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Curie IB FAFSA English Video

Added Sep 18, 2025 •

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hi everybody oh thanks for joining us um we're going to get started um just to make sure we're staying on time with the presentation that way if you have questions um you're able to ask them um like I said in my email I'm Miss Travis I'm the diploma coordinator some of you might remember me from mypy I was the myp coordinator um but now I've transitioned um to be the diploma coordinator um the purple sheet that you all got coming in has all of the important due dates of senior year for all of the assessments that your students are going to be submitting and so it's on a bright purple a piece of paper so that when you have it at home you can have it in the fridge you can have it somewhere easily accessible to you so you can see what your students are going to be working on the whole year um so without further Ado I invite did um Jessica from Isaac to come and present to you guys about FASA she's the FASA expert and so she'll be able to cover all of the your questions in detail um and then I'll be working with your students on all of the FASA College stuff thank you hello everyone I'm Jessica I think I like the feel on the floor a little bit better so I might be down here instead of up there um but good evening everyone my name is Jessica Corona I am an Isaac representative working within the downtown area area at north side of Chicago schools um thank you for joining me today as I kind of explained to you all what the financial aid process is and what that means for you guys as you're going into that process okay so just to introduce you a little bit to Isaac and the organ organization that I work for specifically I'm under a group called The Eyes of core we're a recent we're a group of recent college graduates that support students like yourselves with the caller going process so things like college applications financial aid applications all that good stuff um we were in that process pretty recently so we can we have like a fresh set of eyes for you guys here um and we specifically work with what's called Isaac the Illinois Student Assistance commission overall Isaac is the State financial aid agency so they have a lot of different hands um grounds what else prepaid tuition repayment plans um student forgiveness plans all that good stuff anything related to financial aid on the state level Isaac is responsible for that all in all Isaac's mission is to make Financial Aid literacy a lot more accessible for the students as they're transitioning into whatever they want After High School right so when we talk about post-secondary education what exactly is that a lot of people tend to think of a 4 year university which is post-secondary education but there's a lot of other routes that can become entailed within that all in all an institution of higher education is going to Grant you some kind of degree or certificate post-graduation so that's what a post-secondary education would be for you guys so there is something like vocational and trade school which has a duration of around 2 years that can lead to a career such as a mechanic there's also the associates degree which 1 would achieve within their Community College with also a duration of around 2 years that can need to a career such as a dental hygienist and then the most commonly known as the bachelor's degree which would be at a 4 year university that can lead to careers such as a teacher software engineer that kind of stuff and then beyond that of course is the master degree if this if the student decides to degree decides to pursue their education even further beyond that so we may be aware that none of that is free so what is out there to help students kind of alleviate the cost of that there's financial aid so what is financial aid its basic basically money that is meant to alleviate the cost of an education After High School so it can come from various different sources and it can be given to the student Borrowed by the student or earned by the student um all in all it's attending to help cover the Gap to what a student can afford for college and then what that remaining out-of-pocket cost might be right okay so how do we know what that cost of attendance for a school might be the price varies school to school but they all have what's called cost of attendance or the sticker price um typically it's a budget to demonstrate what the cost of attending that school for 1 Academic Year would be and is composed of 2 different categories the direct expenses and the indirect expenses direct expenses would be the money that the student is is going to be paying directly towards the institution whereas indirect expenses is the money that the students still needs for the education but they're not paying it directly towards that institution so for example tuition and fees that's money that's going to be going directly to the school that the student will be attending to whereas living expenses it can vary right so the student if they decide to live on campus they'll be paying for campus housing campus meal plans so that money will be going directly towards the institution whereas if they decide to live at home with the parents or find an apartment nearby and pay rents separately that stole money they're going to need to be able to survive and like continue going to school but they're not giving it directly to that institution um so in that case it would be an indirect expense and then things like books materials transportation miscellaneous expenses that would all so I'll be in direct expenses because the student again still needs that money for their education but they're not necessarily giving it to the institution themselves so the more firm price here would be the tuition and fees because that's money that's pretty much always going to be going to the institution usually it's a constant rate per year but things like the books materials transportation that really depends on the students budgeting and how well they manage their money so it can be a high cost or a low cost depending on the student but all in all tuition and fees living expenses materials transportation Etc adds up to what's called the cost of attendance so what kind of financial aid is out there for the students