The Chattanooga Public Library is hosting a free workshop to help students and their parents fill out Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) forms. The workshop will be held Saturday, at 2:30 p.m. on the second floor of the Downtown Library, 1001 Broad Street. A FAFSA counselor will be conducting the workshop.
Nearly every student is eligible for some form of financial aid, including low-interest Federal Stafford and/or parent PLUS loans, regardless of income or circumstances, provided that the student is a U.S. citizen and has a valid social security number. All students are expected to contribute toward the cost of their college education. How much a student is expected to contribute depends on that individual or family’s Expected Family Contribution or EFC.
The FAFSA is the form used by the U.S. Department of Education to determine each person’s EFC by conducting a “need analysis” based on financial information, such as income, assets and other household information, which the student (and parents if the student is a dependent) will be asked to provide. The form is submitted to, and processed by, a federal processor contracted by the U.S. Department of Education, and the results are electronically transmitted to the financial aid offices of the schools the student lists on their application.
FAFSA is the application used by nearly all colleges and universities to determine eligibility for federal, state, and college-sponsored financial aid, including grants, educational loans, and work-study programs.