>>Adebukola: Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining. The webinar will begin shortly. 

Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining  us on today's webinar  on financial aid 101. Tips for the  upcoming school year. My name is  Adebukola  .  I'm the outreach specialist in the section for students and young consumers.  Within our section our focus is helping students and their families make more informed financial decisions about paying for college managing money and repaying student debt. Today's  webinar will focus on tips that  students can use to prepare for  the upcoming school year. As  we go through today's presentation  please feel free to drop any questions  or comments in the chat. I will  be monitoring it throughout the  presentation. And I will try to address  as many questions as possible at  the end. 

But before  we get started with today’s presentation I have to read this disclaimer.

This webinar is  being presented by the consumer  financial protection Bureau. The topics  discussed do not represent Bureau policy positions . Any opinions or views stated by the presenter are the presenters  own and do not represent the bureaus  views. Nothing said in this webinar by a bureau representative constitutes legal interpretation, guidance, or advice of the bureau.
Now, with that being said, our speaker for today is Fred Stennis he joins of from Federal Student Aid a division of Department of Education. Fred is outreach teams supervisor in the outreach and awarement group.the outreach specialist, sorry, Fred is the outreach , is joining us  and is the outreach specialist and outreach team supervisor and he has a lot to share with  us today. I will  turn things over to him now.  Welcome, Fred. 

>>Fred: Thank you. Can you hear me  okay?

>>Adebukola: You have a little bit of a --   Now it is better.   