we have 2 different categories for them so there is the gift aid which would kind of be the free money and then there's the self-help which is the money that the student is borrowing or earning starting with the free money that usually comes in the form of Grants or scholarships grants are usually need-based so students are awarded that depending on their financial need and then scholarships can be awarded for other reasons grades GPA if they participate in a sport they might be awarded it right um on the other hand self-help Aid that's the money that the student has to take some extra steps in order to obtain so that comes in the form of loans where the student is taking out a loan under their name and then in the future they have to repay it and then similarly federal or not similarly federal work study is also an option where the student is working on campus receiving a paycheck and they use that for I don't know tuition books Etc so where is this money coming from there's various different different sources but the main 1 here is the Department of Education on a federal level on a state level money also comes from us at Isaac and then the institution themselves can also administer aid for the students and then beyond that private sources like private scholarships and private loans on that same topic of scholarships just a few tips for you guys as you guys are kind of starting that process if you don't know where to start just think about large corporations or things that you use on a daily basis because oftentimes those corporations offer scholarships so if we think about McDonald's for example they offer a scholarship so really encourage students to apply to those big corporations because a lot of them do offer scholarships but they do have a larger applicant pool so it might be a little bit harder to get those scholarships so we also recommend students to look on smaller scale local businesses local churches Etc offered for the students within that neighborhood not all not all um markets or churches offer that kind of stuff but it's always good to ask the the worst they'll say is no we don't offer anything thing that's okay you can just keep on moving um but with those kind of smaller scale organizations there's a smaller applicant pool so it's a little bit more likely that you get that money and then beyond that don't pay anyone or anything for scholarship money you shouldn't have to pay to get money like it doesn't really make sense so try to avoid that at all costs okay so now I'll start uh to dive a little bit deeper into the exact types of Aid that is out there for you guys on a federal level in terms of the free money there is the pel grant which is the need based Grant so depending on the student's economic situation a student can be awarded up to 7395 that's if they qualify for the maximum amount so if the student demonstrates a little bit less Financial need that number can be a little bit smaller um beyond that there's also the fseog grant this is campus space so not all schools will be offering this grant but if they do again it will be need-based so again depending on the students financial situation the amount they receive can vary so I can go anywhere from 100 to 4,000 in terms of the self-help Aid there is the federal work study whereas mentioned prior the student gets a campus job Works a campus job and receives a check it's like any other job but it's a lot more flexible in terms of hours and the kind work that you'll be doing um this is not at all campuses but pretty much most of them it's available you'll be notified if you qualify for this type of work and if you do it is your responsibility to kind of go out on campus and look for that job yourself um but once you have that job you work like a normal job you get a paycheck and you use that for I don't know tuition textbooks food Etc um beyond that there's also loans so in terms of student loans there's 2 main ones there's the subsidized loan and the unsubsidized loan starting with the subsidized loan this is a need-based loan so again the amount that a student is offered depends on their financial situation but if a student is offered this loan they'll be repaying that in the future so it's all under their name the parent will not be paying this back but what makes the subsidized loan really appealing here is that while the student is in school any interest that is um building up over time the student will not be paying once they graduate um the US government is covering that cost for them so for example if the student decides to take out and a subsidized loan once they graduate and have to start repaying that loan back they'll still be only be they'll still only be responsible for those 1000 on the other hand unsubsidized loan very similar still under the students name the students going to have to pay that in the future but they will also still be responsible for whatever interest is building up so using those same $1,000 if the student takes out $1,000 and and up unsubsidized loan once they graduate they'll be responsible for those 1000 and on top of that whatever interest was building up over that time and then there's also loans for parents but usually we don't encourage that because it's just a lot cost cost year for the parents so if the student wants to take out loans those are 2 Federal loans that are available to them okay so unfortunately often time um the amount of free money that is being offered to a student is not enough to cover the whole cost of attendance for a school so in that case you want to start asking yourself okay do I really need this loan what does that mean for me in the future that kind of stuff so 4 main things you want to be aware of as you considering loans is firstly where is the loan coming from is it a Federal Loan is it a private loan each of the 2 have their own separate terms and conditions so it's good to be familiar with what that means for you you also want to be aware of the interest rate is it going to be a variable rate fixed rate whether it's 1 of the 2 it's going to change change your loan um repayment plans in the future and then you want to be aware of any repayment plans that are being offered with that loan or if you have a grace period so what that means is basically after you graduate University how much time do you have to start building or paying