1 / 10

Financial Aid Pitfalls

Financial Aid Pitfalls. Mike McGraw, Director of Financial Aid at Tompkins Cortland Community College and Pat Johnson, Associate Director of Financial Aid & Scholarship Programs at Syracuse University. BEWARE!. Financial Consultants Scholarship Scams FAFSA.com. Financial Consultants.

ashanti
Télécharger la présentation

Financial Aid Pitfalls

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Financial Aid Pitfalls Mike McGraw, Director of Financial Aid at Tompkins Cortland Community College and Pat Johnson, Associate Director of Financial Aid & Scholarship Programs at Syracuse University

  2. BEWARE! • Financial Consultants • Scholarship Scams • FAFSA.com

  3. Financial Consultants • Provide a variety of services • Assistance with filing financial aid forms • Assist with appeals to college financial aid offices for additional funds • Scholarship Searches

  4. Charge a fee for services • Reasonable - $50 - $100 • Unreasonable - $300 – thousands • Rationale • Financial aid forms are too complicated • Schools are not forthcoming on how families can maximize their aid eligibility • ‘Guarantee’ results

  5. How do they find you? • Mass mailings to high school students • Surveys which are then sold to a variety of companies • Surveys on the internet • Advertisements in newspapers for free seminars in local hotels • Marketing to school administrators • School Superintendents • Board of Education • Promote conducting financial aid seminars with or without financial aid professionals

  6. What are the pitfalls? • Using a consultant will cost you money • Consultants may encourage or instruct you to provide incorrect information on the premise that many schools do not verify information reported • Underreporting income • Excluding assets • Over reporting number in college

  7. Paid preparers are required to sign FAFSA. If preparer refuses to sign this may indicate he or she is encouraging you to commit fraud • Parent and student are required to sign FAFSA and by doing so certify the information provided is correct. If you purposely give false or misleading information you may be fined $20,000, sent to prison, or both. • Beware of strategies promoted that seem unethical • Many schools flag FAFSAs received signed by a paid preparer for extra scrutiny

  8. Companies advertising scholarship searching services will cost you money • Often have money back guarantee which is worded in such a way that it’s almost impossible to get a refund • Provide same information, or less, than internet search sites such as FASTWEB.com • FAFSA.com will cost you money • Very professional site • Offers toll free telephone number • Still have to print and sign signature page or go to FAFSA.ed.gov to file online with your PIN

  9. What to do? • Before using a consultant or company contact a financial aid office. • May be able to give historical information on the particular organization • May be able to provide answers to questions immediately and for free • Check the address of the organization. • Are they using a PO Box? Will they give you a street address if asked? • Ask them about their qualifications • An inexperienced consultant may make costly mistakes

  10. Suspect a Scam? • Save all forms you receive from the suspect company • Take notes during any seminar or phone conversations • Report the suspected scammer to any of the following organizations: • Federal Trade Commission (FTC) • National Fraud Information Center (NFIC) • Better Business Bureau (BBB) • United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS)

More Related