The education and experience that comes from a four-year college like Naz is valuable, but it comes at a steep price. Luckily for myself and other students in need of financial assistance, Naz offers financial aid in a variety of forms: scholarships and grants, work study, veteran benefits, international student scholarships, graduate student assistance, and much more! Naz students and parents also have access to federal loans which need to be paid back beginning six months after the student is no longer enrolled in at least six credits.
The process of applying for financial aid may seem daunting, especially when you find deadlines quickly approaching. Hopefully, this article will clarify some of the confusion and help you get the ball rolling, one step at a time.
To start applying for financial aid, you will need to file the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA for short). This form, which can be filled out online here, will determine your eligibility for federal financial aid that will be given in the form of grants, loans, and work-study. Though filling out the FAFSA form can be a bit tedious, it is crucial to complete it by the deadline every year, in order to qualify for any need-based aid through Naz and/or federal loans.
The first step to completing your FAFSA will be creating a FSA ID at www.fafsa.gov. Students and parents will both need to create their own ID’s using different email addresses, because each ID serves as one person’s legal signature. It’s important to keep your login information somewhere you’ll be able to access it in the future, since you will need to fill out FAFSA for each new school year. If you have multiple children who are applying for financial aid at the same time, you can also use your parent ID to access each student’s financial aid information. After your FSA ID is set up, you can begin filling out the online FAFSA form. This form will take about an hour to complete the first time, and about 45 minutes for yearly renewals.
A common misconception about FAFSA is that a certain family income and low grades can disqualify you from different types of financial aid. There’s no income cutoff for financial aid, as there is a lot more at play when it comes to determining how much support you can receive. FAFSA takes things like the size of your family and siblings enrolled in college into account, in addition to family (both student and parent) income and assets. Your grades are also important. Naz takes grades into account when distributing certain scholarships and grants, and it is important to remember that your cumulative GPA could affect your eligibility for federal grants and loans.
If you are a resident of New York State, you must also apply for TAP (Tuition Assistance Program) while applying for financial assistance through FAFSA. This provides a little extra federal financial aid, and the TAP application can be found here.
The bottom line is that you won’t really know how much financial aid you’re eligible for until you apply! Though it may be a bit time-consuming, it doesn’t hurt to apply for financial aid, so make sure to check the deadlines for financial aid applications and complete your FAFSA as soon as possible!