>>Fred: This is a  high-level presentation today. Were not going to get into the  weeds. If you have some questions  please put them in the chat and  I will hope to respond to you today. 
We will talk about the FAFSA process and some title 4, also Satisfactory Academic Process also known as SAP.  The FAFSA overview.  Who should complete a FAFSA? We get this question around the country, everywhere we go. People are confused about who should fill out the FAFSA. This screen points out clearly if you are going to school and additionally interested in title 4 funding for the government that is for you.  Students attending college and those that are returning back to college from years of layoff and also those that may be an online program and studying certificate programs our graduate programs. It's not just for those attending a four-year university as well.  It is for you. This is important to recognize. When completing the FAFSA you  want to complete every year if you  are interested in receiving aid  every year.  It's not a one-time  process where you are good for four  years after completing it the first  year. You want to complete it each  year that you plan to attend college  and you need funding to support  you you will have to do the FAFSA  every year. I hope that everybody  understands what it fast what it stands for. It's the free  application for Federal student  aid. It is  the free application for Federal  student aid. You want to be sure  you are completing the application  every year as mentioned on the slide.  Also it is critical to  really pay attention to deadlines. You want to pay attention to state deadlines. States offer aid as well. There's all kinds  of outside scholarships. The point  of this is the complete it as early  as he can. It comes out in October  of each year you don't want to  just look for financial assistance from one source.  Institutional, state private entities and foundation. They all have deadline dates. You  want to be sure that you are paying  attention to what those dates are. Again,  to maximize your financial aid it typically goes to those that  file their applications early. So  this is a sample slide here. You  see that the school may have a February  15 deadline for January deadline  date for early registration or the  state may have March 1 deadline  or the federal government as I mentioned  the federal government deadline  is June 30. You want  to be sure that it is critical that  you want to visit each of these entities and find  out what the criteria is and the  application process and the deadline  date so you can be  on time to get the most and that  you are eligible for. We will go  into the FAFSA process. There are  four key components that I want  to talk to you about today. That's  the importance of creating an  FSA Eddie. Also the  award letter. We will  go through these one by one so you  can learn more about the process.  Let's start with the FSA ID. That is simply a username  and password combination.  That  is what you will use to log into  the site. You will  also sign your FAFSA  application with your  FSA ID.  You want to be sure that you are  going to the website you complete  that process. You can get to that  website through student aid.gov/Tran08.  You will basically enter your email  address that you  will create a username and password  as I mentioned earlier. You will  enter things like a date of birth  and Social Security number as well  as a mobile number. It's not required  but we strongly encourage you to  enter your mobile number so if you  ever lose your email address or  username you can easily text that  information to reset it. If you  have not given that information,  it will be a longer process to get  it reset. You  also set up some challenge questions . That you  are done. This process is for all U.S. citizens only. This is to your account that you  will be establishing and using the  FSA ID to get access.  Let's  move on to completing the FAFSA  itself.  We get a lot of questions  around the country as to who  is independent and dependent. On  the screen here you see items here. If you meet the criteria identified  on this screen you are considered  an independent student. It typically requires information  from the parent and the student. If  you are a dependent student we will  look for that information as well.  If you meet one of the criteria  is on the screen like you are 24  years or older if you have a child yourself that  you’re paying half support towards,  a foster child or emancipated minor or currently have  a legal guardianship situational  homelessness  or you are a veteran or serving  active duty. If you meet one of  these criteria you are considered  by the FAFSA definition and independent  student  and therefore we will look for information from  you the student, not you and the  parent. We get that question all the time . My student is 21 and on  their own but for the  FAFSA  we are still looking for your information  because they do not meet the age  requirement. We also get scenarios  where, say, a student is raised by a grandparent,  uncle, or aunt which is very gracious but we are  not looking for information for  those entities. We are looking at information specifically from the  student and the parent. If you do  not have a parent  there's a different route to take . It's called professional judgment for special  circumstances. But they want information from the biological  parent and the student.  I hope that that was clear for you. Now we  know who is independent and is considered  dependent. We also get  around the country talking to parents  or students. People do not know.  And my a dependent student to upper  my mom and dad's information on  it or what does parent really mean.  As I mentioned earlier a biological  parent or adoptive parent is what  we are looking for and that definition . Again, which parent do I list on the form  of we are divorced or separated.  If that is the case whoever is in  the household including stepparents you're required  to put the information on the application.  