A new pilot program for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) has just made applying for college financial aid easier.
Starting this fall, students will be able to apply for the next year’s financial aid as early as October 1. For example, students applying for 2017-18 financial will use 2015 tax return information instead of 2016, or prior year tax information. Students applying for 2018-19 financial aid will use 2016 tax info.
With the new change in the application process, applicants will now use income information from two years before the start of the academic year, rather than the year before. This means that more students will be able to transfer information directly from their federal tax return into the application using an Internal Revenue Service data retrieval tool.  The retrieval tool makes the process of applying easier for students, and helps decrease common errors during the application process.
“This new process will allow students who don’t have their taxes completed by the March deadline to apply earlier, which will increase their chances of getting approved for financial aid,” said NETC’s financial aid coordinator Sheryl Marshall.
Students must file the FAFSA application to get federal aid such as Pell Grants, workstudy and subsidized or unsubsidized loans.
For more information about how to apply for financial aid, call Northeastern Technical College’s Financial Aid office at 843-921-7399 or visit www.netc.edu where there are links directly to the online FAFSA Application.