LOUISIANA
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College Goal Sunday 2015
Sponsored by:
With funding from a USA Funds grant.
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College Goal Sunday 2015
Topics We Will Discuss
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What is financial aid
Cost of attendance (COA)
Expected Family Contribution (EFC)
What is financial need
Categories, types, and sources of financial
aid
• Free Application for Federal Student Aid
(FAFSA)
• Special circumstances
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College Goal Sunday 2015
What is Financial Aid?
Financial aid consists of funds provided to
students and families to help pay for
postsecondary educational expenses
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What is the Expected Family
Contribution (EFC)
• Amount family can reasonably be
expected to contribute
• Stays the same regardless of college
• Two components
– Parent contribution
– Student contribution
• Calculated using data from a federal
application form and a federal formula
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College Goal Sunday 2015
What is Financial Need
Cost of Attendance
–
Expected Family Contribution
=
Financial Need
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Categories of Financial Aid
• Need-based
• Non-need-based
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Types of Financial Aid
• Scholarships
• Grants
• Loans
• Employment
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Scholarships
• Money that does not have to be paid
back
• Awarded on the basis of merit, skill, or
unique characteristic
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Grants
• Money that does not have to be paid
back
• Usually awarded on the basis of
financial need
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Loans
• Money students and parents borrow to
help pay college expenses
• Repayment usually begins after
education is completed
• Only borrow what is really needed
• Look at loans as an investment in the
future
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Work Study
Allows student to earn money to help pay
educational costs
• A paycheck; or
• Non-monetary compensation, such as
room and board
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Sources of Financial Aid
• Federal government
• State
• Postsecondary Institutions
• Private sources
• Civic organizations and churches
• Employers
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Louisiana State Aid
• Taylor Opportunity Program for Students
(TOPS)
• TOPS Tech Award
• TOPS Tech Early Start
• GO Grant
• Rockefeller State Wildlife Scholarship
• START Saving Program
• John R. Justice Loan Repayment Program
• Chafee Educational Training Voucher (ETV)
Program
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TOPS: Application
• Two methods for applying for TOPS:
– FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) –
www.fafsa.gov
• Preferred application
• Must be completed if the student is eligible for federal
grant aid (Pell Grant)
• Must be completed if the student is seeking any other
form of financial aid
• The only application needed for TOPS
– TOPS Online Application – www.osfa.la.gov
• May only be completed by students who can certify that
they do not qualify for federal grant aid
• In the event of a budget shortfall, students completing
the TOPS Online Application will be the first to lose their
TOPS award
• Do not complete if you have completed the FAFSA
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TOPS: Application Deadlines for 2015
Graduates
Initial Application Receipt Date
Receives TOPS funding for:
Jan. 1, 2015 – July 1, 2016
8 semesters (12 quarters)
Beginning Fall 2015
July 2, 2016 – Aug. 29, 2016
7 semesters (10 quarters)
Beginning Fall 2015
Aug. 30, 2016 – Oct. 29, 2016
6 semesters (9 quarters)
Beginning Fall 2015
Initial Applications Received After
October 29, 2016
Ineligible for TOPS
Students who enroll full-time before their initial application
is received must also have met the TOPS Continuing
Eligibility Requirements to be eligible for TOPS funding for
semesters, quarters or terms after the semester of firsttime, full-time enrollment.
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College Goal Sunday 2015
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TOPS: Processing Cycle
LOSFA receives ACT and SAT scores electronically. Students
should include LOSFA’s TOPS code on their test registration
(ACT:1595, SAT: 9019)
LOSFA receives transcript data from the Louisiana Department
of Education after high school graduation for those students
whose parents have provided a valid consent form
LOSFA receives information from the FAFSA or TOPS Online
Application
Once all required data is received and matched , TOPS
eligibility is determined
Students can also check their award status on the LA Award
System located on www.osfa.la.gov
Students with active Louisiana Connect accounts will receive
notification via news feed and/or text the morning after
eligibility is determined.
Colleges have access to Master List of TOPS eligible students
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• Act 837 of the 2014 Regular Session of the
Louisiana Legislature requires the governing
authority of each school to provide a form to
the parent or legal guardian of each student
enrolled in grades eight through twelve which
explains that the parent has the right to
determine whether their child’s Personally
Identifiable Information (PII) can be released
to LOSFA and to the postsecondary education
institution(s) to which their child applies. The
form must be provided every year, and at least
one parent or legal guardian must sign that
they either grant consent or deny consent.