The FAFSA  we are looking for dependent information  from a student as well as parental  information in terms of who is living  in the household as  to who to report information on  the form itself. If you remarry  as I indicated and you are all under  the same household , mom, dad, and student we will  look for information from all three entities. I just wanted to share  and give you an idea an outline  as to whose information. And giving you a line you with  more detailed information about  whose information is provided . If you are married you will include  both parents information. He will put the  parent and stepparent information  if they are remarried. If they are  unmarried and both legal parents  live together you will put both  legal parents information but if  you are not married or divorced  we are looking at the parent you live with the most during the  last 12 months. Whoever he lived  with the most for the last 12 months  that is the parent whose information  we want on the application. So here's a second chance  to review that site and look at  some of the details but if you have  some questions about feel free to  put that in the chat box and we  will try to answer that accordingly.  Moving on, let's go through some  reminders and tips that we think  would be helpful for you. When you  are completing the form we want  to provide the information  as of the day that you are filling  out the actual application. Do not  worry about what happened 10 years  ago or two years ago  or five years ago. What is the current  status at the time that you are  filling it out. That is the information  that we want on the application.  So basically your situation at the  time of application that is the  information that we want. Students may not know that they  can list up to 10 schools and hit  submit and we will send that information  out to all 10 of those schools  so they can get your information  and begin processing and considering you for what 80  will be eligible for. Students can  log onto FAFSA  .gov . They can add extra schools.  If you listed 10 before and submit  you can log back in and  erase that 10 and add  two more and we will processes additional  schools that you selected and  send them your information as well.  Students should always call one  804 Fed aid with questions  regarding the completion. Our customer service line and federal  student aid information line is very helpful and we have representative  standing by to assist everybody  in different time zones as well. 
If you have more detail specific  school information we encourage  you to contact your school's financial  aid office regarding the amount of aid you will receive  and the disbursement dates of when  this will be available. If schools have different dates  and award letters and procedures.  I strongly urge you to go to the  school's website and click on financial  aid to see what the processes are,  the deadline dates, and how they  can take their award process and  you can be on point. Again, different  schools may be due to different things at different timelines  or visit your school's website as  well. We are available at  1-800-4FEDAID  for questions and we will talk about the  student aid report or the SAR and the types of  80 may be eligible for.  Here is accessing it through the mobile  app. You can go to your favorite  App Store or android store and download the app and you can do the same application online  on the desktop as well as the mobile  app. I really encourage you to take  advantage of that. You can see where you can click  the arrow and the option where you  can  print the report and see a breakdown  of your answers and so forth. You  can make corrections there and create a shareable file . This is just a sample screenshot  based on the 2020, 2021  academic year using the  mobile app. And this is  a sample of a student report and you can  see the composite of the data and  the answers that you gave on the  application. So this is to make  you aware and you have  an opportunity to see what that  looks like. You can see we are given  information based on the schools  that were selected and graduation  and retention information as well  as all kinds  of important information that would  be relevant to you. Take advantage  of making sure that you take the  time to print out or view on your mobile app  or desktop or tablet the student  aid report and agency exactly when the application was processed  and whether or not it is complete  and understand the status of your  application. Now we are moving to  the award letter. This is really  important. Before we get that it's  important to understand what type  of aid we are talking about is available. There are  40 types of aid that the government  offers. You can see grant information  which is free money. Typically that  is the biggest program the Pell  grant and the supplemental education  opportunity grant as well as  our work-study program where students  can earn money as they go to class. That's a very  viable program and a lot of students participate in that so students  can actually earn dollars. We have  a loan program as well for those  that are interested in borrowing  funds from the direct or  subsidized program or parent plus  loan program or graduate plus program. And also scholarship money. I put  this on here to let you know that  there are scholarships available from organizations around the country. Type in scholarships to get  a link from that website that takes  you right to the Department of Labor  scholarship page and you can complete a profile  and capture listing of all types  of scholarships that match your  individual profile.  Will appear particular major or  region of the country and they will  find various scholarship applications  for you to take some  of the work out of the process I want you to see and know the  types of programs that are available  to you. The work-study  program and loan program do not  have to be paid back. These are  programs that you will be requesting  when you submit the application  every year. 

