2022-2023 FAFSA Walkthrough Video English

hello my name is dylan cafferty and i work for the utah system of higher education this is the fafsa walkthrough video for the 2022-2023 fafsa where we show you step-by-step how to finish the free application for federal student aid before you start your fafsa you need to create your fsa id this is your username and password for all things fafsa of course the student needs their own fsa id to start the fafsa and sign the fafsa at the end if you have to provide parental information on the fafsa which we'll cover in a bit then one of your parents also needs to make their own fsa id parents need the fsa id to sign their students fafsa at the end and to use the irs data retrieval tool for importing tax information onto the fafsa which we'll cover in a bit later if your parent or parents do not have a social security number that's okay you can skip the parent fsa id and the student will still be able to complete the fafsa to get started with the fsa id just do an internet search for fsa id from here you can create your fsa id or reset your username or password if you already have an account but need to troubleshoot to regain access once you've clicked create account you'll be able to come down and get started you'll have seven steps to create your fsa id if you need help with your fsa id you can call the department of education federal student aid hotline at 1-800-433-3243 then choose the option for id help once you've created your fsa id it's time to start the fafsa visit fafsa.gov and click start here to get started then you're going to choose i am the student and you'll need to insert your fsa id username and password next you'll see a disclaimer or warning that you'll want to read before hitting accept for most of the year there are two fafsas open simultaneously please choose the 2022 2023 fafsa form if you are attending college in the fall of 2022 or the spring of 2023 if you are attending college in the fall of 2021 or spring of 2022 you can choose the 2021-2022 fafsa form for summer semesters check with your college's financial aid office to find out which fafsa you need to complete the video you're watching is for the 2223 fafsa you can visit our youtube channel to find last year's fafsa walkthrough video next the fafsa is going to ask for you to create a save key this is a code that saves your progress in case you can't finish the fafsa in one setting it can be four or more numbers or letters your progress will not save indefinitely so don't wait weeks to complete your fafsa if you don't finish it today this next page is going to have answers to frequently asked questions you can just go down and select continue to move forward now this is the first section of the fafsa and it is the student demographics the first questions are basically your name your birth date and your social security number if you signed in with your fsa id this should already be filled out next it's going to ask for your email address and telephone number the information i am listing in this fafsa application does not represent any real person the next portion is going to ask about your mailing address in this next portion it's going to ask you to indicate how long you have lived in the state where you currently reside then the fafsa will ask about your citizenship status if you choose i'm a u.s citizen or u.s national you are eligible to apply for federal financial aid if you choose i'm an eligible non-citizen you will also be eligible to apply for federal financial aid but you will need to enter the alien registration number found on the back of your permanent resident card or green card if you are not a us citizen and you do not have a permanent resident card and therefore don't qualify under the eligible non-citizen category you will not be eligible for title iv federal financial aid now the fafsa is going to ask about your education level please be aware that only students working on certificate programs associate's degree or first bachelor's degree are eligible for pell grants students in graduate or professional programs do not qualify for pell grants at the bottom of this page you can indicate whether or not you want to be considered for work study which are part-time jobs typically on your college campus so you can earn money for college expenses while you're in school now the fafsa is going to ask if you are male or female by which they mean the gender you were assigned at birth just note that this answer will no longer affect your financial aid eligibility it used to be that if you answered mail you had to register for the selective service sometimes known as the draft in order to be eligible for financial aid for college that is no longer a requirement here so your answer to this question ultimately won't matter on the fafsa on the next screen if you don't have a driver's license you can skip this question the next portion will ask about if you are a foster youth or in a foster care system at any time and it will also ask about the high school completion for your parents if you don't know the educational level of one of your parents you can select other or unknown now we're going to add the high school that you did or will graduate from if your high school is not in the u.s choose my country is not listed if you can't find your high school when you hit search the example i'm using here there's an option to manually enter your high school name city and state you'll select down here at the bottom i can't find my school and then you'll insert as needed and you'll just need to confirm that information and click continue now you're going to add up to 10 colleges or universities that you are considering attending in the 2223 academic year each college will receive a copy of your fafsa you must list at least one college before you can proceed i'm going to go through and select a couple of options here something new that they've added is you can select your preference of your plans for college so if i wanted to select the university of utah to be my first preference i can do so there is a warning above up on the top that asks however the order in which you list your schools may affect your eligibility for state aid if you are worried about this please reference the link just below there to see what preferences your state has now we've completed the school selection section of the fafsa and we are moving into the dependency status section this is where we're going to determine whether or not you need to provide information about your parents if you were born before january 1st of 1999 you will need to provide information about your parents unless you can answer yes to one of the questions in this section first if you the student are married you are considered independent and do not need to report your parents information the example i'll be using moving forward is for a dependent student if you have a child or other dependent for whom you provide more than 50 of their financial support you are considered an independent student and you won't need to provide information about your parents if you are an active duty or you are a veteran of the military you are independent and you do not need to provide your parents information on the fafsa if at any time since you turned 13 you were in foster care or you became a ward of the court you are an independent and you do not need to provide your parents information on the fafsa and since you turned 13 if your parents have also been deceased you are also considered independent if the court in your state determines you as an emancipated minor then you are also considered independent if the court in your state appointed someone to be your