#041: How to File the FAFSA if Your Parents are Divorced or Separated | Alex Driscoll & Mike Rossman
Statistically, children of divorce are less likely to attend college. Further, they’re less likely to receive financial support from their parents for college.
To pay for college, most young people apply for government aid by filling out the FAFSA. But if your parents are separated, divorced, or remarried, the process can seem confusing.
Today, we speak with two experts to offer guidance on:
How to answer certain FAFSA questions depending on your parents’ marriage
Myths to watch out for
Practical tips that are difficult to find on Google
A video and infographic that’ll make the process simple for you
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TRANSCRIPT
Transcript produced by artificial intelligence. Please pardon any errors!
You've probably heard us say that children of divorce are less likely to go to college to continue their education. Statistically, why is that primarily because they're also less likely to receive financial support from their parents for college in the first place. And why is that? I think one of the reasons is that divorce is very expensive or at least it can be, I know families that have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in attorney fees.
I kid do not. It's. And so young people and, and parents are left figuring out how to pay for college and one obvious way to do so in the United States, at least is to use a government financial aid, getting government grants or loans by filing the, the FSFA the free application for federal student aid.
But if you've never done that, it can seem complex and confusing, especially if your parents are recently separated, divorced, or remarried, that adds a. Of confusion to the process. And so in this episode, we're gonna tackle that problem. We're gonna make the process simple. We'll be answering some of the most important questions for parents and young people from divorce separated or remarried families.
And so whether you're a parent. Who's searching for answers for your child, or maybe you're a young person, a student who's heading off to college. This is gonna help you a lot. What you're gonna get out of this episode is we're gonna talk with two financial aid experts and they give their advice on how to answer certain questions on the application, on the FAFSA, depending on your parents.
Marriage situation. We also touch on some myths that you should watch out for. They give practical tips that are gonna be difficult to find on Google. You really need to talk to someone who knows their stuff in this area. And then at the end, we give a, a video and an infographic that'll make this process, especially if you're someone who's coming from a broken home and.
It maybe happened recently where your parents separated or divorced, it's gonna make the process much simpler for you. And by the end, you're gonna have the knowledge that you need to apply for financial aid. Hopefully get the funding that you, or maybe your child needs so that they are, or you can continue your college career.
And so keep listening.
Welcome to the ReSTOR podcast, helping you heal and grow from the trauma of your parents' divorce, separation or broken. So you can feel whole again. I'm your host. Joey Bonelli. Thank you so much for listening. This is episode 41. And today I have the pleasure of talking with Alex and Mike two experts in the field of financial aid.
Alex Driscoll currently works as assistant director of financial aid at Russell Sage college. In Troy, New York on a typical day, she helps first time freshmen and transfer students to better understand the financial aid process and the awards that they're eligible for. Alex graduated from the state university of New York at Albany with a bachelor's of science and political science and a master's in educational administration and policy studies.
She currently lives in Troy New York, where you can typically find her perusing, the farmer's market or kayaking in the Hudson. My other guess is Mike Rossman. Mike works as a financial aid assistant at Russell Sage college in Troy New York. His passion is to help students better understand the college experience and to build life skills that will translate to successful future careers.
My graduate from Sienna college with a bachelor's degree in psychology and from the college of St. Rose with a master's in college student services administration. He lives in New York with his wife, Kelly. And so again, I'm really honored to have these two experts on this process. Join us today to hopefully answer your questions and to make the process simple.
So here we go,
Alex and Mike, thank you so much for coming on the show. Yeah, of course. Happy to. Thanks for having us, but I wanna, I wanna dive right in. So you both are experts when it comes to financial aid. And so there's so many people out there who, who need this guidance. That the first question is really basic.
When someone goes through this financial aid application process, uh, how long does it typically take to actually fill out the whole form? So for new students that are filing for the first time, Joey, um, it usually takes about an hour or so. Uh, for some people it could take a little bit less, some people, it could take a little bit longer.
It really depends how much information they have to put in. If they're using both of their parents. Different parameters there for people that are renewing, um, or doing it the, the second, third, fourth time around, usually more like a half an hour, cuz most of your information already imports in when you start.
Okay. That makes so much sense. So it really depends if you're first year are coming back again. And probably also, if you need to gather information from different people or different sources that could make it a little bit longer in some. Yeah, that's, that's the one thing that really takes a while, especially if you need to get specific tax information for your parents, um, or even tax information for yourself, if you had to file.
