If you need help to fill out your FAFSA for financial aid to help pay for college, College Goal Sunday is coming to Long Island. The volunteer event is staffed with financial aid professionals ready to help you complete and submit electronically your 2012-13 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
Under FAFSA, colleges award eligible students grants, student loans and a job through the Federal Work-Study program. FAFSA must be filed first before students submit an application for TAP, the NYS financial aid Tuition Assistance Program. Colleges can use other forms or just use FAFSA to determine awards from their own institutional funds.
College Goal Sunday is a national event held in 40 states and the District of Columbia. It started in Indiana to help students and families complete financial aid forms, focusing on low-income, first-generation families.
New York’s program is a service project of NYSFAAA (New York State Financial Aid Administrators Association) and NYS HESC (New York State Higher Education Services Corp.).
Long Island is hosting three locations and Long Islanders may pre-register for their preferred spot:
Hempstead, Sunday, February 12, 10 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
Hempstead High School click here to preregister
201 President Street
Hempstead, NY 11550
Wyandanch, Thursday, February 16, 6 p.m.- 7 p.m.
1445 Dr. Martin Luther King Blvd click here to preregister
Wyandanch, NY 11798
Suffolk County, Sunday, March 11, 10 a.m.- 1 p.m.
Brentwood High School click here to preregister
2 6th Ave.
Brentwood, NY
Applicants will need to bring some important information to complete their FAFSA:
- Social Security Number for yourself, and parents if providing parent info
- Driver’s license if you have one
- Alien Registration Number if you are not a U.S. citizen
- 2011 federal tax returns or info including W-2 forms for yourself (and spouse if married), and parents if providing parent info
- Records of untaxed income including Social Security benefits, welfare benefits (such as TANF), veteran benefits) for yourself, and parents if providing parent info
- Financial information on mortgages, bank accounts (savings, checking accounts), investments (stocks, bonds), and business and farm assets for yourself, and parents if providing parent info
- FAFSA PIN to use as an electronic signature for yourself, and parents if providing parent info. Apply for one in advance at the U.S. Department of Education PIN Web site.
You can estimate how much financial aid you may receive and your expected family contribution (EFC) to college costs at FAFSA4caster.
To preview the types of questions you will be asked, go to the FAFSA on the WebWorksheet or look at the paper FAFSA
Gather your documents necessary to complete the FAFSA and mark your calendar to attend College Goal Sunday on Long Island.
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