Parents attend Financial Aid Night

The College/Career Center hosted an evening workshop intended to guide seniors through the application process for college financial aid on Wednesday, December 2. While the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) application is open only to seniors and college students, many parents of sophomores and juniors were also present.

The presentation consisted of three parts: an overview of the financial aid system, a walkthrough of each step of the FAFSA application, and an overview of the College Scholarship Service (CSS) Profile.

FAFSA offers financial aid, grants, scholarships or student loans to graduating seniors, while CSS Profile is an application required by many private schools.

Paul Wrubel, a former principal of Henry M. Gunn High School and the speaker at Financial Aid Night for over 20 years, said the application process is very important.

“We need to treat this as the largest voluntary bill you’ll ever have to pay,” Wrubel said.

There are two kinds of financial aid: merit-based and need-based. Merit-based aid constitutes only 6 percent of the approximate $140 billion reserved for financial aid and need-based aid constitutes 94 percent. Of these, aid takes on the forms of either loans, grants, work study or scholarships.

“This workshop was useful because it offered help to seniors who are applying to college,” senior Juan Arizmendi said. “I learned [much more] information about the FAFSA.”

The cost of attendance, a student’s Expected Family Need (EFN), the total amount of need-based aid and the forms of aid offered are all essential elements in a financial aid award.

The demonstrated need of a student is calculated by subtracting his or her Expected Financial Contribution (EFC) by the cost of attendance depending on the insititution of higher learning.

According to Wrubel, financial aid determines the student’s eligibility for need-based aid, opens a line of credit with the federal government, and serves as an insurance policy should a sudden crisis occur.

“The speech was somewhat helpful,” junior Rachel Wang said. “I knew some of the information already, while I also learned many new things.”

The federal application for financial aid can be submitted as early as January 2010 and as late as May 2011. For best results, Wrubel recommends applying as early as possible.

“The financial aid system is brought to you by the same people who brought you the tax system,” Wrubel said. “My goal [with my presentations] is to help people position themselves as well as possible under it.”