FINANCIAL AID

FINANCIAL AID TIMELINE AND CHANGES

PPYInfo — “PRIOR-PRIOR YEAR”: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Beginning in the fall of 2016, the timeline to apply for financial aid is changing. Previously, families (US citizens and permanent residents) would wait until after January 1st to start filling out the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) with income and tax information for the calendar year that just concluded. (Often, tax information would have to be estimated because families would not actually file taxes until as late as April 15th.) Now, domestic families will be able to begin completing the FAFSA on October 1st with income and tax information that was submitted for taxes the previous April. This PPY2 shift in procedure is known as “Prior-Prior Year” (“PPY”) because families will submit tax information from the prior-prior year before the year the student is seeking admission to that institution. (For example, students seeking to enter college in the fall of 2017 will submit income and tax information from 2015. See the chart below for clarification.)

FINANCIAL AID APPLICATIONS

FAFSA: the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, administered by the US Department of Education, is an application to determine eligibility for financial aid from the US government. Only US citizens and permanent residents are eligible to submit the FAFSA.

FundingEducation — Funding Your Education (Federal Student Aid)

CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE: The College Scholarship Service financial aid application is distributed by the College Board. The CSS PROFILE is administered by many, not all, colleges and universities, and determines eligibility for financial aid from institutional funds.