Again, how is financial aid calculated. Each school has  a cost of attendance or COA which is how much it would generally  cost to attend that particular school with tuition, room, board,  and fees. They have the cost of attendance and subtract  the  estimated family contribution that  comes as a result of your fast for. It will be printed on your student  aid report so schools track the cost of education  and subtract that number to find out what you need is. But say it  is a two-year institution that cost  $10,000 per year. 
You completed  the FAFSA and the EOC was zero.  So the school board  understands that you have a high  need of $10,000. So therefore they  will look to see what federal programs and state  programs that you apply for and  other institutional aid that you  apply for that they can put together  and packaged together to help meet  that financial need. So again,  that is why it is critical for schools  to obtain that number which comes  from the application. After you  submit that you will get the student  aid report and on that will be the EFC number which the schools will  put in to determine what your financial  need is and the school will work  to put together federal funds and  other funds to see how they can  package dollars to help meet your  unmet need.  Again, the award  letter will come from the institution, not the federal government. You  do not have to accept the whole  award for some will offer more loans  that you are eligible for and some will offer grants if you are eligible  for those grants as well as work-study.  You have to do the FAFSA to determine  if you are eligible  and what programs you are working for. The school will see what you are  eligible for as well and they will  package and award you those dollars that you are eligible for. This award letter sample just indicates  some federal dollars but also there will be scholarships  as well as academic or institutional money that you may be eligible  for as well.  All of those programs will appear  on the award letter. I think what  is important here  is the sample  or package. You can see  here there are some grants and scholarships that the student was awarded. As well as  some loan money. The estimated cost of attendance at this particular  school was $61,000 . The award that they received was 39,009 45. If  you subtract the two it leaves them  with an estimated balance of $21,000  that they will have to find some  resources to get. That is a big  help versus trying to cover the  entire bill that this particular  student chose to go to school with that  price tag. Every little bit helps. We know it is not everything but  every little bit helps. We want  you to understand what the sample  award looks like. Each school may have a different  award letter with different elements  on it but this is an example that  you can see what the award looks  like. Some will break down  various details that will be helpful  for you as you plan financially of how you will cover the specific costs of higher education. Now  we will move into what is called SAP or satisfactory academic  progress.  This is a  term that we want all students to  be aware of so they can avoid the  pitfalls of losing their aid or  federal support because of their  lack of academic performance. It  is basically a process by which  the school, the institution monitors  and manages or determines how well  a student is progressing through  their four-year or  two-year program. They have a set policy and it may  differ a bit from school to school. You want to go to  the school's website and find out  what the policy is. Typically  SAP is a program that  monitors  whether or not the student is making satisfactory academic progress. In other words he cannot be getting  F's and D's for four years and  still expect to get federal aid.  Yet to complete so many hours at  a certain grade level or GPA to  continue to receive federal aid  and institutional aid. If you happen  to have a tough semester and you  go down they will notify you and let you know what the process  is to regain financial aid  eligibility if it is suspended  or they will let you know if you  have been suspended based on not  making satisfactory academic progress.  Most schools have a 2.0 GPA requirement so you have  to maintain that and they also identify how many  credit hours he must complete within  an academic year and you have to  show yourself to be academically progressing three  year degree program. I just want you to be aware that  because a lot of students fall into  some habits or challenges and are  not aware until they have actually  lost their financial aid and it is too  late at that point. They may have  to contact the school to see how  to reinstate their eligibility.  Make sure you are aware of what the criteria and reinstatement  processes. We are almost done. I want to make sure that you are  aware of some important tools and  resources. Federal student aid is  doing a great job  of making sure that all citizens  are aware of a lot of  the tools and resources that are  available so they can take advantage  but I want you to be sure that you  understand student aid.gov is your  one-stop shop. If you need information  on the various areas or processes  about college and financial aid  and FAFSA  as  a high school senior or if you are  an existing student it is your one-stop  shop. You can see here a sample slide of the home page or the website  and what it looks like. We recently redesigned the website  specifically again and enhanced  it for students and families . We combined several of the sites  into one. All of  this information will be found right  here at this one-stop shop.  It is information if you are considering  college, if you are currently in  school, if you're  a parent or student that may be  in repayment. All of these are available information that you can find out  on the website. So I am showing  you here the website. If you have information  or need information on the coronavirus  and how it impacts the 80 you want  to make sure that you check out  our website. I can't say that enough. Here  you will see some important tools  and resources for those considering  going to school and the kind of  information topics that you can  get on choosing a school and learning about the grants and  scholarships and work-study and  loan programs. It also compares school aid offers. All kinds of things that you do. If you are in  school currently we can help you  access the financial aid and remove  the form here and you can find  out about the grant canceling application or your agreement to serve if you're interested in that teach  grant. Also you can find out information  as a parent if you're interested  in completing a plus loan or understanding with that process is like or completing a  master promissory note. All of that  can be done on this website. So those that are in school or in repayment of their student  loans they can access all kinds  of information about student loan  forgiveness as well as customized account information  based on the balance that they may currently have by logging into  their website. This website has  definitely been enhanced a lot  and it is designed for you as a  parent or a student. With dents  and other enhancements. I  mentioned earlier we are now in  the mobile space. We launched a mobile app that is  responsive to the website as well so that you can access all that  you need on the mobile app or on the tablet or desktop. Everything has been integrated successfully. No matter what method you are using  you can access the information and  complete an application and submit  it and find out any updates on any  device. Again, I encourage you if you have not to  check out the my student aid mobile  app as well. It is a hot  item and I think a lot of students  are taking advantage of it so we  have some  updates of things that we are doing  as we move forward . We are upgrading software and  hardware and computer integration. We  have a lot of websites into a front  end platform  so does your one-stop shop to get  your questions answered. You can  create your  FSA ID  and establish your account.  That will be your account  for life. You will  login again using the FSA ID and you can stay up-to-date  with everything that you need.  Again, more of our  updates. You can see a sample of  a personalized dashboard we created  for customer account information  and you can see if you are a particular  loan borrower what your balance  is and a whole heap  of information. And all kinds of options with think  would be beneficial for you. There  are some sample screenshots here where you  can identify who is completing the  application  and you can see your progress that  is outlined on the app. You can get information  on the scorecard and loans. Also the tools  that will be helpful for end-users. Here is a screenshot of what you will get as to what  the status is and you will  see that this person has the method  that they have processed the application so you are not left in the  dark. Connecting with us . We want you to stay connected  with us. We are in the social media  space. I mentioned earlier student  aid.gov is the website that  has been created for you. You can  do a chat with us . You can see hours of operation in different time zones. We  are here for you and we are in the social media  space as I mentioned earlier when  a lot of young people are moving  to areas like MySpace and Instagram . Parents are most likely is to Facebook we want you to know that we want  you to search on federal student  aid. We have a little likes and we encourage you to like us and we are also  in the twitter space . You will find a lot of information and conversation on Twitter that  will be pertinent to you in the  process. We encourage you to take a look on YouTube. We will  talk about some new processes and  different processes and how to get to the application.  We really want you to subscribe  to our YouTube channel. We find a lot of ease of use videos that will walk you through the application  and the process and all kinds of things about the  loan program and grant programs.  We encourage you to check us out  online on YouTube. You  can also go to our blog . We feature all kinds of  information and various topics from  federal student aid and  FAQs and student  loan forgiveness. You can log on for useful information as well.  A final overview of federal student  aid . You can chat with us and give  us a call. We have  some frequently asked questions  that we get commonly across the  country so take advantage of the information center . That once of the presentation . We are  offering a webinar in June for college-bound students.  If you're interested in joining  it will be June 25 with tips about financial aid and  preparing for next year and a whole  lot of information. We will try  to get this slide. At this time I will turn it back over to Adebukola and she may have some  questions that come in.  
     