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• PII includes the student’s full name, social
security number, and transcript data. This
information will be used by LOSFA to provide
a TOPS Tracker in Louisiana Connect to allow
students and parents to track a student’s
progress toward TOPS eligibility and to
determine a student’s eligibility for a TOPS
Award and other student financial aid. This
information will also be used by
postsecondary institutions to determine
whether a student is eligible for admission.
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Parental Consent for TOPS
Consideration
• Beginning with high school graduates of 2015, high schools must
have parental or legal guardian consent to provide academic
information to LOSFA
• The state’s privacy law requires a student’s parent or legal guardian
to either give or deny consent for the collection and distribution of
the student’s personal academic information. If a parent or legal
guardian denied consent or did not turn in a consent form, LOSFA
will not be able to determine a student’s eligibility for a TOPS
award because LOSFA will not have access to the student’s
academic information
• If you initially denied consent and now want to change your mind,
the Consent Form is available on LOSFA’s website at
www.osfa.la.gov/sgforms. Use this “Consent Form” to give
consent to your high school to release your student’s academic
information for TOPS consideration
• The Consent Form must be completed, signed, and dated by the
student’s parent(s), and turned in to the student’s school before
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the end of the school year.
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Parental Consent for TOPS
Consideration
• Once consent has been given and LOSFA has received
the student’s data, the student can establish an
account on the Louisiana Award System
www.osfa.la.gov/AwardSystem/ to monitor his/her
TOPS eligibility.
• LOSFA must have the student’s personal academic
information no later than the student’s graduation
from high school in order to determine eligibility for a
TOPS Award and for the student to receive the award
for the fall semester after graduation
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Consent
Form
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• The Consent Form must be signed by the
student rather than the parent or legal
guardian if the student is 18 or is judicially
emancipated or is emancipated by marriage.
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Consent
Form for
Students - 18
years old
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TOPS: Eligibility
• For TOPS standard eligibility and
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renewal requirements, consult LOSFA’s
Web site:
www.osfa.la.gov
1-800-259-5626
custserv@la.gov
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Louisiana Connect – Students
STUDENTS: With Louisiana Connect You
Can:
• Learn about careers
• Find scholarships and other programs designed to help
you succeed
• Check your progress toward earning a TOPS Award
• Access your exclusive News Feed and Event Planner
• Build Your Profile: Show off your skills and achievements
• Learn how you can afford a college education
• For students with Consent Forms on file, all academic
data will be updated and refreshed by the third week in
March.
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Louisiana Connect - Parents
PARENTS: With Louisiana Connect You Can:
• Track student progress against important college and career
planning activities and toward earning a TOPS award
• Search for colleges, compare costs and make
recommendations to your student
• Search for scholarships and make recommendations to your
student
• View your child’s Individual Graduation Plan (IGP)
• View your child’s career plan and explore occupation
profiles
• Learn about college costs, need-based aid and other
financial options
• Access your personal Communication Center where you can
communicate with your child and receive important
messages, alerts and event invitations
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Louisiana Connect Public Landing Pages:
Plan to Geaux
This section is designed to help students identify career
interests and the types of education and training they
need to succeed
Pay to Geaux
This section of the public pages offers information about
costs for a college education, a graduate program or a
technical certificate, financial aid, scholarships and more
Geaux to Work
This section provides information and resources needed
to build their path and see career dreams become a
reality through the Louisiana Workforce Commission
and its Star Jobs database
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The College Cost
Estimator and
Estimated Family
Contribution
Calculators
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Accessing Calculators
There are two ways for users to access the calculators on louisianaconnect.org
HEADER NAVIGATION: Users will be able to access the calculators from the header on each
page by navigating to Geaux to College > Calculators
FOOTER NAVIGATION: Users will be able to access the calculators from the footer of each
page by clicking the “Price of College” button
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Calculator Main Page
Each navigation from the previous slide will bring the user to this page
This page overviews the two components to calculating college cost. It reminds the user to ““Make sure to
have copies of last year’s federal income tax returns available” before they begin. The user can click on
“Family Contribution” or “College Cost” to enter the specific calculator.
