Learn more about the limited time waiver for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program.
Learn more about the Department of Education's recent announcement about Income-Driven Repayment Account Adjustments.
Learn more about the limited time waiver for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program.
Learn more about the Department of Education's recent announcement about Income-Driven Repayment Account Adjustments.
VSAC will be closed Monday, May 30, 2022 in observance of Memorial Day.
Every year, millions of dollars in financial aid goes unused because students simply don't complete the FAFSA—the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. You don’t have to know what you want to do after high school, but you do need to keep your options open, so file your FAFSA.
Then take a few extra minutes for a Vermont grant. Eligible students have received from $1,000 to $14,000 for the 2022–2023 academic year, so look for the Vermont grant link on your FAFSA confirmation page.
Start your FAFSA application now
Need help with your FAFSA, Vermont grant application, or other financial aid forms?
The information you provide on your FAFSA will help to decide how much you'll be expected to pay for college or career school—and how much financial aid you may receive.
Need help with your FAFSA, Vermont grant application, or other financial aid forms?
VSAC can help in a variety of ways:
You won't know until you fill out the FAFSA! You may be surprised to learn what aid may be available for you.
The FAFSA is the first step to being considered for:
If you're ready to apply for financial aid, start your FAFSA today.
Here are some tips that will help set you up for success with the FAFSA:
VSAC counselor Soren explains how to start
The information you provide on your FAFSA will help to decide how much you'll be expected to pay for college or career school—and how much financial aid you may receive.
If you're ready to apply for financial aid, start your FAFSA today.
Follow these steps to help make sure you’re submitting your online FAFSA application correctly:
Create a Federal Student Aid (FSA) ID (username and password). You’ll need this in order to complete your FAFSA — and to be able to log in to any other FSA borrower websites. If you’re financially dependent on your parents, a parent will need to create his or her own, separate FSA ID.
To create your FSA ID, go to studentaid.gov and choose "Create Account." Both the student and the parent will need their own IDs. You can also watch this video that shows you how.
Gather your information. Being prepared will make the FAFSA application process easier—and faster. Here’s what you’ll need to have on hand for yourself, your spouse (if you’re married) and/or your parents (if you’re a dependent student):
Start a new FAFSA application. With your FSA ID in hand, start your application at fafsa.ed.gov. Follow the instructions to fill out your application. You’ll see “Help and Hints” on the site throughout the application process. Refer to these whenever you have a question.
Important: Select the correct school year when applying and be sure to sign in with your FSA ID so your FAFSA will be processed as quickly as possible (if you're a dependent student, one parent will need to sign with their FSA ID as well).
Special Circumstances: Every year, students and families experience unexpected circumstances that impact their original financial aid award package. A loss of a job. An increase in family size. Unanticipated medical expenses and other one-time events.
This is especially true for many more Vermonters this year. Families are struggling with a variety of financial and personal pressures caused by COVID-19. If that’s your situation, you can ask for reconsideration and are encouraged to contact your college financial aid office and to the Vermont Grant program at VSAC.
VSAC can help in a variety of ways:
Get your FSA ID at studentaid.gov (choose "Create Account") and start your application now.
Your colleges set the deadline by which they need to receive your FAFSA. Please check your college’s financial aid websites to determine their deadlines.
Many college financial aid websites recommend filing a FAFSA as soon as possible after October 1 of the senior year of high school. Students will need to file a FAFSA every year they wish to be considered for financial aid.
One FAFSA is filed for the student. For dependent students, parent information is reported on that form.
https://studentaid.gov. Choose “create account.”
When on the website to create the FSA ID, there are prompts for “Forgot Username” and “Forgot Password.” It would be important to begin with the prompts to gain access to the ID you already created.
The student applying for financial aid and one parent on the FAFSA each need an FSA ID. Since the FSA ID is needed for IRS Retrieval and to sign the FAFSA, it’s good to get those IDs before filing the FAFSA.
If the student was assigned the sex of female at birth, they do not need to sign up for Selective Service.
The parent account is used to access and download the parent tax information from the IRS and to sign the student’s FAFSA, as well as to certify that the parent financial information is correct and true to the best of their knowledge. The parent account could also be used to apply for a Parent PLUS loan should the parent choose to use that as a resource to help pay for college costs.e parent account is used to access and download the parent tax information from the IRS and to sign the student’s FAFSA, as well as to certify that the parent financial information is correct and true to the best of their knowledge. The parent account could also be used to apply for a Parent PLUS loan should the parent choose to use that as a resource to help pay for college costs.
A student needs to list only one school to file a FAFSA. Students can definitely log into their processed FAFSA to add schools as they decide to apply to more. Students can also log into their MyVSAC account to add colleges to be considered for the VT grant.
When the FAFSA is submitted, all the schools listed will receive the information. When a college is removed, that college will not receive updates or other corrections. For instance, if a parent or student needs to correct a mistake on the form, only the colleges listed on the FAFSA at that time will receive the correction.
If the student knows one college they wish to apply to, they can submit the FAFSA and add more schools later.
College admissions can either be Need Blind or Need Aware. At a college that is Need Aware, the admissions office could take into consideration your family’s financial situation as a part of the admissions process.
If the student is filling out the FAFSA and cannot remember when the parents were married, they can ask a parent. The date of marital status question is answered month and year.
If the student has to report two parents’ financial information on the FAFSA, the Social Security number and date of birth will have to be reported for both parents. Check this link for “Who is my parent when I am completing the FAFSA?”