>>Adebukola: Thank you. There were  so many resources that will be helpful  to the audience. We have  a lot of great questions . The first one is 

Is being considered independent  change the amount of financial aid  you can receive.  
>>Fred: Great question. It could for some students. It  just depends. Every family and every FAFSA submission  is evaluated on its own merit .  What might work for one may look  very different for the second or  third or fourth or fifth applicant. It just varies in terms of your  situation and the amount of resources  that you identified that you may  have. We do look at the number in college in the household but  it can very.  
>>Adebukola: You mentioned being a citizen.  Are legal residents eligible for  financial aid? 
>>Fred: Legal citizens. I don't know  how you define as long as you have a valid Social Security number  that has been granted by the Social  Security Administration you will  be eligible for that. They will  outline based on what your statuses. Typically federal financial aid is for U.S. citizens who have been cleared and gone  through the normal Social Security Administration  and immigration process.  

>>Adebukola: The next question is my  daughter does not graduate until  spring 2021. Should she fill out -- when should she fill  out the FAFSA? 
>>Fred: That's a good question. It comes  out every year October 1. It's an 18 month  application. You want to be filling  it out October of your 12th grade  year. So you want to be filling  it out based on the year that you  will be graduating from high school so  your senior year  in October is when you want to be  filling it out.  

>>Adebukola: I think that kind of answers  the next question.  My child is a junior when should  she apply. 
     

>>Fred: That is a good question. That really is a situation where juniors should  be going online and  looking for scholarship applications and  deadline dates  so when they become a senior and they are preparing to go  to college and understanding which kind of  resources they have available to  them. 

>>Adebukola: You know the maximum amount I as a parent can earn to even  consider the process.  

>>Fred: If you  are interested in receiving federal aid whether it is a grant  or work-study or student loans.  There is no income cut off per se. There are  certain programs that do not depend  on size or income. There are a lot of outside daughter dollars that are not necessarily for those programs  but they still use the transfer  process and application . If the community  scholarship offers $2000 for applicants  but they require in the eligibility  process that you submit the  FAFSA  so  if you have not submitted it you  can be considered. There are a lot of  entities that use it and a lot of  the data to consider applicants when  applying for their money. There's  no income cut off. Every  household is looked at differently  based on their submission  so I want to encourage everybody  to complete it regardless every  year 
     

>>Adebukola: Okay. So then this question . Has it been  any discussion for the need of financial  aid given COVID-19 people have loss  of income. Does FAFSA consider  a temporary loss of income when  determining how much aid somebody  would get.  