Um, some of that can take a little bit of time to request if you don't already have it. Every, every situation is different, but for the most part around an hour for new people in half an hour or so for renewals. Great. I, I do wanna mention it does have a safe key. So if you did get like halfway through and realize that you're missing some paperwork that you need, um, as a safe key so that you can leave the Faxon pick it up at another time when you have your P.
So it doesn't have to be all done in one, in one sitting, basically I feel bad for anyone. Who's not realized that and they filled out the form and almost gotten done and then just closed it out. That is a great feature. Thanks for mentioning that. Mm-hmm so when it comes to the actual FAFSA, uh, what kind of questions are on there?
When it comes to your parents, paint a picture, if you would, in people's minds of what exactly they're gonna be answering. All right. Sure. So, um, it's going to ask for at least one of your parents information, including their, uh, date of birth, possibly their social, uh, first initial, last name it's going to ask for, um, their marital status date.
If they're divorced or married, um, or widow. And it's going to ask for their tax information as well as investment information, um, and other banking information. I see. So definitely something that you wanna do with a parent or at least have them available to answer questions. If you're a student who's trying to fill this out on your own, it would be pretty difficult, right?
Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Even if you have your parents' taxes, um, for a student, it can be really confusing to kind of try to decipher that and put that information into the FAFSA. That makes sense. Maybe unless there's some budding account. Accountants out there, accounting majors who, uh, like going through taxes, but I think that's probably not most of us and the tax information too.
Joey is based on two years prior to when you're filling it out, which makes it even more, a little bit more confusing than it originally would be. Um, cuz they're assuming that everyone would've had their taxes done two years before. Um, and some people might not have the current taxes done. So they used two years prior.
Yeah. That is, that is why they switched to the two years prior is because a lot of people didn't have. There one year ago taxe is done. So in this case, it be your 20, 20 taxes. A lot of people don't have those completed yet. Got it. Okay. That's really helpful because you could start the process and then be sitting there and like, well, I need to file my taxes first, which isn't a simple task for a lot of people, right?
Okay, great info. So I, I, I think this is all making sense. I wanna go into some different scenarios for different people who maybe going through this process, that the first is where, uh, parents are separated. So they're not technically divorced, but they're separated. And I was curious, according to the financial aid form, when are parents consider quote unquote separated?
Parents are considered separated. Really? When they, the term terminology they use is living as a married couple when they stop living as a married couple, um, this usually requires them to be living in different places, but sometimes people still live together, even though they're considered separated. Um, also in some states they have specific legal separations, um, which make it a little bit more.
Truthful, I guess, as soon as people decide that they're kind of living separate lives and not acting as a married couple anymore, they're considered separated. Yeah. I, I just wanna jump in and say, um, marital status can definitely be confusing. It's important to know that it's your marital status as of the day you file the FAFSA.
So if your parents. Had divorced in February and you're filing the FAFSA in March, then they would be considered divorced. It is self reported. Uh, sometimes colleges may ask for proof of separation in the form of two different mailing addresses. So they may ask for like a utility bill from each parent to prove that they have different addresses.
If they're separated. Okay. That's really helpful. And I'm glad you brought up that scenario, cuz I think that could be confusing to people who are going through this situation. So in one case you said they could be separated, but living together or separated, not living together. Uh, how should you answer the questions on the form?
Uh, in both of those scenarios where the parents are living together, um, but separated or they're not living together and separated. So if they're living together you're or if they don't live together, sorry, you're gonna wanna. Answer for whichever parent you live with more. Um, if you live with both parents equally, if you spend 50, 50, uh, time with them, you wanna provide information for whoever's provides the most support for you.
Um, usually they consider it, uh, at least 50 or more percent of your support per the year. If they do live together, you'll have to answer for both of your parents. If they're separat. Because you're still in the same household. You can't prove that they're living in two separate places. So they use both parents.
That that is correct. Um, and that is self-reported, but yeah, if your parents are, uh, separated, but they're technically still married and they still live together, you are gonna wanna wanna report both parents' information. Okay. That makes sense. And so Alex, when you say self report, it means basically you choose what to say, is that right?
Yeah, because in a lot of times, um, when parents are separated, they're legally still married. So that. Yeah, they self-report, that they're separated. And like I said, the, the college, um, You're applying to may require more information such as those two separate utility bills. I see. So it depend, so that kinda goes college by college.
