The Free Application for Federal Student Aid season is here. According to Jamie Hamby, Cleveland State director of Financial Aid, Tennessee Promise students must have their 2018-2019 FAFSA completed by Jan. 16, 2018, along with those wishing to qualify for the Tennessee Student Assistance Award.
Financial Aid Counselor Portia Cook said, “The CSCC Financial Aid office is eager to have as many students complete their FAFSA as soon as possible. Completing the FAFSA now has a lot of great benefits, like allowing us to process your financial aid earlier rather than later.”
According to Ms. Cook, there have been a couple of updates to the 2018-2019 FAFSA. The IRS DRT (Data Retrieval Tool) is back, which allows students to basically sync their tax data with their FAFSA. This time the student will not be able to see the actually transferred tax data; they will only see the comment “Transferred from the IRS”. Using the IRS DRT is the preferred method and cuts down the amount of information a student may have to turn into CSCC’s Financial Aid office.
“We know that a lot of people feel overwhelmed or intimidated by completing the FAFSA, but the CSCC Financial Aid staff is always happy to help,” stated Ms. Cook. “We want all students and our entire service area to know that we are here to help them complete the 2018-2019 FAFSA and assist with any financial aid questions or concerns they may have.”
For more information, visit www.FAFSA.gov or contact the CSCC Financial Aid Office at 423-472-7141, ext. 310. (The college is closed for the holiday, but offices will reopen on Jan. 2.)