>>Fred: That is a very good question.  Again, make sure that you go to  student aid.gov/coronavirus and you  will see information that relates  to that but I can tell you if your  circumstances have changed will  need to be adjusted based on this  coronavirus and so forth the first  thing to do is go to the school financial aid  office. Contact them by email or  phone call on the website  and find out how they are approaching any adjustments. If your situation  has changed, but say a parent  has lost her job they  can communicate that to the financial  aid office administrator and they can consider  that and possibly readjust the package to accommodate  and see what the eligibility looks  like. It could change but the will  to handle that  is to contact the school directly  that gave her the aid initially  and they can review your circumstances  and award you accordingly.  

>>Adebukola: Great. So if a student is graduating  this year from high school and  got accepted to college  but wants to delay college for next  year to they need to reapply for FAFSA?   

>>Fred: Good question. I heard the word  reapply. The admissions application and  the FAFSA application are not  synonymous.  If they have completed  the FAFSA application   and they decided not to go to college  and delay it until January that  one application is still good. It's  good for the whole year whether you start the January semester. The  both semesters. That one application submission  is good for the entire academic  year. You do not have to resubmit again in January.  

>>Adebukola: Thank you. And then this person says I have a client  who is going through divorce and  sharing custody of her kids. How  should she articulate those expenses  on the FAFSA.  She is a student. 

>>Fred: If she's an independent student if you are married or over the  age of 24 you are automatically  considered an independent students  with look for information from you  only. So if you are divorced and  now in an independent situation like an intense from  you exclusively.  Your information  and things like adjusted gross income  and household size those things  we will look for and the wages for  that particular year is what we  will look for. And you want to give  us the information based on what is your circumstance  at the time of application. If you are doing  the application today on Thursday 
>>Adebukola: Okay great.
Can you talk more  about the importance of the renewal  process for currently enrolled students.  

>>Fred: What is really critical is if you are currently enrolled in  college and let's say you just completed her freshman  year. What is important is that  you are adhering to deadlines, it  comes out every October. We are  now in June so the next one  is coming out in four months. Be  sure that you renew  so that you can be considered next  year. All I can say is to be mindful  of the renewal application that  will be available.  It will be an easier process for  the renewal because they will have already  collected a lot of your demographic  information.  So just take advantage of them . We  will typically push out notifications  via text email or email to those  are already in the  system has having completed one  previously so watch your emails  and text messages and here to the  deadline dates.  

>>Adebukola: The next question is is this  didn't aid.gov also the  website to submit an appeal if your financial circumstances  have changed.  

>>Fred: To handle that process if you have  an appeal or you  have some adjustments all of those are handled  at the institutional level. You  want to make sure that you are putting  what your appeal request is on paper and sending that to the institution  directly and that you are providing any supporting  documentation with that appeal to  our office. Not to the  federal government or federal student  aid  because those come from a school  specifically and directly. 
     

>>Adebukola: Another question. After the school  sends an award letter will they  ever change the amount awarded to  be either higher or lower than the  initial award? 
     
>>Fred: Once the award has gone out they  have already done the  valuation based on your situation and given you an award  letter. If you would  like to appeal or initiate an adjustment  based on some circumstances are  different considerations you can  direct those requests  to the school financial aid office and they can reevaluate based on  your circumstances. They have the  ability to adjust to upper down. Okay.  How is the EFC calculated?

>>Adebukola: Is that a webinar on its own?  

>>Fred: That  really is  a webinar by itself. At a high level  it stands for estimated family contribution.  It's the index number that establishes what is the amount this family should be able to contribute toward  the cost of the student's financial need.  So based on the information  that you provided on the FAFSA  it looks at the household size.  Number of households the wages earned  and number of students in college but a variety of other elements  and some financial questions it asks you and then  it combines all of them and it determines based on your responses what your ability should be to contribute  toward the cost of your education.  The school takes that number. That  is not your  student account spill or balance  or what the charge will be it's just an index number that  helps the school determine what  kind of additional support they  will be able to provide to you based on your financial unmet need. So that number is a number that is part of the equation that the school  uses to make that determination. 
>>Adebukola: All right.  We have just a few more questions . I know that we  are getting close to time. So [Indiscernible] 
>>Adebukola: Does the FAFSA look at  last year's taxes or two years ago.  
>>Fred: Some folks have heard the term but two years ago. The  federal government change the previous  process from one year ago because a lot of parents were having  challenges with late filers and  making sure that it gets submitted  on time  and it was just a lot of problems.  They change the process to look at the tax  information from two years ago. So most people have already had  that tax year closeout already.  So the IRS has already completed  taxes from two years ago so we are  using that information. However, if your current circumstances  have changed from two years ago like I mentioned you may have lost a job or a lot of circumstances have changed from two years ago  you can communicate that to the  financial aid office and they can modify or update whatever  changes need to be considered. To  answer the question we look at the  information from two years ago  

>>Adebukola: Okay. Thank you.  What is the name of the website  that you mentioned earlier that  allows you to create a scholarship  profile.  

