Securing College Financial Aid – Top 7 FAFSA Tips and Tricks for our University of Oregon, Northwest Christian University, and Lane Community College student housing residents
Helpful Tips for Titan Court / Eugene OR Apartment Residents, courtesy of LaunchU, the Campus Advantage Resident Success Program.
Applying for grants can be a make-or-break process for those pursuing higher education. Go Financial Aid shares key steps to optimize your eligibility.
As the product of divorced parents and the first in his family to apply to college, Andrew Reichert knows how difficult applying to school can be, with a separate process for admissions and financial aid. Despite the complexities of filling out essays and forms, one of the most difficult hurdles he faced when applying was correctly filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, also known as the (FAFSA).
In order to help students who struggle just as he did, Reichert now serves as CEO and founder of Go Financial Aid, an advanced technology and personalized consulting company that offers free information online to help educate students on the entire financial aid process.
“Applying for financial aid is just as much an art as it is a science,” Reichert tells BET.com. “There are some key intricacies to the applications that you should know, or else be prepared to pay the price of a significantly reduced financial aid package.”
With the FAFSA deadline of some schools as early as February 1, Go Financial Aid shares the following tips with BET.com to help ensure optimization of your financial aid eligibility:
Here are some tips for our University of Oregon, Northwest Christian University, or Lane Community College student housing residents:
1) Fill Out a Practice FAFSA
A practice FAFSA is a great way for you to learn the ins and outs of the actual application. You can get an early start on the process by gathering your documents and filling out the 2012-2013 FAFSA Worksheet and asking any questions that you may have beforehand.
2) Reduce Your Family’s Adjusted Gross Income
Generally speaking, the higher your family’s Adjusted Gross Income (AGI), the less financial aid for which you will be eligible. Remember: Adjusted Gross Income = Income – Adjustments. Given this calculation, unless you want to decrease your income (not recommended), the best thing to do would be to increase your adjustments. Get a good accountant or a tax advisor to help you through the process.
3) Get Rid of All Your Liquid Assets (Intelligently!)
The FAFSA’s formula for determining your Expected Family Contribution (EFC) heavily weighs the most liquid assets in your family, such as cash, savings and checking accounts. Accordingly, it would be wise for you to minimize these liquid assets prior to filing your FAFSA. One way of doing this would be to give all of your money away (not recommended); however, a more intelligent way would be to shift your assets or pay off large debt balances (such as a mortgage).
Read all 7 tips at LaunchU now!
About Titan Court
We strive to provide the finest apartments for rent near University of Oregon, Northwest Christian University, and Lane Community College. Titan Court is Eugene OR student housing at its finest! We offer fully furnished apartments in Eugene OR, near University of Oregon, Northwest Christian University, and Lane Community College campus, with all the fun UO, NWCU, and Lane CC has to offer! With affordable rates, and a great student lifestyle — Titan Court Living is much better than living in the dorms.