Okay. No, that makes a lot of sense. And, uh, Mike, one thing that you said, um, you said when, which parent is supporting you, uh, does that mean financial support? Like who's paying for your food, who's who you're living with most, like you said, if it's 50, 50, Or maybe one more than the other. Um, what does support, I guess exactly mean in that case?
Yeah. I mean, I think it hit it on the head with, with everything you just said there it's, whoever's providing the most financial support for whatever you're doing at that time. So if they're paying for your housing, they're paying for your food, paying for your schooling, depending on where you're going to high school.
If it's a, it's a private school. Anything there, um, any form of financial support whoever's doing the most there. Perfect. Okay. And now turning to a situation where the parents are divorced in a similar vein, uh, at what point are the parents considered actually divorced? Is it, you know, when they file for divorce, is it when the.
Court, you know, signs, the final papers. What does that look like? So, yeah, it is, um, it is when the court signs those final papers. So again, it's, it's pretty rare, but there are some circumstances in which the college may request, um, proof of that divorce and that would be the court send documents with that date.
Okay. That makes sense. So up to that point, even if your parents are going through the divorce process, they're technically still just separated. So you'd resort to the info that we just covered that makes. And then in that, in that situation where your parents are legally divorced, uh, how should you answer the parent questions on the form again, if they don't live together, if they do live together.
So this is actually gonna depend on, um, which year the parents got divorced. Um, so it's different if they were divorced before 2020 in this case, Or 2020 or 2021. But in, in both cases, you only need to, uh, report one parent's income. So, because this is where it gets a little confusing because the taxes go back two years, say your parents were divorced in 2020, in 2019.
They may have filed, um, their taxes, married, filing jointly, or married, filing separately. And they would need to put that as their, uh, filing says in the FAFSA, but they would only need to report one income in this case. And again, that is the parent that you live with, uh, 51% of the time or that you receive financial support from 51% or more.
Okay. So you would basically need their. W2. And for anyone who's not aware, I'm assuming most people are aware what that is, but that's just the piece of paper that shows you what you made the taxes that were withheld for the prior year or any year in the past. So it sounds like the W2 would be one of the most useful things to have in that situation though.
I'm sure the official tax documents or the software they're using would show it separated as well. Is that right? Yeah. Yeah. A lot of times, um, just would have tax returns if you have like. 2020 tax or 2019 tax returns. That's also helpful to use a lot of information's listed on that. Okay. And just speaking a little bit more to that situation, I think you made that absolutely clear.
Um, but if your parents somehow are divorced yet living together, which as we were discussing before the interview, that is a rare situation, but it does happen in that situation. Like you said, Alex, it's just whoever, whichever parent you're spending more time together with, or, or what does that look like?
Or I guess in that case you would, it would be. Explain that if you would a little bit more, so again, it would still be 51% of your support. So in this case they live together, but maybe one parent, you know, buys majority of your clothes or buys majority of your food, um, or pays majority of the bills.
That'd be the parent that you receive 51% of your support from, and you'd wanna include that parent's information. That makes sense. And moving to, uh, a situation where maybe one of your parents or both of your parents are remarried. Um, should you answer questions in that situation about your stepparents?
So you only need to answer questions about your stepparents if they're married to whichever parent you're using on the FAFSA. So say you're using your father on the FAFSA and he's been remarried. Um, you only have. Put in information for your stepmother. Um, even if your mother was also remarried, you wouldn't have to do anything on that side, if you're only using your father's information.
Yeah. Just to elaborate on that a little bit. So, um, scenario here is, you know, say you're living with your father and he's remarried to your stepmother. We run into this kind of a lot where the student will say, well, my stepmother doesn't doesn't provide any support. Do I still need to include her tax information?
And the answer is yes, if you live ly their father and he's remarried to a stepmother, their tax filing status is most likely. Either married, filing jointly or married filing separately, and you would need to include both of their taxes. And again, that's a, that's a federal regulation that's really helpful to, to know.
So basically they do need to be legally married though, if they're just living together, uh, like if it's a girlfriend boyfriend's situation, then you wouldn't include that information at that point. Is that correct? That's right. Mm-hmm . Okay. And are there any, uh, specific questions, I guess, on the form that may be confusing in that situation, that would be helpful for people listening right now to know, okay, this particular question, this is how you answer it.