legal guardian and that person is not your parent or step parent then you are independent and you do not need to provide information about your parents or your guardian on the fafsa now finally after july 1st of 2021 if you are homeless or self-supporting and at risk of being homeless you do not have to provide parental information on the fafsa your college may ask for a letter from a shelter manager or a guidance counselor for example to verify this information that's basically the end of the dependency questions based on your answers the fafsa will tell you if you are considered a dependent on your parents or an independent from your parents if you are considered dependent you must provide parental information otherwise you will only be considered for unsubsidized federal student loans and you will not be considered for aid such as a pell grant or work study if you have a special circumstance that truly prevents you from providing parental information for example if your parent is incarcerated and you don't have contact with them choose i am unable to provide information about my parents and then it'll give you this warning of the impact of not providing parental information please read that and click continue then it's going to talk about special circumstances you'll need to indicate here if you do have a special circumstance and select i have a special circumstance and i am unable to provide information about my appearance if you report that you have a special circumstance that prevents you from providing parental information it is your responsibility to contact your financial aid office so that they can perform a professional judgment hearing to determine if they can override your dependency determination and make you independent on the fafsa so you can be considered for all forms of financial aid this video is made possible with support from my529 529 is utah's official 529 educational savings plan my529 has been helping families across the united states invest for higher education for 25 years my529 funds may be used for qualified higher education expenses which also include k-12 tuition expenses qualified education loan repayments and registered apprenticeships learn more at my529.org if you are a dependent student providing information about your parents you'll then move to the parent demographic section of the fafsa the first thing you'll see in this section is information about marital status and who is considered your fafsa parent the first option is if your parents live together if they're married or not you'll need to provide information for both of them if your parents are divorced or separated and you live with one parent more than the other then you'll just report that one parent unless that parent has remarried then we'll need to report that new step parent as well the third option is my parents are divorced or separated and i live with both of them equally if you split your time evenly between them then you need to provide information for the parent who provided you with the most financial support in the last 12 months remember like we just talked about if that parent is remarried you also have to provide information about their current spouse aka your step parent on the fourth section if you were legally adopted you need to provide information about the person or people who adopted you now based on the information that we just covered choose your parents marital status now we're going to provide your parent social security number last name first initial and date of birth as well as their email address if you are reporting to parents on the fafsa be sure to remember which one you listed as parent one and which one you listed as parent to if your parent doesn't have a social security number just list zeros for the social security number never use an individual taxpayer identification number or itin as a social security number on the fafsa while it can be intimidating to state on a federal form that you don't have a social security number please know that the department of education doesn't share this information with immigration entities next you'll just answer if your parents have lived in your state for at least five years now you're going to report who's in your household so your parent or parents and yourself are already counted based on the information you provided thus far on the fafsa you can also count your parents other children if they rely on your parents for more than half of their financial support or they can answer no to every dependency question we covered earlier you can also include other people living in the household who are not your parents children as long as those people now live with your parents currently receive more than half of their financial support from your parents and that arrangement will continue through the 22-23 academic year in this portion it shows your household size you'll also need to indicate who is attending college in your household do not include your parents but do include yourself and other members of the household now we're moving into the parent financial section of the fafsa the 2223 fafsa uses 2020 tax information the first question in this section is your parents tax return status you can choose already completed if they filed taxes in 2020 will file if they haven't yet filed 2020 taxes but they plan to or they are receiving a filing extension or you can choose not going to file if your parents did not and will not file taxes for 2020 even if your parents didn't file a tax return in 2020 you will still need to answer questions about your income and assets to the best of your knowledge if you choose already completed select the type of tax return your parents filed most people living in the u.s have filed a 1040 but if your parents filed a foreign tax return you can indicate that here then indicate their tax filing status most married couples will have filed a married joint tax return single parents may have filed a return as head of household you can find this at the very top of your parents 1040 tax return at the bottom you'll see an option to use the irs data retrieval tool if you can we encourage you to use this tool it imports tax information directly from the irs so you don't have to manually type information from your tax return into the fafsa it also makes your college much less likely to ask you for follow-up documentation after you've submitted your fafsa if your parent chooses to use the irs data retrieval tool they will have to type their fsa id username and password then the irs website will ask them to type their address exactly as it appears on their 1040 form and when we mean exactly we mean exactly for example if your address on your 1040 form says 100 w but you type in 100 wes the irs data retrieval tool may not function correctly unfortunately since i'm using the fafsa demonstration site i won't be able to show you how to use the irs data retrieval tool and if you can't use the irs data retrieval tool don't worry you can manually enter your tax information by clicking skip irs data retrieval tool and complete manually if you do successfully use the irs data retrieval tool any fields that import over will just say transferred from irs so we're going to show you how to manually enter your tax information first up is the adjusted gross income which is line 11 on your parents 1040 tax return next the fafsa will ask what your parent or parents made from working in 2020 this information is most easily found on the first line of a w-2 which is labeled wages tips and other compensation if your parent doesn't have a w-2 the formula on screen will instruct you on how to calculate income earned from working based on information