Course: Financial Aid
FINANCIAL AID
John F Kennedy High School’s Federal Code is 050966
Basic FAFSA Facts
What is it?FAFSA stands for Free Application for Federal Student Aid. The federal government uses this for to determine your eligibility for financial aid, which includes: grants, work-study, scholarships and loans. The filing period is Jan 1 thru March 2nd of each year.
Why fill it out?The FAFSA is used to determine how much aid you will receive. Think of it this way:
FAFSA®EFC®Financial Need®Financial Aid
EFC is Expected Family Contribution, which is the amount of money your family can be expected to contribute each year to your college costs.
What type of aid can I expect to receive?Your prospective college will try to meet your financial need through federal, state, school and private sources, as well as loans, grants and student employment
How to apply: Apply for a federal PIN now by going to www.pin.ed.gov . You can use your PIN to e-sign your FAFSA and make corrections later if needed. Parents need to get a PIN to e-sign the FAFSA. Parents need to save their year-end payroll stubs if they show earnings for the year. This information will be necessary to complete the FAFSA. You’ll need a Social Security number to apply for a PIN and most financial aid. If you don’t have a Social Security number, find out how to get one at www.ssa.gov. Complete the FAFSA online at www.fafsa.ed.gov.
Cal Grants
Cal Grant awards are state funded monetary grants given to students to help pay for college expenses. The awards do not have to be paid back. File a Cal Grant GPA Information Release Form with your Career & College Specialist in room 122 for Jan.1 until Mar. 2. The GPA information will be submitted electronically. The form is being distributed with this letter on December 12, although the filing period is from January 1 thru March 2nd of each year. Grants do not have to be repaid.
Remember: It take two
The FAFSA form is a federal form that must be filed by any student who wants to be considered for college financial aid. For a Cal Grant, the FAFSA must be completed and filed with the federal processor beginning January 1 thru March 2nd of each year. The Cal Grant will not be considered unless the FAFSA is also submitted.
Scholarships
New scholarships are posted each week at www.jfkhs.org - College-Main-Scholarships, as well as in the window box in front of the Career Center, room 122, in the counselors’ hall, and in each senior classroom. A good website for scholarship research is www.fastweb.com. This site will provide you with additional scholarships tailored to your college and career interests. Scholarships do not have to be repaid.WORKSTUDY
Employment, usually on campus, awarded to needy students as part of a financial aid package through the U.S. government's Federal Work-Study Program.
California Chafee Grant
What is a California Chafee Grant? The California Chafee Grant Program gives free money to current or former foster youth to use for career and technical training or college courses. You don’t have to pay this money back and you can use it for things like child-care, transportation and rent. The Chafee Grant Program, also known as the Education and Training Voucher (ETV), is a federally funded program and is subject to availability of federal funds each year.
How do I qualify?
To qualify, you must:
v Be eligible, or have been eligible, for foster care between your 16th and 18th birthday,
v Not have reached your 22nd birthday as of July 1 of the award year
What do I need to apply?
You must be enrolled in:
v An eligible career or technical school or college
v A course of study at least half time
v A course of study that is at least one year long
v And maintain satisfactory academic progress
v Get good grades.
How do I apply?
File two forms:
v Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA.File online at www.fafsa.ed.gov or get a paper form from your school. (Undocumented students may contact the Commission for further instructions.)
v California Chafee Grant Program Application, Submit a paper copy or an online application to the Commission. The 2006-2007 application is available on the Commission’s web site at https://www.chafee.csac.ca.gov/default.asp
Also see these other websites
It is estimated that as many as 1.5 million students who probably would have qualified for Pell Grants did not apply for federal financial aid in 2003-04, the last year for which information is available, up 76 percent since 1999-2000, according to a report titled Missed Opportunities Revisited: New Information on Students Who Do Not Apply for Financial Aid by the American Council on Education.