If a student’s parents no longer live together, the student will use the parent financial information of the parent they lived with the most in the last year. If that parent has remarried, the parent and stepparent information is reported on the FAFSA. Find more information about which parent information to use.
If your parents don’t have Social Security numbers (SSNs), they must enter 000-00-0000 when the FAFSA form asks for their SSNs. And if they don't have SSNs, they won’t be able to create FSA IDs and therefore won’t be able to sign the FAFSA form electronically. You’ll have to print out the signature page from the online FAFSA form so that the parents can sign it and mail it to the address listed on the signature page.
For the question “Has the student been in foster care?” only answer “Yes” if the student was ever in foster care. For the question around student dependency, “At any time since you turned age 13, were both your parents deceased, were you in foster care or were you a dependent or ward of the court?” Answer “Yes” to this question if the student was still an orphan beyond the age of 13. If the student was adopted before the age of 13, the answer to this question will be “No.”
For the financial information on the FAFSA, if the parent the student lives with the most is remarried, parent and stepparent financial information is reported on the FAFSA.
Vermont grants are "portable," meaning that students can take a Vermont grant out of state. Many VSAC scholarships can also be taken out of state. Tune in to our next VSYH on November 18 to learn more.
Saying yes to work-study does not decrease grant aid (free money).
It’s possible you did nothing wrong. The EFC is determined by looking at a number of factors, including income, assets, family size, and number of family members in college. If you’d like to contact us at VSAC and double-check that you’re reporting the correct information, call 833-802-VSAC (8722).
When asked about 2020 taxes on the FAFSA, the answers to choose from are:
If the taxes have not yet been filed, the parent or student will indicate that they “will file but have not yet completed their return.” They'll need to provide estimates of income and tax information, and then update once taxes are completed.
For the VSAC Shows You How webinar, we’re using a FAFSA Test Environment and aren’t able to import information from the IRS. Even when using IRS Data Retrieval, married couples will still have to report earnings information, because the IRS data cannot differentiate which parent earned what.
Pre-tax payments to retirement plans are reported as nontaxable income on the FAFSA. If you contribute to a traditional IRA and you claim that on your taxes, it will also need to be reported on the FAFSA. Contributions to a Roth IRA are made with after-tax dollars and do not need to be reported as nontaxable income on the FAFSA.
If you’re no longer married to or living with your child’s other parent, you do not have to report that parent’s financial information on your child’s FAFSA.
On the FAFSA, investments in a qualified retirement plan are not reported on the FAFSA.
When assets (investments, business/investment farm) are reported on the FAFSA, you need to report the net worth of the investments — the value minus the associated debts currently held against that particular asset. Liabilities for future expenses are not included.
If the 529 is owned by the parent or dependent student, it’s reported as the parent asset on the FAFSA. If the 529 is owned by the grandparent, it is not reported on the FAFSA.
The FAFSA is a federal form, and the components of the FAFSA are determined by Congress. You could certainly have a discussion with the financial aid offices to let them know if your retirement savings aren’t held in a qualified retirement plan to see if they would consider this as a special circumstance.
Social Security benefits are not reported as income on the FAFSA.
While the parent primary home is not reported on the FAFSA, there may be other applications the student will complete that do ask for that information — for example, the CSS Profile and the VT grant application. Families can communicate with college financial aid offices regarding special circumstances they’re experiencing, and the colleges may be able to see if those circumstances can impact the student’s financial aid.
Please call the Federal Student Aid helpline at 800-433-3243 for advice on how to report parent or student assets when accounts are shared.
On the FAFSA, the definition for a “family-owned and controlled” business means that more than 50% of the business is owned by persons who are directly related or are (or were) related by marriage. If this is not the case, the value of his shares should be reported on the FAFSA.
If the student is considered a dependent student on the FAFSA, their 529 account is reported as a parent asset on the FAFSA.
If a student has savings, 20% of a dependent student’s savings will be considered as part of the student’s expected family contribution.
The parent will report their share of the value and debt of the property as part of their investments on the FAFSA. If you wish, you may follow up with the financial aid offices at the colleges to which your child is applying to explain that situation.
The short answer is, “It depends.” The longer answer is that in the determination of a student's Expected Family Contribution, parental assets are highly protected as part of the calculation. The percentage of parents’ assets that would impact the family contribution would be at a rate of 7-9%. For example, $25,000 of assets would impact a family contribution by $1,750 to $2,250. Depending on the deadlines for the colleges the student is applying to, you can wait to do the FAFSA until after the purchase if you anticipate a large change in parent assets. It’s important to also be aware that some other financial aid forms (CSS Profile, VT grant application) will ask for family primary home value and debt.
For any special circumstances — for instance, high medical bills — it will be important for the parents to get in touch with each college’s financial aid office, as well as the VT Grant Program at VSAC to talk about those additional expenses. When discussing these circumstances, it’s always helpful to give dollar amounts if possible. Parents will also want to be prepared to submit documentation of the expenses paid as part of the process with the colleges and the VT Grant Program.
If your family circumstances have changed, contact the college financial aid offices.
Students who qualify as homeless under McKinney-Vento would answer yes to the homeless question on the FAFSA if they’re both homeless and unaccompanied, meaning without the parent(s).
If the parents have completed a college degree, associate or bachelor's or beyond – the answer to the question would be "College or Beyond."
OK, you’ve stumped us! Please call the Federal Student Aid helpline at 800-433-3243 for guidance on a gifted Americorp Education Credit.
Yes, you can fix an error on a FAFSA. It might also be a good idea to notify the colleges that you have corrected an error.
Get your FSA ID at studentaid.gov (choose "Create Account") and start your application now.