Financial aid can be scary to navigate, especially as a first-year, first-generation college student. My first experience with financial aid was filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) as a senior in high school. Fortunately, there were advisors at school that gave me relevant information on the general process. But once I was filling it out, it was very daunting. I was afraid of accidentally answering something wrong and it was hard looking for the right information on my parents’ tax forms. I honestly didn’t know what any numbers meant and I was a bit embarrassed to admit I needed help at the time. This is because everyone else seemed to know what they were doing and I didn’t want to be the odd one out. However, the whole financial aid process became too overwhelming and so I ended up asking for help. I highly recommend asking for help at any part of the process, no matter how small the question.
After completing this step, I was asked by the university to fill out a Dependent Verification Worksheet which asked me to submit a signed copy of the IRS Federal Tax Return of both my parents. For anyone who- like me when I was asked to do this- does not know what that is, it is a transcript of the tax information on file. I had to go online to the IRS website and request the transcripts by mail. After about a week or two, both arrived and I was ready to fill out the rest of the Dependent Verification Worksheet. On the worksheet, I filled out information about the number of people in my household and who is in college. When I did this the first year, I had also had a job but was not required to file taxes which meant I had to attach my signed W-2 forms. Unfortunately for me, I wasn’t aware beforehand so I ended up completing the Dependent Verification Worksheet wrong the first time around. This delayed my financial aid package a bit which was slightly anxiety-inducing.
I hope some of this information makes sense and if not, I strongly urge you to ask for help at any point in the process if you’re confused. It’s good to double check things too, just in case. Lastly, this is what happened in my personal experience, but everyone’s financial situation is very different so there may be other steps or forms you need to complete. Best of luck! And don’t ever be afraid to ask for help!