that loan back right and then you want to know what kind of plans are out there for you to be able to slowly repay that loan um as time goes and then lastly you want to know if you're taking out a Federal Loan is it subsidized or unsubsidized where again the subsidized loan is a little bit more appealing because while you're in school the US government is covering interest for you okay other loan considerations is that you are not obligated to take out loans um they might offer you I don't know thousand dollars in loans but you might only need $100 you are free to say I only need $500 I don't want the full 2,000 um taking out loans is up to you you're not obligated to take them and if they are offering you loans and you only need a little bit you don't have to take the full amount beyond that loans from the Department of Education do have its um separate perks so they have a fixed interest rate they have the 2 different options of loans the subsidized and unsubsidized were again subsidized is a little bit more appealing for all they have a grace period they have deferment periods um forbearance options and then repayment plan options where on the other hand private loans may be really strict they might have higher interest rates so it's always good if you are considering loans to First Look at Federal loans before you move on to private loans okay let me take a sip of water really quick um before I dive into Illinois Aid did anyone have questions about federal aid before I move on okay so in terms of Illinois Aid what we administer at Isaac the largest 1 here is the map Grant which is very similar to the pel grant where it is based on the students financial situation so if a student qualifies for the maximum amount they can receive up to 80064 for their tuition and fees where again that number can vary depending on the economic situation of the student and their family and then the other grants are for a more specific population of students um basically veteran students students of the National Guard and students of deceased police officers correctional officers Etc not everyone qualifies for those but if you have specific questions about them feel free to find me afterwards the big 1 here though is the map Grant where again if a student qualifies for the maximum amount that's around $1,000 right there okay so that was a lot of different grants a lot of money I want you guys to remember these 2 the map Grant and the pel grant so in the case scenario that the student qualifies for the maximum amount of money um for the map Grant that's around $8,000 for the pel grant that's around $7,000 if the student receives both that's a combined total of almost $16,000 who has 16,000 right now not me so this in itself is a large support for the students because they're not going to get that money easily aside from financial aid here so that's why we really encourage students to do things like the FAFSA or the alternative application so that we can get something for their education past High School so I'll start to dive a little bit deeper into how exactly to request that financial aid and the different steps that you have to follow to receive that okay the first 1 being to complete an application and there's 2 main ones there's the FAFSA and then the alternative application most students can just do the FAFSA um that 1 um the student is applying for both federal aid and States Aid um this year it will be opening up October 1st so that's an important deadline or dates to have in mind as you're preparing to go into this process and then we also have the alternative application this is for qualifying undocumented students what makes this different from the prior application is that through the alternative application they're applying for States Aid so if the student is a citizen they can pretty much simply apply for the FAFSA and not have to worry about the alternative application you'll do 1 application not both and then some schools sometimes have their own separate forms of natural aid um application so not all schools but if you're interested in multiple different schools just be aware of any additional forms they might require because some of them might require extra financial aid information from you okay so what exactly are you going to need for these applications for both FAFSA and alternative application you're going to need your tax returns W2s it's going to ask about records of income pretty much right so you want to have that on hand in case you need it you also its also going to be asking you about banking statements and any records of Investments it's going to ask for untaxed income um and then for the students you're going to want to have your list of schools ready so that you can just plug them in and submit when you're done for the FAFSA only it is going to require a social security number from the student but not the parent so if the student has a social but the parent doesn't totally fine you'll still do the FAFSA like normal 1 thing to note is that none of the applications will be asking about parents immigration status so that's nothing to be concerned of um but for the FAFSA it will ask for the student social security number um since most students will be doing the FAFSA something that they'll need to have before they actually start that process is there a student aid.gov account pretty much it's just an account that the student will be creating to be able to access the FAFSA form so FAFSA doesn't open until October 1st but you can make your account today tomorrow you can make it but anytime you want we just recommend that you have it ready by October 1st so that you can immediately start the application as soon as the application opens um 1 thing to note is that you'll need mostly most families just need 2 accounts 1 for the student and then 1 for 1 parent um you might need 1 for each parent but it's a good way to start with just 1 parent and then we go from there to figure out if you need an account for the other parent but all in all you're going to need 2 accounts 1 for the student and then 1 for 1 of the parents so when it comes to parent information and reporting that for FAFSA unfortunately all students will need to report that until the age of 24 um even if they live away from home or like they have their own job do their own taxes Etc up until the age of 24 they'll be required to report parent information so what exactly is a parent I know a lot of students I might consider their siblings to be a parent or maybe their siblings report the a student on their taxes and they're like okay can I report my sister instead of my mom for financial aid purposes only we will only report information from biological parents adoptive parents and then that parent if they're remarried so although we might consider legal Guardians to be our official parents or our sister aunts grandparents Etc FAFSA only wants information from the biological parents adoptive parents and or the step parents if they are remarried okay so the big question which parent is going to have to report information Mom Dad both who's going to have to do it ultimately it comes down to marital status so some question that the FAFSA is going to be asking you is are the parents married to each other if they are married to each other we're going to we're going to report information from both parents if they're not married to each other it's going to ask if they live together if they aren't married but they live together again report information from both parents if they're not married they don't live together we'll move on to the second question or the third question sorry is there 1 parent that provided more financial support within the last 12 months if there is a parent that has provided more financial support we're going to use information of that parent if it seems to be a pretty well-balanced kind of support from both parents then we'll report their information of the parent that makes the most you don't have to memorize this when you're doing the FAFSA it's going to explicitly ask these questions for you okay so once you share all of this information the very last step is to sign the application and officially submit it so what does that look like you're not physically signing anything on the FAFSA it's simply a matter of checking off a box and and clicking the submit button that's it if you're doing the alternative application you're going to receive a PIN number to your email and use that as your signature really quick process the longest part really is just sharing your information with the applications but once that's done it's just a matter of clicking a few buttons and and reading terms and conditions and you're done okay so what are we doing this for right at the end of your application an SCI is going to be generated an SCI is the student aid Index this is a number that the schools are going to use to be able to determine how much Financial Aid the student should receive basically it is a reflection of the students financial situation um and it kind of reflects what the student could give up for their education it is possible that this number can be negative so don't be alarmed if it is um but all in all this is a number that's generated at the end of your application to help determine what kind of Aid you're eligible for okay so once all of that's done your application is submitted the next step is is a verification not everyone is selected for this process but if you are don't be alarmed it's pretty normal um all that's being asked is just additional documentation from you guys this is a process that the school is used to be able to double check and verify the information that you you've shared with them so they're going to ask for maybe for example your tax returns so you just submit them that information keep a copy for yourself and make sure you submit everything on time because if you don't that can delay your financial aid offer but again not everyone is selected for this Pro process if you are and just be aware that you're sending the correct information keep copies and send everything in on time okay step 3 uh once everything is completed you submitted your applications you did a verification students will start to receive those financial aid offers this occurs sometime between January to April um basically the amount of of Aid that a student will receive is being calculated with this formula give or take so schools are going to take their cost of attendance they're going to subtract whatever the student can contribute to their education AKA their sigh and then they're going to subtract other financial aid so any loans scholarships that they're offering you Etc and then we'll have at the end the remaining need this is money that you'll still kind of have to find from somewhere right it'll be your out-of-pocket costs because again unfortunately sometimes they don't give you the money to cover the entire cost of attending a school so you'll need to figure out how you'll pay for the remaining costs okay so this is just a brief example of what financial aid can kind of do for you these are 3 different schools hypothetically the first 1 the sticker price is $14,000 um your SEI will be consistent of $3,000 for all applications because that's the number that was generated from your FAFSA and then other financial aid that's whatever the school is offering you um scholarships grants Etc so the first school has a sick of price of 14000 minus your Sai minus the 1000 at that school is offering you that brings down your cost to them the second School the cost is 25,000 minus your Sai minus at their offering you Aid resulting in a total cost of 12,000 the last school being 42,000 minus your si minus 39,000 and other financial aid that they're offering you brings down your cost to zero dollars so what we want to highlight here is that the sticker price is not always an accurate reflection of what the actual cost of that school will be as we can see here the more expensive school that was 42,000 ended up being the cheaper option after financial aid so when you guys start receiving financial aid letters it's really important that you take the time to sit down look at all the numbers and really understand what's being offered to you guys a lot of break okay so what exactly are these financial aid offers going to have in short it's going to show you the cost of attendance tuition and fees it's going to break down to you what grants scholarships loans they're offering you um it's going to tell you what your out-of-pocket costs will be and then other types of Aid options that are available to you such as the parent plus loan um so when are students going to start receiving these