Um, I feel like one of the most important things that again, can be really confusing is just, it is the status as the date they filed the FAFSA. So like I said, I mean, if, if a parent was just married last month and now you're filing the FAFSA, he was married to a stepparent. You now need to include that step parent's information.
I think that's one of the most confusing parts. No, that's Claire. And I'm glad you're bringing that back because it, it definitely, um, gives a, a good, uh, way to distinguish between mother two include it or not. Mm-hmm . And, and it's at the point that you finished the F, so like, if you were to start it in January and then like, forget about it and begin it again in March, but your parent was married in February, then you would go with the info at that point in time when you're finishing, is that.
That's correct. Yep. It's gonna be end of the date that you're submitting the FAFSA. Great. Okay. That, that is clear and going through some other scenarios. What if you live with someone who, who isn't your parent, like maybe you're living with, uh, grandparent or cousins or someone else, how does that work?
So. Unless you're legally adopted by someone else. Um, as long as you can still get in contact with your parents, you still have to report information for your parents. So even if you live with an aunt or an uncle, um, a grandmother, a grandfather. Um, unless they've legally adopted you, you still have to report information only for your parents, right?
There's there's also a question that asks if you are an emancipated minor, or, um, in a legal guardianship as a turn by the court. Um, and that's gonna be kind of state by state because not every state recognizes emancipated minors. So that may be depending on what state you are in. But if you're claiming that you're in a legal guardianship with someone who's not your biological parent, uh, most of the time you do have court paperwork that says that, and you would need to provide that.
To the colleges that you're applying to after you file the FAFSA. Okay. So you need to collect all that and send that in that, that makes sense. And when you say emancipated minor, would you explain what that means for anyone listening? Who isn't clear on that? Yeah. So again, this, this goes state by state because not every state recognizes emancipated minor status, but if you are a teenager and you are, you know, living with a parent and.
Not a safe situation. You can, you can go through the process of becoming an emancipated, minor, meaning basically that, even though you're below the age of 18, you are now essentially in charge of yourself. So your parents no longer take care of you. They're not supporting you. You don't have their health insurance, things like that typically a year out on your own.
Yeah. And, and that does happen. So it's, I'm glad that you, uh, explain that. I think sometimes, uh, yeah, sometimes people might not completely understand. Certain terms. So thanks for like breaking it down and making it simple. Especially for me. I, I don't know if I could have defined what an emancipated minor was.
I appreciate that. Mm-hmm you touched on this Alex, but when we're talking about situations where maybe you're not required to provide information about your parents, would that be one of them? Like when are you not required to provide information about your parents? If you are a dependent student, unfortunately, if, if you're a dependent student, There's gonna be a list of questions on the FAFSA that just deal with your dependency status.
You know, if you're working at a master's degree, if you're married, if you're over 24, you're considered independent. Or if you have children that, that you support, you're considered independent. If you are considered a dependent, you don't mean any of those criteria. And let's just say, you don't communicate with your parents anymore.
You haven't spoken to. Unfortunately for federal purposes, you do still need to provide their information on the FAFSA. And that can definitely be problematic, but that's something that college is just, they, they can't get around. There's, there's not really a work around for that because these are federal regulations.
So unfortunately, in this case, if your parents are still supporting you and you don't have that court paperwork saying that they're not eco guardianship or emancipated minor, You would still need their information. Joey building off of that too. There's there's some outlying kind of scenarios where even when you're dependent, it, it's impossible to, to get parent info.
So if your parents are incarcerated, um, if you've left an abusive home, not able to locate your parents, things like that. There, there is an option on the FAFSA to, to not report parent information, but if that does happen, they can't create an EFC for you, which is an estimated family contribution. . If you provide a FAFSA with no EFC, it's considered an invalid FAFSA and that student would not be eligible for any federal aid.
Oh, I see. Okay. So, okay. So that really is a difficult situation. If you are not able to get the information on your parents and there's probably other situations where parents just like, don't really wanna help out, hopefully that's a rare situation, but, um, is that a similar situation where you're kind of in a tough spot or is there anything that you can do if your parents refuse to give you the information that.