>>Fred: The website is on student aid .gov.  Putting scholarships and  it will help you. You  can complete that profile and get information on  scholarships and various applications. I suggest that you go there and put in scholarships and you  will get the link there.  

>>Adebukola: Okay. And then  is it recommended to list multiple schools so they can compete  with each other 
>>Fred: I will answer that in terms of competition the schools do not know  what other schools you applied to . They think that a . So if you list 10 schools you  only see your school.  The applicant will know that you  can have a 10 schools and  you know what they are but the schools  don't know that you listed other  schools. A few years ago a  lot of fraud went on and some schools  were awarding students and making  decisions based on what order they  were listed in that for that option  is blinked out. Schools don't know  that you listed five or 10 other  schools or the schools are. 
>>Adebukola: Than just two more questions  for can you talk more about the app. 
>>Fred: That has been a powerful tool  that we launched. You can go to  the Apple Store to download the my student aid app. You can  go to  the android store. That functionality  is improving every day. We have  new features online every day.  You can try to make the experience compatible when you  are on the desktop or tablet or  mobile phone. Making it easy for  each user.  I really encourage you to use the  app. We still have FAFSA.gov at the desktop  as well. Everything you  can do  on the desktop . 

>>Adebukola:Is more financial aid ever given  closer to the start of the school  year. It looks like they want more financial aid given . What is the best  time of the year to apply for financial aid?  Is it  better to apply at the start of  the school year?  

>>Fred: That is a very good question. Now the FAFSA application  is not the same as the academic school . When  I indicated earlier that is an 18  month application. School years typically start in  August and September. It is around December January time. The early bird always gets  the worm.  If you are completing the FAFSA  I would recommend that you do the  application  between the October,  November, December time frame. But any age that will be awarded  will come from the institution and they will evaluate your eligibility  and let you know what you are eligible  for on the award letter. It may have a different deadline  date. You want to make sure that  you find out with those deadline  dates are. 
You want to make sure that you find  out what those are it will also be the entity that  will award you based on their  deadline dates for the academic awards and academic awards those will appear  on the award letter. If you met  the early application for federal financial aid then  you will be considered . That is the Pell Grant, student loans and federal work-study.  That will be considered if you are  eligible for a state grant  you apply with the state grant application  process at the deadline date that  will also be committed to the college. When  you indicate that is that  will be on your award letter as  well. The schools financial aid  offices the entity want to be in  communication with to understand  the process and deadlines and what  they are doing and how they do adjustments  and additional forms of aid . I hope that answers the question.  

>>Adebukola: Yes I think it did. We have another one. If  the parents financial situation  changes after submitting the FAFSA  can you amend it?  

>>Fred: You can amend it. You can log  back into the account and by the  way the FSA ID is  good for life.   You can log back in . You want to definitely communicate  with the financial aid office to  let them know that that is the situation. To answer the questions, you can make adjustments  and hit the submit button and it  goes to the school. We recommend that you write down or indicate what your circumstances  are and what the change has been and supply some  supporting documentation with that to the  financial aid office. You can send that requesting reconsideration  based on any circumstance and let  them reevaluate. They have ability  to make adjustments. Each school  has their own process for evaluating that.  

 >>Adebukola: We are at a time. Thank you so much.  I learned a lot. There were a lot of questions about  where people can access this presentation. This presentation will be available on  consumer finance.gov website. You can find it there. Check back  in about a week or so so you can have access to it. Thank  you and that concludes the presentation  for today.  

Thank you everyone.  

 [event concluded]
[Title]

1.	CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU