I would like to share a few examples of what I have experienced over the past few months during office appointments and FAFSA Completion Events. My point in sharing these examples is to stress the importance of a couple things. One is the importance of keeping the student involved in the process and the other is not doing EVERYTHING for the student.
I think it is important that both the student and the parent try to have an understanding of the process of preparing for college and applying for financial aid, not just the parent. Whether I have been helping families in my offices or at high school events, I have been noticing a few trends over the years. One trend is that a lot of students seem to be oblivious to the financial aid process. I have heard several comments similar to: “I don’t even know why I am here”, and “What is this FAFSA thing for?”
Before I began my career at ICAN, I worked in a financial aid office at a community college. I recall asking a student if they completed the FAFSA and the student said, “I don’t know, my mom does everything for me.” Please remember that the student will be the one on campus and working with the financial aid office. Even though a parent’s information must be provided on the FAFSA, it is a student application and the student is responsible for the payment of the bill at the college (regardless of who actually pays). Many times, it is a student that might be borrowing thousands of dollars in student loans which they will eventually have to pay back. I’m not saying the student has to do everything, I just think it is important that the student be involved and try to have an understanding of the process.
Another example is when I was assisting families at a high school and a senior and her parent were there. The mom was doing the typing on the computer while the student was staring at her phone. It came time to list the colleges the student was interested in attending. I looked at the student and asked what colleges she was interested in. The student just stared at me and said nothing. After a short time, her mom told me she was looking at two colleges and I told her how to list them. I then looked at the student and asked if she had visited any other colleges and did she want to list any more on the FAFSA. The mom just shook her head as if the student had no clue and then the mom told me her daughter was looking at various colleges to play sports. The student did not say a word and went back to her phone. She did not seem interested in what we were doing and did not seem to have any input in the process.
Many parents bring their student in to the FAFSA appointment that way the student can actually see how the process works and what information determines their eligibility for financial aid. It is also an opportunity to get scholarship information.
I think it is important that high school students begin to see what “adulting” is all about and that they learn to interact with people, ask questions, and try to understand what applications need to be completed and why. Remember, for a lot of high school seniors it won’t be very long until they leave the house to go to college and will have to do a lot of things on their own.
I already mentioned that we are busy at ICAN assisting families with applications but we have many other resources as well. We provide information to both students and parents about the complete financial aid process, as well as career and college planning, through various methods. We can do this in our offices in one-on-one advising appointments, through presentations at high schools, virtual presentations and webinars. We also have many resources on our website that families can interact with or download and print out. We answer many questions through our website chat, via telephone or email.
I urge both parents AND students to take advantage of our resources and knowledge. It can be a confusing and complicated process but ICAN is here to help!
Contact us at www.icansucceed.org or 877-272-4692.
John - ICAN Waterloo and Hiawatha Centers
