As students work their way through the financial aid application process, their parents worry about such issues as college affordability, whether they'll qualify for loans, and the privacy of Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) data.
Most families find the financial aid process mystifying and overwhelming and, unfortunately, many rely on inaccurate information from well-meaning friends or acquaintances. Parents need to know that this whole process is manageable and that it all begins with the FAFSA form.
Here you'll find information and tips you can pass on to parents to help them understand their role in their child's financial aid application.
How can parents make college more affordable?
How can parents find out whether they will qualify for federal student loans?
Why do parents have to be involved when it's the student who's applying for federal student aid?
What parent information is reported on the FAFSA® form?
Is parent information in the FAFSA® form kept private?
How can parents make college more affordable?
Many parents believe a college education is out of reach for their child. Reassure them that a great number of financial resources can help make the dream of a college degree a reality. The key is planning ahead and learning about the financial aid process. Here are some things parents can do to bring college costs within reach:
- Get free money to help pay. Enlist parents' help in encouraging students to look for scholarships early–ideally, in spring of 11th grade or the summer between 11th and 12th grades. The more scholarships a student gets (even if each one is small), the more affordable college is for the student.
- Compare colleges for the best deal. The College Scorecard is a way to find and compare colleges and career schools that may fit a student's needs. The College Scorecard allows students and parents to do a side-by-side comparison of schools based on factors such as average annual cost, graduation rate, earnings, and financial aid and debt.
- Save. State-sponsored college savings plans and prepaid tuition plans are available. Parents (and other family members) can start contributing to a college savings plan at any time, but such plans are more effective the earlier parents start saving.
- Get an early estimate. The Federal Student Aid Estimator provides an estimate of what federal student aid the student may be eligible to receive and helps the family understand their options to pay for college or career school.
Talking points:
- Students should apply for federal student aid even if they and their parents don't think they'll be eligible. Even if the assistance they receive is nothing more than a Direct Unsubsidized Loan, the interest rate on the Direct Unsubsidized Loan may be less than what they would pay on a private loan–a nonfederal loan made by a lender such as a bank, credit union, state agency, or a school.
- Families should consider how much they'll actually be paying out of pocket on a yearly basis. That's not necessarily the sticker price–it's the cost of attendance (tuition and fees, books, living expenses, transportation, and personal expenses) minus all the scholarships and grants that students may receive when enrolling in a college or career school. A student shouldn't rule out a college or career school until they know what the net price will be after financial aid is taken into account.
- When considering loans to help pay for college or career school, parents need to be as upfront with their children as possible. Everyone should be aware of what they can afford and how much they are willing to borrow and pay.
Saving Early = Saving Smart! Watch Your Money Grow With Your Child(Result Type: PDF)
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Fact sheet providing parents with tips on saving money for college or career school. [40 KB]
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Checklists for Academic and Financial Preparation(Result Type: General)
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Checklists helping students (elementary, middle, and high school), as well as adults and parents prepare financially and academically for college.
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How can parents find out whether they will qualify for federal student loans?
Whether a student is starting at a community college to later transfer to a four-year school, or they are trying to decide between a public or private college, the cost of school can be daunting, but most families do qualify for some form of aid.
- To supplement the aid the student receives, parents can apply for a Direct PLUS Loan, which is made to the parent to help cover costs for the parent's dependent child. A parent can estimate how much in Direct PLUS Loan funds they will receive based on the cost of attendance at the school their child will attend minus financial aid their child receives. The financial aid administrator at the child's chosen college or career school will be able to provide additional information about PLUS loans.
- A parent's credit history will be checked when they apply for a Direct PLUS Loan. If you find that a parent is concerned that they may not qualify, you can let them know that a parent with an adverse credit history may still qualify for a Direct PLUS Loan if they can obtain an endorser or document extenuating circumstances.
- If a parent is unable to obtain a Direct PLUS Loan, the student may be able to get additional Direct Unsubsidized Loan funds. Tell the student to contact the college's or career school's financial aid office to ask about this option.
Why do parents have to be involved when it's the student who's applying for federal student aid?
The FAFSA form was designed to provide a picture of the family's financial strength (as defined by the law). If a dependent student is applying for federal student aid to help pay for college, the parent's financial information is required on the FAFSA form. Providing information does not commit the parent to financially contributing to the student's education; it is simply required for the assessment of the family's situation.
We recommend you send students and parents to StudentAid.gov/dependency for answers to their questions about dependency status and what to do if the student has no access to the parent's information.
What parent information is reported on the FAFSA® form ?
Parents must include tax, income, and some asset information on the FAFSA form. Assets not included in the financial aid calculation include personal property such as the family home, annuities and retirement accounts, cash value of life insurance, and college savings plans owned by people other than the student or parents.
For the 2024–25 FAFSA form, parents must log in using an FSA ID and provide consent for the U.S. Department of Education (ED) to obtain their federal tax information automatically from the IRS and apply it to their section of the student's FAFSA form. If they don't provide consent, the student will not be able to receive federal student aid.
For the 2023–24 FAFSA form, parents may use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool (DRT) to transfer IRS tax information directly into the FAFSA form.
Consent and use of federal tax information is different from the IRS DRT. Consent and use of federal tax information will transfer data directly from the IRS to ED, while the IRS DRT allows students and parents to import their tax return data from the IRS into the FAFSA form. The IRS DRT will no longer exist after the 2023–24 FAFSA year. For more information about federal tax information, view the Protecting Federal Tax Information at Your Institution Live webinar. Note: This webinar is for financial aid administrators, but some information may be useful to high school counselors and college access professionals. In order to access this webinar, you'll need to create a Federal Student Aid Training Center account.
Talking points:
- The student's income and assets are weighed more heavily than those of the parents in the assessment of the student's eligibility for federal student aid.
- The parents' home equity is not considered in the FAFSA form. Parents shouldn't allow lenders to persuade them to draw equity out of their home (usually to purchase expensive investments or insurance) to “qualify” for more aid.
Is parent information in the FAFSA® form kept private?
The information reported by students and parents on fafsa.gov is encrypted and viewable only by the schools the student lists on the FAFSA form and state higher education agencies. ED may also send FAFSA information to other federal agencies through computer matching programs to verify the student's eligibility for federal student aid, perform debt collection under the federal loan programs, and minimize and prevent waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal student aid programs.