“What guidelines qualify you for FAFSA aid?”

-Chelsea E., Orlando, FL

Chelsea,

The simple answer is: if you are a US Citizen, a high school graduate, demonstrate financial need, have a valid SSN, and do not have any previous drug convictions while receiving federal assistance, than you are eligible for student aid of some kind.

However, there is a more detailed explanation of exceptions and other specifications regarding eligibility on the government website:

According to the federal government, the following requirements* must be met to be considered eligible for student aid:

Financial need
Except for some loan programs, you must show that you have financial need, according to our requirements. See “Financial Need and Expected Family Contribution(EFC)”.

Educational requirements

· You must demonstrate by one of the following means that you are qualified to enroll in postsecondary education:

# Have a high school diploma or a General Educational Development (GED) certificate.
# Pass an approved Ability-to-Benefit (ATB) test. If you don’t have a diploma or GED, you can take an approved ATB test to determine whether you can benefit from the education offered at that school.
# Meet other standards your state established and that we have approved.
# Complete a high school education in a home school setting approved under state law.

· You must be enrolled or accepted for enrollment as a Regular Student working toward a degree or certificate in an Eligible Program.

· You must meet Satisfactory Academic Progress standards set by the postsecondary school you are or will be attending.

You might be able to receive aid for correspondence or telecommunications courses as long as they are part of a recognized certificate or degree program.

Legal and other requirements

· You must be a U.S. citizen or Eligible Noncitizen.

· You must have a valid Social Security number (SSN) (unless you’re from the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia or the Republic of Palau). If you don’t have an SSN, you can find out more about applying for one at www.ssa.gov or by calling 1-800-772-1213. TTY users can call 1-800-325-0778.

· When you apply for federal student aid you sign a statement that certifies that you will use federal student aid for educational purposes only. You also certify that you are not in Default on a federal student loan and do not owe a refund on a federal student grant (which could happen if you withdraw from school, for example).

· You must comply with Selective Service Registration. If you’re a male aged 18 through 25 and you have not registered you can, at the same time you complete your FAFSA, give the Selective Service System permission to register you by means of the FAFSA. You can also register online at www.sss.gov or call 1-847-688-6888. TTY users can call 1-847-688-2567.

· Generally, if you have been convicted for the possession or sale of illegal drugs for an offense that occurred while you were receiving federal student aid, you will be ineligible for a period of time based on the type and number of convictions. If you answer “Yes” to this question, it is very important that you complete and submit the FAFSA to determine your eligibility. If you are submitting a paper FAFSA, you will be mailed a worksheet to assist you in determining whether your conviction affects your eligibility for federal student aid

· Even if you’re ineligible for federal student aid because of a drug conviction, you should still complete the FAFSA because most schools and states use FAFSA information to award non federal aid.

· You have limited eligibility for federal student aid while you’re incarcerated. Generally, you’re only eligible for a Pell Grant and then only if you’re NOT incarcerated in a federal or state penal institution.

*Information as reflected in the www.studenaid.ed.gov 2008-2009 Handbook.

Tags: fafsa aid, fafsa financial aid, financial aid

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 28th, 2009 at 10:07 am and is filed under fafsa. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.