Hello, and welcome to this financial aid overview provided by Lackawanna College!
Financial aid is an important part of a student’s ability to pay for their higher education. We hope that this guide will answer many of the questions you might have about the sometimes confusing process of applying for and receiving financial aid.
The financial aid process begins when a student files a FAFSA or the Free Application for Federal Student Aid for the appropriate year. For example, if you are expecting to enroll in college in the fall 2021 semester, you will be completing the 2021/2022 FAFSA.
Students can select their colleges of choice on the FAFSA form. So, it’s important that you know your school’s FAFSA code. For example, if you’re coming to Lackawanna College you should know that our FAFSA code is 003283.
The FAFSA normally takes between three and five business days to process before a college or university’s financial aid department receives it. Upon completion of the FAFSA, a student will receive a student aid report that indicates your basic financial aid eligibility. All college students will receive that notice by email and this will come from the Department of Education. If your FAFSA is incomplete or requires verification the colleges and universities you’ve applied to may reach out to you to assist in completing verification information.
Sometimes the FAFSA is selected for verification by the Department of Education. This is to make sure that all the information that was input on the FAFSA is correct. Don’t worry! It doesn’t mean that you did anything wrong! Many students are selected for verification each year and it’s a simple process to complete.
You will need several important pieces of information in order to complete your FAFSA. First, you’re going to need the Federal Income Tax returns for both, you, and your parents or guardians, from two years prior to the year that you are applying for school. That’s a little confusing, isn’t it? Well, here’s an example. If you are filling out the 2021/2022 FAFSA, you will need Federal Income Tax returns from 2019. We hope that makes a little more sense. If you have filed your taxes electronically, the FAFSA will provide an option to link both forms for the appropriate years. This is called the IRS data retrieval tool and it can save you a significant amount of time in filling out your FAFSA.
To complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, you will need your Social Security Number and your Alien Registration Number if you are not a United States citizen. You also require your Federal Income Tax returns, W-2s, and other records of money earned. You may be able to transfer this information from your tax return using the IRS data retrieval tool that we just mentioned.
You will also need records of your bank statements and investments, records of untaxed income, and an FSA ID to sign your FAFSA electronically, which can be created at the end of the FAFSA application.
If you are a dependent student you will need most of the above information for your parents as well. For more information on whether you are defined as a dependent or independent student, please visit studentaid.gov and look for their information on dependency.
There are several important dates for you to keep in mind when it comes to your financial aid. The new annual FAFSA form opens on October 1st of each year for application or renewal. Remember that you need to file a FAFSA for each year that you are attending a college or university. March 31st is an important date for Lackawanna College students because that’s the returning student scholarship application deadline. If you are attending any college or university in the state of Pennsylvania you’re going to want to file your FAFSA by May 1st in order to be eligible for any state grants that apply to your financial aid.
Once a student is accepted at a college or university their FAFSA is able to be processed and awarded within that school’s financial aid department. That means the colleges you’ve applied to will tell you how much money you might receive in order to pay to attend their institution.
The Lackawanna College financial aid office is available to students who have additional questions please reach out to us at 570-961-7859 and we will connect you with a financial aid counselor.