In that situation, um, I'd recommend calling the colleges that you're applying to after you've completed the FAFSA, because you, you can submit the FAFSA without parent information, but again, it's gonna come back as invalid, unless you meet one of those, uh, dependency criteria. And at that point, the college still gets the, uh, FAFSA.
It's just not considered valid and they may reach out to. But I'd also recommend, um, on the students part reaching out to the college and kind of explaining your situation. Colleges tend to kind of handle that differently, but unfortunately, the situation is just, you still speak to your parent, your parent, but they don't wanna provide their information.
You would be considered ineligible for federal aid. So you would need to get that in most cases. Okay. No, that's great info. And so that puts you in a tough position. So any of you listening right now, um, if, if that's your situation, uh, maybe you need to sit down with your parent or maybe, uh, parent, if you're listening right now, if you're a parent listening right now, that may be important to sit down with your, uh, ex spouse and talk with them about how important this is not only for.
Your child, but for both of you in terms of getting, you know, your child through college, and so that I'm sure it could be a difficult situation. If you're, you know, a young person who is facing this, um, it may take a little bit of work, but you may need to go through and explain to your parent, like, this is why this information's so important.
Typically that's better to explain the why first and then ask for what you want, instead of just saying, I need this information. And so certainly it's difficult situation. Um, I'm glad you guys are here to talk about this. I want to turn a little bit, uh, to a, a related topic, but a little bit different than what we just discussed.
And that is what if your parents were to separate or divorce after you've submitted your financial aid application? Again, let talk, we let we talked about for the FAFSA, it's your parents status as of the day that you filed the FAFSA. So if you file the FAFSA in March and in June, your parents, um, separated or divorced, You don't change your FAFSA at that point.
Um, because it's after the date that you've submitted and it would affect it for next year's FAFSA. You finish your freshman year and you're ready to go into your sophomore. You complete your FAFSA. At that point, your parents' status would be separated or divorced. And it's gonna come up with a flag on your FAFSA when the school reports it, that says.
You've changed your parents' Mari marital status. Most of the time, they just kinda leave it at that. It makes the school aware, but most of the time there isn't additional information needed about that. Things happen. Definitely. Okay. That makes sense. So that goes back to that principal when you submit it, whatever information is true at that point, that information applies to that year.
And then in prior years you're gonna adjust it based on what's true in that. okay. And going back to some of the practicals when it comes to the form, cause I think it can be really intimidating. I remember it, it being pretty intimidating, especially the first time I went through it. Uh, when does the FSFA open and close?
What I'm looking for? Dates there, if that's not clear. So it always opens on October 1st of whichever year. Prior to that academic year. Um, so for example, for the 20 21, 20 22 academic year, which is coming up right now, the FSA opened this past October 1st, 2020. And for that specific eight year, you can file, um, until the summer that follows the academic year.
So in this case, um, it would be June 30th, 2022. Okay. So those are the deadlines. That's good to know and good to know when it opens and if someone were not to apply right away. And let's say they wait till, I don't know. The beginning of June to apply. Is there less of a chance that you would get a aid or cuz I think there's this idea out there that maybe there's this fund with money in it that the federal government has and then once the get money's gone, you're done.
So would you clear up that a little bit? So yeah, this is kind of those kind of weird. Myths that I feel like everyone is told. I was definitely told that you have to play the FAF as soon as possible to get the most federal aid. Yeah. That's not a thing. Yeah. A lot of federal aid. I mean, it just goes by that that FC that Mike was talking about earlier that, uh, estimated financial contribution has made family contribution and that's not gonna change no matter when you file ergo.
Your financial aid awards and federal government are not gonna change no matter when you file. Now, what I will say is that some colleges may have scholarship deadlines and those can sometimes pertain to the FSIS. Those are not funds from the federal government, but rather from the individual institutions.
So I always recommend filing as early as you possibly can. To get the most institutional aid, but in terms of federal aid, you can file whenever it's not gonna affect that. Okay. And I bet you're a financial aid advisor at the college you're coming to will love you as well for getting it done. Not at the last minute.
yeah. We, we love to see them done early. Definitely be. And especially if you do, if, you know, if you have kind of one of these nontraditional scenarios and you have questions, It's also good to file as soon as possible, so that you have time to reach out to your, uh, financial aid counselors at your college.
They have time to reach out to you and you can resolve all those things before the semester start. That's definitely important. That's really helpful, cuz I think that's one thing going into this interview, um, that, yeah, maybe I wasn't totally clear on, but you really can and should be relying on your financial aid office.
