Financial Aid Application and Renewal Process

By Marilynn Shelton, New Freshmen/Transfers Financial Aid Counselor Greetings from the Financial Aid Office! The first semester of school is almost finished, and the financial aid process is right around the corner!

To expedite the process of your student’s financial aid for 2004-05, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) should be completed as soon as possible after January 1, 2004. Students that applied for financial aid for 2003-04 can complete a Renewal FAFSA. The priority deadline date for maximum financial aid consideration is April 1, 2004 for Webster University and the state of Missouri. All required paperwork should be received in the Financial Aid Office by this date to increase chances of receiving your maximum aid eligibility.

Though a hard copy FAFSA will be available in the Financial Aid Office, the most efficient way to complete the FAFSA or Renewal FAFSA is by going online to www.fafsa.ed.gov. The 2004-05 FAFSA will be based on 2003 federal tax information. However, if a deadline is pending, the student and/or parent might want to realistically estimate tax information. If needed, corrections can be made to the Student Aid Report (SAR) when the return is completed. The last year-to-date pay stub for 2003 can be a good source of income figures.

PINs can be used for your electronic signature. As a courtesy, the Department of Education will resend PINs to all students and parents that have an e-mail address or mailing address in the database, starting the middle of November 2003.

If your student is chosen for a random process called verification, there is no need to panic. Verification is no more than a double check, or quality control, system. Your student simply needs to complete a verification worksheet and provide signed and dated copies of your and your student’s 2003 federal tax returns to the Webster University Financial Aid Office. If you or your student have income for 2003 but will not file, please provide documentation of the income in the form of W-2(s), 1099(s), award letters, etc.

The Webster Financial Aid Application and Verification Worksheet will be readily available from the Financial Aid Office, or accessed online at http://www.webster.edu/finaid/application.html. This site will bring up a screen that has 5 items listed. The Webster Financial Aid Application has its own page. The Verification Worksheet form can be found under Other Forms. Make sure the forms you print out are 2004-05 undergraduate forms.

The Department of Education provides seven criteria about what constitutes an independent student versus a dependent student. They are as follows:

1. Born before January 1, 1981?


2. Graduate student?


3. Married?


4. Children that you provide more than half of their support (includes if you’re pregnant and the child will be born before or during the 2004-05 academic year (7/1/04-6/30/05)?


5. Dependents other than your children or a spouse?


6. Are both of your parents deceased, or are you or were you (until age 18) a ward/dependent of the court?


7. Are you a veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces?

If a student answers yes to one of the above questions, they are considered independent. If a student answers no to all of the questions they are considered dependent and parental information should be provided along with the student’s information. At this time, the Department of Education only allows schools to make dependency overrides based on abuse or abandonment towards the student by the student’s parent. Appropriate documentation has to be submitted for consideration.

Another common question is exactly who is considered a parent according to FAFSA. The Department of Education considers the appropriate parent(s) to be:

1. If your parents are both living and married to each other; or


2. Your parent is widowed or single; or


3. If your widowed or divorced parent is remarried, parents would be your parent and your stepparent; or


4. If parents are divorced or separated but not remarried, the parent would be the parent you lived with more during the past 12 months. If you didn’t live with one more than the other, give answers about the parent who provided more financial support during the past 12 months or during the most recent year that you actually received support from a parent.

Parents who are attending college at least half-time for any part of the 2004-05 academic year can be added by the Financial Aid Office to the number in college on the SAR. A parent can take advantage of this provision by completing a Special Condition Form from the Financial Aid Office and providing the appropriate documentation.

Please contact us at 314-968-6994, or 1-800-983-4623 if you have any questions. The Financial Aid Office is located in Webster Hall, Room 102. Our office hours are Monday-Thursday 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. and Friday 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. The Financial Aid Counselors are as follows:

Counselor	Students Last Name	Number & E-Mail Address
Kim Whitehorn	A-G	314-961-2660 Ext. 7651 whitehkm@webster.edu
Jessica Key	H-M	314-961-2660 Ext. 7672 winterjm@webster.edu
Melissa Hogan	N-Z	314-961-2660 Ext. 7644 dupontme@webster.edu
Marilynn Shelton	New Freshmen/Transfers	314-961-2660 Ext. 7671 sheltoma@webster.edu