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College Goal Sunday 2015
Federal Government
• Largest source of financial aid
• Aid awarded primarily on the basis of
financial need
• Must apply every year using the Free
Application for Federal Student Aid
(FAFSA)
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Common Federal Aid Programs
• Federal Pell Grant
• Teacher Education
Assistance for
College and Higher
Education Grant
• Federal
Supplemental
Educational
Opportunity Grant
• Iraq and Afghanistan
Service Grant
• Federal Perkins Loan
• Federal Work-Study
• Subsidized and
Unsubsidized Loans
• PLUS Loans
Information on all these programs is available at
www.fsa.ed.gov.
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State
• Residency requirements
• Award aid on the basis of both merit
and need
• Use information from the FAFSA
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Private Sources
• Foundations, businesses, charitable
organizations
• Deadlines and application procedures
vary widely
• Begin researching private aid sources
early
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Civic Organizations and Churches
• Research what is available in
community
• To what organizations and churches do
student and family belong?
• Application process usually spring of
senior year
• Small scholarships add up!
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Employers
• Companies may have scholarships
available to the children of employees
• Companies may have educational
benefits for their employees
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Free Application for Federal
Student Aid (FAFSA)
• A standard form that collects
demographic and financial information
about the student and family
• May be filed electronically or using
paper form
– Available in English and Spanish
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FAFSA
• Information used to calculate the
Expected Family Contribution or EFC
– The amount of money a student and his or
her family may reasonably be expected to
contribute towards the cost of the
student’s education for an academic year
• Colleges use EFC to award financial aid
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College Goal Sunday 2015
FAFSA
• May be filed at any time during an
academic year, but no earlier than the
January 1st prior to the academic year
for which the student requests aid
• For the 2015–2016 academic year, the
FAFSA may be filed beginning January
1, 2015
• Colleges may set FAFSA filing deadlines
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FAFSA on the Web
Good reasons to file electronically:
• Built-in edits to prevent costly errors
• Skip logic allows student and/or parent
to skip unnecessary questions
• Option to use Internal Revenue Service
(IRS) data retrieval
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College Goal Sunday 2015
FAFSA on the Web
Good reasons to file electronically:
• More timely submission of original
application and any necessary
corrections
• More detailed instructions and “help” for
common questions
• Ability to check application status on-line
• Simplified application process in the
future
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College Goal Sunday 2015
IRS Data Retrieval
• While completing FAFSA on the Web,
applicant may submit real-time request
to IRS for tax data
• IRS will authenticate taxpayer’s identity
• If match found, IRS sends real-time
results to applicant in new window
• Applicant chooses whether or not to
transfer data to FAFSA on the Web
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College Goal Sunday 2015
IRS Data Retrieval
• Participation is voluntary
• Reduces documents requested by
financial aid office
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College Goal Sunday 2014
Federal Student Aid Personal
Identification Number (FSA PIN)
Web site:
www.pin.ed.gov
Sign FAFSA electronically
Not required, but speeds
processing
May be used by students
and parents throughout
aid process, including
subsequent school years
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College Goal Sunday 2015
• In completing your FAFSA applications today, you will
use a unique PIN for both the parent and the student
at www.PIN.ed.gov . If you have not already obtained a
Federal Student Aid PIN, you will do so before you
begin the FAFSA completion process as it only takes a
few minutes.
• On April 26, 2015, the U.S. Department of Education
will implement a new login process for their studentbased websites, including www.FAFSA.gov,
www.StudentAid.gov, www.StudentLoans.gov, and the
TEACH Grant website.
• The new Federal Student Aid (SFA) ID, which will
consist of a user-selected username and password, will
replace the Federal Student Aid PIN as the process by
which students and parents authenticate their identity
to access their federal student aid information.
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College Goal Sunday 2015
• After implementation on April 26, 2015, users who
arrive at impacted websites will be directed to a link to
register for their new FSA ID. The registration process
will take less than seven minutes.
• During the FSA ID registration process, an individual
who already has a PIN will have the option to link that
PIN to their new FSA ID. By linking to a “matched” PIN,
the user will be able to immediately use the FSA ID
with the websites mentioned above.
