Free FAFSA help available during College Goal Sunday, Feb. 27

Event: College Goal Sunday
Date and time: Sunday, Feb. 27, 2-4 p.m.
Location: Goshen College Union Building (map)
Cost: Free


During College Goal Sunday, Feb. 27, from 2-4 p.m., financial aid professionals will be volunteering to help college-bound Indiana students and their families complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form and open the door to financial aid. The free event will take place in the Goshen College Union Building, and Spanish interpretation will be available.

Now in its 33rd year, College Goal Sunday is an event held at more than 40 sites across Indiana that provides FREE FAFSA filing assistance to Hoosier families.

A complete list of sites is available at CollegeGoalSunday.org.

 

What students should bring (download the Checklist (PDF))

Students should attend College Goal Sunday with their parent(s) or guardian(s), and parents’ should bring completed 2020 IRS 1040 tax returns, W-2 Forms and other 2020 income and benefits information. Students who worked last year should bring their income information as well. Students 24 years of age or older may attend alone and bring their own completed 2020 IRS 1040 tax return, W-2 Form or other 2018 income and benefits information.

Students and parents are encouraged to apply for their U.S. Department of Education FSA IDs at fsaid.ed.gov before coming to the event. Volunteers will walk through the online form line-by-line and answer families’ individual questions as needed.

 

Attendees may win educational prizes 

Students may also win one of five $1,000 scholarships. Students who attend any of the College Goal Sunday sites and submit a completed evaluation form will automatically be entered in a drawing for a $1,000 scholarship. The winners will be notified in March, and prizes will be sent directly to the higher education institutions selected by the winning students.

 

FAFSA Overview:

  • Single application completed each year to apply for federal grants, work-study & loans, state of Indiana grants, and some institutional grants/scholarships.
  • Snapshot of your families’ income and assets to calculate your Expected Family Contribution (EFC).  The EFC is an index used by colleges to determine what federal, state, and possibly institutional money you are eligible to receive.
  • Skip logic is built into the FAFSA, so you only answer the questions you need to and no more.
  • The IRS Data Retrieval Tool (DRT) lets you transfer tax information straight from IRS to your FAFSA to improve the accuracy and security of data.
  • You can list up to 10 colleges on the FAFSA. Encourage you to list at least 1 college from Indiana so that you are in the pool for State of Indiana grants, if eligible.

Resources to help with the FAFSA & Financial Aid:

For more information about College Goal Sunday visit CollegeGoalSunday.org.

College Goal Sunday is a cooperative, charitable effort of the Indiana Student Financial Aid Association (ISFAA). It is provided in cooperation with the Indiana Commission for Higher Education, and is funded by Lilly Endowment, Inc., NCAN, and Indiana Secondary Market for Education Loans, Inc.