High school seniors planning to attend Southeast Missouri State University in fall 2019 should make plans to complete the 2019-2020 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) before the quickly approaching January deadline.
University officials say completing this free application by the Jan. 15, 2019, deadline is a step toward a high quality and affordable experience at Southeast and gives students and their families resources and assistance to help fund their college education.
Students are encouraged to complete the FAFSA as soon as possible to take advantage of any early state and school financial aid deadlines.
While it may seem a daunting task, the FAFSA can be completed in less than 30 minutes and is an important source for financial aid, said Matthew Kearney, director of Southeasts Student Financial Services (SFS).
If you take the time to gather the necessary documents ahead of time, it can be a breeze to get this done, Kearney said. At Southeast, we give every student personal support. For any families that have questions or need guidance with any part of the process, Southeasts Student Financial Services is here to help.We have computers in our office (Academic Hall Room 019) where students and parents can sit down and fill it out with our financial aid professionals.
Students and families are also welcome to contact Student Financial Services by phone at (573) 651-2253 or by email at sfs@semo.edu.
Southeast is living proof that high quality doesnt have to mean high cost. Our tuition rates are lower than the national average, and combined with our abundant real-world learning opportunities, SEMOs a smart investment in any students future. So, I encourage all high school seniors to mark the FAFSA deadline on their calendar and begin planning now for their future at Southeast.
Students planning to submit the FAFSA online should create an FSA ID atStudentAid.gov/fsaid, then complete their online FAFSA application at https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/fafsa. If a student is considered dependent for FAFSA purposes, one of the students parents also needs to create an FSA ID in order to sign the FAFSA online. Each person must create his or her own FSA ID to avoid issues and delays with the financial aid process.
The FAFSA application requires personal and financial information. Depending on each students circumstances, the following information or documents may also be needed:
- Social Security number
- Parents Social Security numbers if the student isdependent
- Drivers license number if the student has one
- Alien registration number if the student is not a U.S. citizen
- Federal tax informationor tax returns including IRS W-2 information, for the student, their spouse if they are married, and their parents if they are a dependent student:
- IRS 1040, 1040A, 1040EZ
- Foreign tax return
- Tax return for Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, or Palau
- Records of untaxed income, such as child support received, interest income, and veterans noneducation benefits, for students and parents if they are a dependent student
- Information on cash; savings and checking account balances; investments, including stocks and bonds and real estate (but not including the home in which they live); and business and farm assets for students and their parents if they are a dependent student
Once the FAFSA is processed, Southeast will use the FAFSA information to calculate the amounts and types of financial aid the student may qualify for, and Southeast will send the student a financial aid offer. Financial aid offers come from Southeast, not the U.S. Department of Education, and Southeast will begin awarding financial aid to incoming students starting in mid-December 2018 and returning students in early June 2019.
For more information about the FAFSA, visit StudentAid.gov, the Federal Student Aids primary online portal for students and parents which hasinformation about completing the FAFSA, as well asfrequently asked questions about the IRS Data Retrieval Tool (DRT) returning for the 2019-2020 FAFSA.