Get FAFSA filing help February 21

Cumberland County College will host free two-hour FAFSA Days workshops from 10 a.m. until noon on the following Saturdays: Feb. 20, March 12, April 16 and May 21, in the college’s Luciano Conference Center, Sherman Avenue and College Drive.

Students may also win one of ten $1000 scholarships.

“By doing the FAFSA, when you apply for financial aid, it’s also for the student to get a loan, no credit check, no co-signer”, said David Anderzon, an adviser in the Rock Valley College Financial Aid Office.

Federal financial aid and money for work-study programs is distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.

This week, to kick off Financial Aid Awareness Month, NASFAA is taking questions about filling out the FAFSA, the application that acts as a gateway to billions of dollars in federal student aid.

A state’s deadline can be found at https://fafsa.ed.gov/deadlines.htm.

Those who participate need to bring their 2015 W2s and/or federal tax returns.

Students should bring their financial documents to the FAFSA Application Lab to receive on-hands support in processing their FAFSA Application. By doing so, families will not necessarily delay the receipt of financial aid because the student’s application is already in the system. Statistics show students who complete and submit the forms are more likely to go on to college.

If they do this, Bland said, when they fill out the online form, they can select the “Link to IRS” option, and the form will import their tax information for them.

However, the list will still be visible to state agencies.

The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA) is a nonprofit membership organization that represents more than 20,000 financial aid professionals at almost 3,000 colleges, universities, and career schools across the country.