Filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid is a crucial step in obtaining federal and institutional financial aid, and the University of Idaho Financial Aid Office is opening its doors to help students and parents with applications.
Financial aid staff are available from 4 – 7 p.m. today and Wednesday to assist students with the FAFSA in the financial aid office in the Student Union Building during FAFSA Help Days.
UI Director of Student Financial Aid Dan Davenport said they have hosted events in the past to help incoming students with financial aid, but the main focus of FAFSA Help Days is to provide assistance to current students.
The FAFSA priority deadline is Feb. 15, and Davenport said students who meet this deadline will have an advantage in being considered for grants and work programs.
Finances are often among the top two of college students’ concerns, Davenport said, and even if they cannot attend FAFSA Help Days, he encourages students to ask for help.
The Higher Education Research Institute reported in The American Freshman: National Norms Fall 2012 survey that 13.4 percent of incoming freshman do not attend their first-choice college because of cost. This is the highest percentage reported since it was first included in the survey in 2006, when it was 9.4 percent.
Davenport said there are three main reasons to fill out the FAFSA: to know what types of financial aid you are eligible for, to be considered for specific types of financial aid and to have access to resources such as student loans in case of emergencies.
“Some students experience a big change in circumstances, whether it’s only one parent working now instead of two, or maybe someone loses a job,” he said. “If you fill out the FAFSA it develops a line of credit and usually within a week you can have the money you need if something happens.”
Even if students only have a simple question about the FAFSA, Davenport said it might lead to other areas of financial aid they can assist students with.
“Our job is to find as many resources
for students as we can, and let them
and their family choose what’s best for them,” he said.
Elisa Eiguren can be reached at [email protected]