a graduate student (enrolled in a master’s
or graduate certificate program)
__You are currently serving on active duty in the
U.S. Armed Forces
__You are a veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces
Federal Dependency Definitions
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___Both parents are deceased, you were adopted, you were in foster care, or a ward of the court,
at anytime since you turned 13. Provide death certificates or court documentation of status.
___Have children who will receive more than half their support from you between July 1, 2013
and June 30, 2014. Provide 2012 tax transcripts and/or a letter explaining living arrangements,
earnings and support information, and the name of person(s) claiming children if other than self.
___Are or were in legal guardianship as determined by a court. Provide court documentation.
___Have dependents (other than your children or spouse) that live with you and receive more
than half of their support from you, now and through June 30, 2014. Provide 2012 tax transcripts,
and a letter explaining living arrangements, earnings and support information
___Are or were an emancipated minor as determined by a court in your legal state of residence.
Provide court documentation from your state of legal residence. Please note that New York
State does not grant emancipation status to minors.
___Were determined to be an unaccompanied youth who was homeless by a director of an
emergency shelter or transitional housing program funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development. Provide written, signed documentation from shelter or agency on
organization letterhead.
___Were determined to be an unaccompanied youth who was homeless by your high school
homeless liaison. Provide written, signed documentation from school liaison on district letterhead.
___Were determined to be an unaccompanied youth who was homeless or self-supporting and at
risk of being homeless by a director of a runaway or homeless youth basic center or transitional
living program. Provide written, signed documentation from agency on organization letterhead.
Federal Dependency Definitions
Continued
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Overrides are made on a case-by-case
basis.
 Overrides are made only when adequate
documentation of extenuating
circumstances is provided.
 Extenuating circumstances are generally
defined by a student’s inability to have
contact with his/her biological parents due
to emotional, mental, or physical trauma
delivered to the student by the parent.
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Federal Dependency Definitions
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The following situations do not qualify as
sufficient to merit a change to independent
status:
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Parents refusal to contribute to a student’s education.
Parents are unwilling to provide information for the
application or verification.
Parents do not claim the student as a dependent for
income tax purposes.
Student demonstrates total self-sufficiency.
Parents reside outside the U.S.
Student does not live with parent.
Federal Dependency Overrides
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Adoptive parent = biological parent
For Separated / Divorced Biological Parents
1. Determine the custodial Parent
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Who did the student live with most of the last 12 months prior to
the date of the FAFSA completion?
If the student lived equally with each parent or lived with
neither biological parent, then which parent supported the
student more in the last 12 months or in the recent calender
year in which the student received some kind or parent
support.
Count Income of step-parent
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If step-parent is married to biological or adoptive parent, stepparent income must be included on the FAFSA.
Foster parents, legal guardians, grandparents, and other
relatives are never counted as parents on the FAFSA
Who Counts as a Parent on the
FAFSA?
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Reporting the FAFSA Social Security Numbers
1. Use 000-00-0000 to prevent a reject code on the SSN
match
2. Do not use a Taxpayer ID Number(TIN); it will reject.
Reporting the FAFSA income
• Report wages not on a tax return but seek advice about
IRS requirements to file at certain earning levels
Undocumented Parents
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Custody changes usually indicate the
possibility of a Dependency Override
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Legal Guardianships leads to automatic
Independence
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We ask for the court documents to
determine custody actions vs. legal
guardianships
Custody vs. Legal Guardianship
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Available now on the 2012/2013 FAFSA on the Web and will
continue in 2013/2014
Both students and parents can link from the FAFSA to a
completed IRS tax return
Need federal PIN(s) to initiate retrieval
Can use IRS data for initial application or corrections
Advantages in using IRS data:
a) Accuracy
b) Timeliness
c) IRS-retrieved data does not need additional verification
by obtaining an IRS Tax Transcript
If you have not filed your Federal Income Tax return, you
will need to wait 2 weeks before using the IRS Data
Retrieval Tool. Students and parents can make corrections
to their Student Aid Report (SAR) after that time period.
IRS Data Retrieval
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Applicants must enter the Federal School
Code of the colleges that they wish to
receive FAFSA results. Students may enter up
to 10 colleges on the FAFSA on the Web.
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To locate a school’s Federal School Code,
contact the school’s financial aid office, look
for it on their web site, or search for it on
www.fafsa.ed.gov
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Our school code is 002876
Federal School Codes
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After filing the FAFSA, the student
receives a SAR.