Like they're there to help you people like you two are in those offices. Whose job it is to assist these students. So it's such a great resource to not be afraid to actually reach out email, call, whatever, go in and see them. And so I think that's one big takeaway for me. Yeah. I mean, college is all about relationships.
Um, Rachel, you as a student build. And that can include financial aid. Yeah, definitely. Don't be afraid of your financial aid counselors. We we're overall nice people I don't know about Mike, but, uh, no, I'm just kidding. for the most part I mean, that, that's one real common misconception, especially since we, we deal with money, um, is, is that people assume that sometimes there's myths that we're out to get people and we're, we're trying to stop people from getting stuff.
But our only job is to make sure that people. Are able to get as much aid as they can to get as much support as they can while they're going through college. Um, so that they can come out and be successful on the other side. Love it. Yeah. So you're there to guide them and it's not like this. It's not like you're giving money out of your own wallet so that they're thinking like, oh, they wanna give as little as ly as possible to, to me, but you're actually trying to, yeah, like you said so well to get them the help that they need so they can get through college and go on and be successful in their career.
Right. Are there any other myths or. Uh, conceptions, like what are some of the most popular ones when it comes to, uh, financial aid and, and this whole process that can be kind of confusing. So really quick, one of the big things that we get a lot of students, I think they think one of two things, either financial aid is just loans, which is not the case or financial aid is not loans.
Financial aid is really, it's a big umbrella. That encompasses, you know, all the scholarships, all of the grants, all of the loans, basically anybody that's not paid out of pocket, that's going towards your education is considered financially. You know, FAFSA refers to, uh, subsidized unsubsidized, student loans, federal loans, and then the federal Pell grant, the FAFSA can affect things with institutional financial aid, like your scholarships, things like that.
But it really just pertains to, to those two loans and the federal Pell grant that I think that's really useful for people to know. Cuz I think you're right. There's a lot of misconception there. Mike, are there any myths that you see kind of in your position where people are coming in and maybe they haven't done their research and they're just confused about some things, any, any myths there?
I mean, I, I wouldn't say any overall myth. I think just people think that it's going to be more confus. It's kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy people go into filling out the FAFSA thinking that it's gonna be confusing. Then they go ahead and get confused while actually filling it out. Um, so take it slow.
Um, there's no reason to rush. Um, if you have any questions while you're filling out the FAFSA, you need help. Um, they have a federal student aid information center that you can call, um, with dedicated specialist that can walk you through the different parts of the facet. Tell you what kind of information you should be providing anything like.
so, like I said, no reason to rush, make sure you got all the right information in there and you'll be good to go. Excellent. Alex, anything to add to that, to a parent who's listening or to a young person on advice for getting through the process and, and doing it successfully and working well with their financial aid advisors.
Yeah. I mean, I always say the, the first one is the most difficult. When you're going in your freshman year, you're doing the FAFSA for the first time. That that's the hardest one. And then after that, you know, it, it just gets easier every year that you do it and you kind of get more used to it. You hear a lot of, kind of like horror stories about the FAFSA financially in general, but I always say is.
You commute to work every single day. But the one day that you remember is the one where you were stuck in a traffic jam and you were an hour and a half late. Most of the time, that's not the case of the FAF. So most of the time, you know, you, you get right through it and you have no problems and you have no problems there financially, but you really only hear about those like crazy scenarios that people have.
They're they're not very common. And you'll find that, especially in, in the most recent years, they've really made the FAFs. Pretty understandable. There's little like information tabs on each of the questions. So if you're like, oh, I'm not sure what they're trying to ask here. That'll give you more information right on there.
Um, there's a lot of videos out there. People put in the FAFSA, you know, tips, helpful, things like that. Um, and again, don't be afraid of your financial aid office. We're here to help. And if you haven't received a financial aid offer letter, it's probably because the institution hasn't received your FAFSA.
So definitely check in with them. we'd love to communicate, uh, with students even before they arrive at our college. Great. And, uh, that no, that's really helpful. And it sounds like one of the biggest things is just getting started. Just start the process. And if you mm-hmm, hit a roadblock along the way. Uh, save it, figure out the answer, go back, get it going.
