FAFSA UPDATES AND APPEALS PROCESS - Ruben Reyes New Mexico Education Assistance Foundation Debra Chandler Albuquerque Public Schools - New Mexico ...
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FAFSA UPDATES AND APPEALS PROCESS
Ruben Reyes
New Mexico Education Assistance Foundation
Debra Chandler
Albuquerque Public Schools
Welcome
FAFSA 2021-2022 Updates
Updates 2021-2022
Need Analysis Income Threshold Increase:
• The income threshold for an automatic zero Expected
Family Contribution (EFC) increased from $26,000 to
$27,000 for the 2021-22 award year.
Updates 2021-2022
Updates 2021-2022
Pell Grant
The maximum Pell Grant award is
$6,345.
Revisit 2019
IRS 2018 Tax form changes. In January 2019, the IRS made changes to the
2018 tax forms. Since the 2020-21 FAFSA form requires income
information from the 2018 tax year, adjustments were made to the FAFSA
to accommodate the new law.
• Eliminated 1040A/1040EZ response option for the type of tax return questions
• “Were you eligible to file a 1040A or 1040EZ?” was removed and replaced with “Did
(or will) you file a Schedule 1 with your 2018 tax return?” for both the student and
parent
Schedule 1 is used to report additional
income or adjustments to income that
cannot be entered directly on Form 1040.
Updates 2021-2022
Schedule 1 Question:
If the applicant is using the IRS Data Retrieval Tool (DRT), it will now
automatically answer the question about whether or not they filed a
Schedule 1. The answer will be based on all current exceptions for filing a
Schedule 1. The transferred data for the Schedule 1 fields will be handled
the same (encrypted) as other data transferred using the DRT.
Updates 2021-2022
Schedule 1 Question:
For those who do not use the DRT, the help topics connected to the “Student
Filed Schedule 1?” and “Parent Filed Schedule 1?” questions have been
updated to include all current exceptions for filing a Schedule 1. “Capital Gains”
has been removed as an exception, and “Virtual Currency” has been added.
These help text updates are in effect for the 2021-22 cycle, but “Capital Gains” is
still considered an exception for the 2020-21 cycle.
MyStudentAid
New functionalities:
o Dashboard – Access various types of popular tasks and a
personalized page to help you determine what actions to take.
o Settings – Edit/manage your account, using your username and
password (FSA ID).
o Aid Summary – View your federal student loan and grant history.
o Notification Center – View and manage notifications regarding your
student aid; household member and enrolled in college calculation
assistance.
The paper FAFSA PDF will become available in October, and the color
rotation for the paper form is green for 2021-22. FAFSA worksheets in
English and Spanish will also be available.
MyStudentAid
NMEAF Update NMEAF has executed an MOU (memorandum of understanding) that allows us access to student FAFSA data. In order for school counselors to get student-specific data, another MOU has to be signed by the district’s superintendent. This allows NMEAF to match the student data from the FAFSA database to the school. If you need a copy of the MOU to forward to your superintendent, send us an email at marketingdepartment@nmeaf.org and we will send it to you.
NMEAF Update School districts that have already executed the MOU: Albuquerque Public Schools Santa Fe Independent School District Moriarty Cloudcroft Carrizozo Clayton
NMEAF Updates How’s it going? Since APS was the first to sign, they are being worked on first. We have already uploaded APS’s data and are waiting on October 1 for the new FAFSA-year data from Federal Student Aid that we will get through HED. It is a first-come, first- served process. At this time, we are looking to update school databases (for transferring students, etc.) once a month. This will help ensure that the reports we send to the counselors every 2 weeks will be more accurate. However, if your IT department doesn’t send the data for us to update, there is nothing we can do.
Report Examples
NMEAF Updates What are we trying to do? We are trying to save you effort and increase FAFSA completions at the same time. With this data, we are going to launch outreach campaigns to students and their parents. When we see a SS# error, we will notify the student or parent (whichever it is) and provide them information. For example, if a student’s error code is that their parent’s SSN doesn’t match, we might send a message saying “Have a parent without a Social Security Number? Enter zeros into the FAFSA, so you can proceed.” If we see an error code that indicates a signature was omitted. We can text them a reminder to sign the FAFSA. These campaigns will evolve as we learn more, but if you have suggestions, please email them to marketingdepartment@nmeaf.org .
NMEAF Updates Fund Your Future: Money Mondays/ Lunes De Lana Held every First Monday of the month starting October 5 at 3PM we will have FAFSA workshops in which FA counselors from our state’s colleges and universities will be available to assist alongside our other CCNM volunteers. NMEAF will be hosting additional Monday FAFSA events. The link will be sent out via our newsletter. If you are not on our mailing list, please email us at marketingdepartment@nmeaf.org and get your name added. Any volunteers are welcome, please contact NMEAF.
NMEAF Updates FAFSA Scholarship Changes: We will have our $500 scholarships and prizes awarded to those who have completed the FAFSA. However, this year we are awarding the scholarships once a month. So this means that the sooner the student completes the FAFSA, the more chances they have to win. The student can only win once a year (FAFSA year). First scholarship will be awarded first Monday of every month. First one will be –Nov 2. Last one will be awarded in July. November and July will be one, $500 scholarship. December though Jun will be two, $500 scholarships.
$500 FAFSA Scholarship
Random Drawing for NM High School Seniors who attend a FAFSA
work shop (In-person or Virtual) and complete their 2021-22 FAFSA.
Scholarship registration opens Oct 1st, 2020
https://www.nmeaf.org/FAFSA-Scholarship
THANKS TO OUR PARTNERSNMEAF Update Tik Tok Challenge: This is a competition where the student posts a Tik Tok video relating to FAFSA. The person that Siarza thinks is the best each month will win $100 in gift cards and will have the bragging rights of being the IN-Fluencer of the Month.
Thank you
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