 The SAR is the official record that the
federal processor received the FAFSA
 At the same time the student receives the
SAR, every school listed on the FAFSA
will receive an electronic Institutional
Student Aid Report, or ISIR.
 Students and families should review the
SAR carefully and correct any errors.
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Student Aid Report (SAR)
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All FAFSA data will be repeated.
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The Pell eligibility index called the
Expected Family Contribution (EFC).
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Codes and text indicating if the FAFSA
was selected for Verification or if the
student must document additional
information.
What is on the SAR
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All students may be selected by the federal government for
verification in the 2013-14 aid year.
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The process allows the Secretary of Education to include
any item from the FAFSA for possible verification .
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Students will be targeted for a selection of items based
upon each student‘s characteristics.
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Requires verification processing of all non-dollar changes
and corrections must be made to an applicant’s FAFSA
information.
Please submit all information on the FAFSA correctly in order
to eliminate possibilities for auditing of your file.
What is Verification
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The EFC is an index derived from a
congressionally-mandated formula that
indicates the amount of money a family is
expected to contribute to college costs for
the academic year.
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Financial Need is the difference between the
Cost of Attendance (COA) at a college for
the academic year and the student’s EFC.
COA – EFC = Financial Need
How the Federal Government
Determines What Families Can Pay
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The COA varies depending on Dependent
Student vs. Independent Student.
However the components are the same:
Tuition and Fees
Room and Board
Transportation
Books and Supplies
Personal Expenses
Cost of Attendance
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Entitlement Aid:
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Grants: (gift assistance – not paid back)
Pell Grant
Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (SEOG)
Tuition Assistance Program (TAP)
SUNY Orange may then Offer:
Federal and Private Loans: (must be repaid)
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Other forms of aid:
Direct Loans, subsidized and unsubsidized (must be repaid)
Perkins loan (must be repaid)
Parent loan (PLUS) (must be repaid)
Private/Alternative loans (must be repaid)
Jobs: Federal Work Study
Scholarships: From the college or private sources.
Meeting Financial Need
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The New York State Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) helps
eligible New York residents pay tuition at approved schools in
New York State and enrollment must be full time.
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APTS is a comparable NYS grant, but for part-time students
who apply for it in the financial aid office.
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A link to the TAP application is found at the end of the FAFSA
on the Web. You can also visit the NYS web site at
http://www.hesc.ny.gov/content.nsf and complete an
application if you forget to use the FAFSA link.
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Eligibility for TAP is based on NYS taxable income, not federal
adjusted income, and the upper limit is $80,000 combined
income for a dependent student and parents.
New York State Assistance
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Federal Student Loan Limits
Direct Unsubsidized and Subsidized Loans are:
 $31,000 for Dependent undergraduate students excluding those whose
parents are unable to borrow a PLUS Loan, but no more than $23,000
may be subsidized.
 $57,500 for Independent undergraduate students and Dependent
undergraduates whose parents are unable to borrow a PLUS loan--but no
more than $23,000 may be subsidized
The following table shows the maximum amount of money you may borrow each
academic year in Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans:
1st-year undergraduate
Dependent
student1
Independent
student2
$5,500 --but
subsidized
maximum
$3,500
$9,500--but
subsidized maximum
$3,500
$6,500--but
subsidized
maximum
$10,500--but
subsidized maximum23
$4,500
Federal Student Loan Limits
2nd-year undergraduate
SUNY Orange begins the Institutional Scholarship
process in January of each year.
 Please look up deadlines for New, Continuing, and
Graduating scholarship deadlines at our web site
http://www.sunyorange.edu/financialaid/scholarships.
shtml
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We offer a variety of scholarships based on interest,
skills, and abilities:
1. Academic excellence
2. Athletics
3. Community Service
4. Areas of study, such as Nursing, Business
Administration, Science and Music.
Institutional Scholarships
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Tips for Student Success:
Contact the financial aid office for
institutional requirements.
Check your MYSUNY Orange web pages
for outstanding requirements needed for
verification.
Meet all deadlines.
Ask questions.
Learn about Satisfactory Academic
Progress.
Learn the Process
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FAFSA: www.fafsa.ed.gov
Federal Pin #: www.pin.ed.gov
Federal Student Aid on the Web:
www.studentaid.ed.gov
U.S. Department of Education:
www.ed.gov
Direct Loans: www.studentloans.gov
Fast Web: www.fastweb.com
NYS HESC (for TAP) www.hesc.ny.gov
Helpful Web Resources
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Questions and Answers
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