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Students wishing to attend their CAAHEP accredited sonography program of choice often need help paying for tuition, fees, and books. There are many different types of financial aid, including federal and state grants, government-backed loans, scholarships administered by the school’s financial aid office, tuition waivers, and others. When beginning a funding search through the financial aid office, the first thing students will be asked is if a FAFSA form has been submitted.
FAFSA: A First Step for sonography students
Today, most students can qualify for some type of student aid. Family income is no longer considered the only criterion, but income will affect the type of aid a student is eligible for. Eligibility requires the following:
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Be a US citizen, eligible non-citizen or US citizen
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Earned a high school diploma or passed the General Educational Development (GED) test and earned a certificate of high school equivalency
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have a social security number
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If male, age 18 to 25, registered with the US Selective Service
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Don’t Default on Student Loans
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Cannot pay federal student grant refund
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Have not been convicted of selling or possessing illegal drugs while receiving federal student aid
If the student can meet the eligibility requirements, it is time to complete the FAFSA application. FAFSA is the abbreviation for “Free Application for Federal Student Aid”. This is a US Department of Education-Office of Federal Student Aid measure used to determine a student’s need for financial aid or expected family contribution. This is the first step in qualifying for financial aid.
filling out the FAFSA form
Sonography students should complete the FAFSA form well in advance of applying for financial student aid through the school’s financial aid office. The form can be filed with the Department of Education in January each year. The federal deadline may change each year, but for the 2014-2015 academic year it is June 30, 2015.
Timing is important because federal aid is distributed on a first come first served basis. In addition, the school may have filing deadlines that must be met. The filing deadline may be the date the FAFSA was submitted to the federal processor or the date the federal processor returns the needs analysis to the Office of Financial Aid.
Once sonography students have chosen the CAAHEP accredited program to which they wish to apply, it is important to check with the financial aid office at each school. Each one has a different set of rules, and missing the FAFSA deadline will at a minimum make the student ineligible for federal aid. Many schools use FAFSA need analysis to distribute all available financial aid, not just federal dollars. Therefore, there are also state deadlines for filling out the FAFSA form.
The Department of Education encourages students to fill out the FAFSA form as soon as possible after January 1st. The form can be filled online or a paper copy can be sent through mail.
know the deadline
The federal government has developed a helpful program called FAFSA4caster that enables people to enter some basic information and receive an estimate of federal student aid eligibility. The estimate is presented on the “College Cost Worksheet” which also has space to add the estimated amounts of other sources of funds available to the student.
There are several deadlines to keep in mind when starting the application process:
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Federal FAFSA Deadline
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State Financial Aid Deadlines
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University, college, or medical center financial aid deadlines
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Scholarship Deadline
If the sonography student is applying for a bank loan or other private financial aid outside of the school’s process, there will be additional deadlines. Applications must be processed in a timely manner to receive funds before school tuition and fees are due.
Applying for any type of financial aid requires being organized. A good approach is to make a list of deadlines to make sure no one is accidentally missed. The process is too important to risk missing application deadlines.
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