But I think this can, it can be, especially for parents who are busier, maybe they're going through a lot, uh, with a divorce or something like that. Students who have a lot going on in their lives. Uh, it may be kind of intimidating where it's like this huge thing that I have to get done. But if you just take it one piece at a time, that's what I hear you both saying, take it one piece at a time, do what you can and then, you know, aim to get it done.
And if you need help, ask for help. Mm-hmm yeah, yeah. Never be afraid to ask questions. You wanna make sure that everything is on there. So you're getting as much aid as possible. So reach out, use your resources, um, do whatever you can to, to make sure you're putting all the right information on. There is also just a quick, you know, note here.
There's also a FAFSA. So, if you don't have access to a laptop or a computer, for whatever reason, you can complete the FAFSA. Right. On an app, it was created a few years ago. I've gone through it and it's, it's pretty, pretty easy to use. So if you have a smartphone, that's another option for you. That's a great tip.
I did not know that. And. Along those lines. Are there any other resources or, or tips that you guys would, would leave with everyone listening? I mean, there's, if you go on just say YouTube or anything like that, they also have FAFSA walkthroughs where you can take a look, see what kind of information is going to be asked for before you even start.
If that's something that interests you, um, it kind of walks through step by, step on what all the questions are. So you know what information you're gonna need before you start? Yeah. A, a lot of college. And even some high schools have like FAFSA events where they'll have like computer labs open and you can sign up and you can actually do the event or do the FAFSA with someone.
I know the college at Mike and I work out, we're doing a big FAFSA event coming up here soon. So if anyone hasn't completed it, um, and they're accepted at our college, they can come to that and we walk 'em through the whole process. So that's, that's a pretty common thing. All the colleges that I've worked at have those kind of days.
So if you're, you know, really struggling, I'd say to check into one of those inquire about whether or not the colleges you've applied to have that option. You guys are great. Thank you so much for, uh, for all of your wisdom, all the practical bits of advice. I know this is gonna help, uh, a lot of people who maybe feel stuck or they feel kinda confused about this whole process.
So thank you both for, for being here, uh, for, for giving us your time and your expertise. Yeah, absolutely. Thanks so much for having. Yeah, we, we really appreciate your time and letting us come on and talk
in closing out the show. We have a few resources for you guys. So one, we have a video for you. It walks you through the financial aid application process showing you each step in the process. And you can even put this up on your screen while you're filling out the. Application, it can help guide you through each section.
So we have a link to that video in the show notes, but like Mike said, you can really just search on YouTube, FFA walkthrough, video, financial aid, walkthrough video, and you'll be able to find something similar. We also have a really helpful infographic for you that helps you determine whose parents info.
You need to be adding to the financial aid application depending on your situation. So really well designed easy to understand infographic. So that's also linked in the show notes. And then lastly, If you wanna avoid debt altogether, which is honestly the best thing that you can do. And I understand that for some people, it feels like it's impossible.
If you wanna avoid that altogether and figure out some creative ways to cash flow your way through college, meaning you're not taking out debt, you're paying cash gradually as you go through college, check out the book debt free degree by Anthony O'Neil. The, the subtitle of that book is the step by step guide to getting your kid through college.
Without student loans. And we'll add a link to that in the show notes, Anthony O'Neal is really awesome. Speaker writer, podcast host, and he gives really practical ideas on how you can get through college without taking out a ton of debt. It's a huge problem in our world today, especially in the United States where we take out tons and tons of debt to go through college.
And then in the end we gotta pay it all back and it takes years and years and years, and it really hurts our journey. To financial freedom. And so Anthony Neil has a lot of great content, make sure to check him out and in the future, we're gonna be producing more content on this topic, like creating a, a step by step blog article that will give you, you know, the main points that we covered in this episode and help you go through all those.
So make sure to join our email list, if you wanna stay tuned for that. And you can do that by going to the show notes page on that page, there's a form you can fill out and just send your name, your email, and then you can stay in touch with. The resources mentioned during the show notes@restoredministry.com slash 41.
Again, restored ministry, ministry, singular. Dot com slash four one also quick shout out to Erin Hasso for her research and her help in producing this episode. Erin, thank you so much for the research you did the content you put together and making this interview happen really, really helpful. You're awesome.
Thank you, Erin. And thank you for listening. If this has been useful, I invite you to subscribe and to share the podcast with someone, you know, who could use it. Always, remember you are not alone. We're here to help you feel whole again and become the person that you were born to be.