letters for for your colleges usually they start sending them out around February to May for community colleges this process can start being sent out around late spring to the summertime um so most commonly and more easily accessible is the student portal this is where the students can easily access this financial aid offer letter once it's ready they'll get notification through their email your financial aid offer letter is ready they're able to log in and access that some schools can still send it through mail but again the most easy and accessible way is through that student portal okay so when it comes to analyzing your offers what kind of things do you want to have in mind questions that you want to ask um you want to be aware of any deadlines that are being given to you um you don't want to let those deadlines pass because that's going to delay your financial aid um you want to know what kind of Aid is being given to you are you getting offered more free money or are you going to have to take out more loans and then um you want to pay attention to those loans and what they're offering you exactly is it the subsidized loan unsubsidized loan plus loan be aware of the loans that they're offering you and also just be aware which 1 is giving me the most free money and then other questions to ask in terms of specific scholarships and grants you want to be aware of any conditions you have to meet so a lot of times schools will give out freshman scholarships that you'll get for your freshman year but it won't roll over into your sophomore year so you have to take into consideration okay how am I going to make up that caused my sophomore year so just really understand what is being offered to you and and then what that means for you as you're going into that school okay step 4 is to decide and respond to your schools so once you sat down with your parents understood what each Financial letter means you want to make that final decision right once you make that choice you want to let that school know hey I'm accepting your offer and I want the financial aid you're offering me same time though you want to tell the other schools hey I'm declining your offer and you want to do this so that that spot is freed for other students and that financial aid is being offered to other students instead so all in all just to make sure that you tell the school you're committing to hey I'm committing to you I want your financial aid and then on the same page also tell the other schools I'm not committing to you free up my spot for other students okay the last step is 100% on the student and their responsibility so just be on top of your emails um and you're going to get a lot of emails during this time so just make sure to check all of them because you'll start to receive um important tasks to complete especially as you've committed to your schools um so just be aware of your email so that you complete any pending procedures so things like accepting that financial aid offer letter um confirming your intention to actually go into that school so just be on track with your emails read all of them do any final pending procedures that you have to complete so that you can officially commit to that school and be ready for the next academic year okay and then the last step here is just simply to to repeat this every single year that you're in school so the FAFSA application is not a 1-time thing you'll have to do it for every year that you are in school um this is because situations can change life happens someone might lose a job there might be a death in the family or a no life in the family so it's really important to repeat the application process so that you report those changes and your financial aid is accurately reflected um so again you'll want to do FAFSA alternative application for every year that you are in school and then as we're wrapping up here just some quick tips and reminders for you all the applications will be opening in October 1st what you can do now to get ready for that process is create your FAFSA accounts so again the student is going to need an account and then the is also going to need a separate account um you want to apply ASAP cury might have their own deadlines for the application so just be aware of that um but all in all these applications are free for you guys to complete you shouldn't have to pay anyone to do this if you need support as you're going through this process reach out to your counselors Reach Out reach out to us at Isaac and we support you guys with that keep track of those deadlines because if you missed 1 it can delay your financial aid and we don't want that right you need that money so just complete everything on time and then it's never too late to apply for scholarships or even to our lease so if you have younger siblings start that Lookout now so that you have some money as you're kind of transitioning into that for them um and then again you'll do this every single year FAFSA is not a time thing and then just some quick trusted websites for you all first 1 being our Student Portal second 1 being studentaid.gov that's where you'll be able to access the FAFSA application same thing with the third 1 gov and then if you need to do the alternative application that's the fourth website there and I want to plug our Student Portal there's a lot of great resources on that website such as scholarship search um College Planning you can learn more about our different programs on the website as well and you can find all of our contact information on there as well so if in the future you want to find me again go to our website and my information will be on there and then if any of you guys are first generation students I encourage you guys to scan the QR code here so that we can connect you with other first generation students and first generation programs at the campuses you're you're interested in this is just a great resource for you guys so if you guys can have a little community support system for you guys as you're transitioning into this new chapter of your life and that was it in terms of financial aid breakdown it was a lot of numbers a lot of like long names and whatnot that's my contact information if you guys have questions let me know or email me I'm on top of my emails text me whatever you might need

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