• If an individual does not link to a “matched” PIN
during the FSA ID registration process, they will have
limited use of the FSA ID until the Social Security
Administration confirms their personal identifiers. This
process could take from one to three days.
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College Goal Sunday 2015
Basic Aid Eligibility Requirements
Students must be:
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U.S. citizen or eligible non-citizen
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Registered with Selective Service (Males) (18-25)
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Social Security Number (with limited exceptions)
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High school diploma or GED
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No drug related convictions while receiving Aid
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Matriculated – enrolled in an eligible program
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Maintain ‘Satisfactory Academic Progress’
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Not in Default or Overpayment Status
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FAFSA: Parental Information
• Skip if you are an independent student
• Whose information do you use?
– Grandparents, foster parents and legal guardians
are not considered parents
– If your parents are divorced or separated, answer
the questions about the parent you lived with
most during the past 12 months
• If this parent is remarried as of today, answer the
questions about that parent and their spouse
– If your parents are not married and live together,
select “unmarried and both parents live
together” and provide information about both
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FAFSA: Parental Information
– If your parent is single or widowed, answer the
questions about that parent
• If your widowed parent is remarried, answer the
questions about that parent and their spouse
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College Goal Sunday 2015
FAFSA: Parental Information
• Beginning with the 2014-2015 FAFSA, dependent
students will be required to include on the FAFSA
income and other information from the student’s
legal parents (biological or adoptive) regardless of
the parents’ marital status or gender, if those parents
live together.
• This change will ensure that limited taxpayer
resources are directed to students with the most
need, regardless of the students’ parents’ marital
status or gender, when those parents reside in the
same household. It also recognizes the diversity of
today’s American families.
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College Goal Sunday 2015
FAFSA: Parental Information
• Records parental income, assets, and
type of federal benefits received
• Number of household in college
– Does not include parents
• Parental residency
• Parents’ e-mail address
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Signatures
• Required
– Student
– One parent (dependent students)
• Format
– Electronic using PIN
– Signature page
– Paper FAFSA
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Frequent FAFSA Errors
• Social Security Numbers
• Divorced/remarried parental
information
• Income earned by parents/stepparents
• Untaxed income
• U.S. income taxes paid
• Household size
• Number of household members in
college
• Real estate and investment net worth
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FAFSA Processing Results
Central Processing System (CPS) notifies
student of FAFSA processing results by:
• Paper Student Aid Report (SAR) if paper
FAFSA was filed and student’s e-mail address
was not provided
• SAR Acknowledgement if filed FAFSA on the
Web and student’s e-mail address was not
provided
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College Goal Sunday 2015
FAFSA Processing Results
• CPS notifies student of FAFSA
processing results by:
– E-mail notification containing a direct link
to student’s on-line SAR if student’s e-mail
was provided on paper or electronic FAFSA
• Student with PIN may view SAR on-line
at www.fafsa.gov
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FAFSA: School Information
• May list up to 10 institutions to receive
FAFSA data when filing online
– Make sure to list a Louisiana school first
for TOPS purposes
• Housing plan
• Enrollment status
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College Goal Sunday 2015
FAFSA: Signatures
• For a dependent student, both the
student and parent must sign
• FAFSA on the Web may be signed by:
– Using a pin number
• The parent and student must have separate pin
numbers
• Parents may use the same PIN for all of their
children
– Printing the signature page
• Must mail within 14 days
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Making Corrections
If necessary, corrections to FAFSA data
may be made by:
• Using FAFSA on the Web (www.fafsa.gov) if
student has a PIN;
• Updating paper SAR (SAR Information
Acknowledgement cannot be used to make
corrections); or
• Submitting documentation to college’s
financial aid office
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Student Aid Report (SAR)
• The SAR provides you with:
– Expected Family Contribution (EFC)
– Pell Grant Eligibility
– Listing of Institutions which will receive your
data
– A financial aid history
– A listing of your responses to the FAFSA
• Corrections may be made:
– Online at www.fafsa.gov
– By phone at (800) 433-3243
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Special Circumstances
• Cannot report on FAFSA
• Send written explanation to financial
aid office at each college
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Special Circumstances
• Change in employment status
• Medical expenses not covered by
insurance
• Change in parent marital status
• Unusual dependent care expenses
• Student cannot obtain parent
information
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