from the 1040. this figure will produce the total income earned from working for both parents if your parents have a married joint tax return you'll have to do the math to see how to best split those earnings between each parent next enter the amount of your parents income tax for 2020 which is basically by taking line two of your parents schedule two and subtracting it from line 22 of your parent 1040. if your parents do not have a schedule 2 and many people do not then just list what's on line 22 of their 1040. if line 22 is blank type 0 here if your equation yields a negative number you also should type a zero here please read the next questions carefully most of these fields can be found on your 1040 tax return and the fafsa will tell you which lines to look for two of these questions cannot be found on tax documents and you'll need to report them to the best of your knowledge you can always click the question mark icon next to each field to get additional clarification about what to report and what to not report for these questions many even have picture examples that you can use to find where that information would be these three questions about child support paid and earnings from need-based college employment programs are not found on your tax return you will just need to answer these the best of your ability based on your parents knowledge of their own financial situation this series of five questions are not found on the 1040 tax return either please proceed with answering these to the best of your knowledge and ability i do want to call out the third question about payments to tax deferred pensions and retirement saving plans this question can only be found on a w-2 so if your parent has a w-2 please pay attention to the question and answer it according to the instructions on screen please note if you click on the question mark icon next to the last question about other untaxed income not reported such as workers compensation disability benefits etc the help text specifies don't include extended foster care benefits student aid earned income credit child tax credit welfare payments untaxed social security benefits supplemental security income workforce innovation and opportunity act educational benefits on-base military housing or military housing allowance combat pay benefits from flexible spending arrangements for example cafeteria plans foreign income exclusion or credit from a federal tax on special fuels the final set of questions under the parent financials is about assets the fafsa will ask if your assets exceed a certain dollar amount that dollar amount will be higher or lower depending on the information you provided so far on the fafsa if your household income is low enough the fafsa may allow you to skip questions about your assets we recommend skipping if it is allowing you to do so if you click yes you'll see that the assets split into three categories first you do need to report the balance as of today for your parents cash savings and checking accounts the second category is investments the house your parents live in the cars they drive and their retirement accounts should not be reported as investments on the fafsa stocks bonds and cryptocurrencies that your parents own outside of their retirement account do count as assets 529 college savings accounts that your parents own should also be reported under the assets section real estate beyond their primary home must also be reported specifically the value of that property minus the debt owed is what is needed to be reported so for example if your parent owns an investment property valued at like a hundred thousand dollars but they still owe 25 000 on that property then the value of the property is 75 000. third you must report the value of your parents business or investment farm if that farm or business have more than 100 full-time employees if the business or the farm have fewer employees than that then you won't report the value of that business or farm as an asset and that's it for the parent financials this next section is for the student financials i'm going to move through this portion fairly quickly just because these questions are identical to the ones that we just covered in the parent financial section if you have questions about how to answer these questions please review the previous parent financial segment of this video even if you didn't file a tax return in 2020 you will still need to answer questions about your income and assets to the best of your knowledge for students who are in their second year or later who have utilized federal work study you can list that information here this is one of the benefits of using federal work study because it does not go against you on your next fafsa we spoke earlier about how 529 educational savings accounts do need to be reported as assets on the fafsa under the middle category called investments if your parent owns the 529 account and you are just the beneficiary of that account it's considered a parent asset and should be reported on the parent financial section if you the student are the 529 account owner and not just the beneficiary then you should report it as a student asset and that's basically it for the student financials now we're in the last section of the fafsa where we sign and submit first it'll prompt to ask if you are a paid preparer this is usually for someone who is being paid to file a fafsa for someone else say no if you are the student or parent or an advisor that the student is not paying such as a high school guidance counselor in this portion it's going to give you a summary of all the information you have filled out so far please review it and make sure that nothing is incorrect finally you need to provide the student signature and the signature of one parent if this is the fafsa for a dependent student fsa id serves as your digital signature once you click on sign please read the information before selecting i agree to the terms outlined above next it's going to give you some options on how to sign your fafsa you can sign electronically with an fsa id you can print your signature page or submit without signatures if the parent is undocumented and they cannot make an fsa id because they don't have a social security number then you should click provide parent signature agree to the terms have them select print a signature page here's a sample of that signature page what you'll need to do is print it out have the parent sign it and then mail it to this address you'll have the option to print the signature page and then click finish be sure to hit submit on the fafsa after you have provided digital signatures or after you have printed the signature page submit my fafsa form now once you hit submit you will see a confirmation page and receive a confirmation email to the student email address filed with the fsa the confirmation page will provide your expected family contribution number or efc which acts as an index for determining your financial need and need-based aid eligibility you should see an estimated pell grant amount if you are eligible for a pell grant if it doesn't list it the fafsa estimates you won't be eligible you will also see a maximum student loan offer for the next academic year and that's it if you have any questions please leave them in the comments section call your financial aid office at your college or university or call federal student aid at 1-800-433-3243 thanks for watching

Channel: Utah College Awareness & Financial Aid

Views: 13,923

Rating: 4.909091 out of 5

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Id: vsI46YHy6lw

Length: 27min 54sec (1674 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 30 2021