[Oasfaa] FW: 6 Tips on How to Have a TERRIBLE FAFSA Experience

[Schmerer, Mendy M. (HSC)]

It is a bit snarky, but I think that's why I enjoyed it so much.  If you aren't on the FINAID-L listserv, enjoy this!

Mendy Schmerer, M.Ed.
Assistant Director
Office of Student Financial Aid
University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
1106 N. Stonewall, Rm 301
Oklahoma City, OK  73117
(405) 271-2118, x 48817 (p)
(405) 271-5446 (f)
Mendy-Schmerer at ouhsc.edu 
http://www.ouhsc.edu/financialservices/SFA/ 

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-----Original Message-----
From: ADMINISTRATION of USA Financial Aid Offices [mailto:FINAID-L at lists.psu.edu] On Behalf Of Randall, Russell S.
Sent: Wednesday, July 15, 2015 2:36 PM
To: FINAID-L at LISTS.PSU.EDU
Subject: 6 Tips on How to Have a TERRIBLE FAFSA Experience

I wanted to share with you all something that one of our employees wrote up .  Maybe it will give you a smile during this Fall Registration time.  Enjoy!

-          Scott

"6 Tips on How to Have a TERRIBLE FAFSA Experience"
By Jesse Hausler, Texarkana College

Everyone knows that having money to pay for school is one of the more important parts of enrolling in college, but it can be can be a complicated process. That process got a lot more complicated this May with the introduction of the FSA ID, a new "username and password" system the government is usin g to replace the old FAFSA PIN number.
All students filling out a FAFSA are now required to have an FSA ID, and if you pay attention and read carefully, it can be a very painless setup. How ever, some intrepid souls may not like "easy." You may not like "painless."  You may actually enjoy financial-aid-related suffering!
If you're someone who loves to do everything the hard way and enjoys jumpin g obstacles, we have six easy tips to turn your FAFSA application experienc= e into an ongoing train wreck.

***

1. Rush through your FSA ID Setup
Filling out applications is boring, and you're a great typist. You just want to get this over with so you can grab a burger. So by all means, rush, rush, rush! You have many more important things to do than securing up to $5,700 of free money to further your education. By all means, skim over questions without reading carefully and type as fast as your fingers can move.
Don't bother to double-check what you typed, either... This isn't English or math class!

2. On the FSA ID, use an email you can't get into.  Haven't logged in to that old email account you set up in high school for three years? Well, it obviously needs some exercise. Who cares if you have no idea what the password is and the data plan on your phone has run out? It's not like you'll need to log in or anything...
Wait. You mean the FSA ID won't be usable until you retrieve a number sent to that email account? Uh oh...

3. Don't write down your FSA user ID or password. Capital letters, lower case letters, numbers, special characters... No problem! You're just using a password similar to the one you have for everything else, right? I'm sure you'll remember the exact username and password a year from now just as well as you remember what you had for lunch two days ago.
... What was that again?

4. Make up security questions that won't make sense a year from now. The goal of security questions is to help you log in later on (a week later, a year later, etc.) if you don't remember your username and password. If you enjoy guessing, live in the moment! Make your security question "What's my favorite TV show?" or better yet, "What is my age?" Lord knows that won't change from year to year.

5. Let your parents or a friend do it all for you. Computers may not be your thing, or financial aid may bore you. You should probably just let your parents or your friend fill the whole thing out for you. It's not like they might accidentally put down their social security number where yours should go. Ditto for the security questions, mailing address, email address...
And even if they're careful, it's your college business, but do you really need to know it?

6. If you get stuck or confused, don't stop and ask for help-just keep going! Sure, the Texarkana College Financial Aid Office is staffed with experts in this stuff who would love to help you get it right the first time. Yes, you can work on it together on the computers five feet from their office. But where's the challenge in that? Financial Aid is like fishing twine. The more tangled it gets, the more fun you'll have unwinding it later.

***
There you have it - a perfect guide to giving yourself migraines when setting up the FSA ID!
However, if you really want to be boring about it and have a FSA ID and FAFSA experience that's simple, easy, and straightforward, it isn't hard.
Read carefully. Check your answers. Use an email that works. Ask questions.  The TC Financial Aid Office would love to help.