Students have been able to file their FASFA applications earlier than usual. FASFA applications were able to be submitted as early as Oct. 1, of this year, as opposed to Jan. 1. According to Keene State Associate Vice President for Enrollment Steven Goetsch, Federal Department of Education enacted the “Prior Prior” dates to allow students to have more time to make decisions in the enrollment process.

Goetsch added that the FASFA for the 2017-2018 school year will be using the same 2015 income tax information as they used for the 2016-2017 school year.

However, if the 2015 income tax information is not consistent on the two applications, students will need to work with the college to ensure that the information is correct before proceeding with awarding a financial aid package to a student.

An email sent out to the college community from Associate Director of Financial Aid Deborah Nichols. In it, she said these new changes could affect work-study students.

Those who have work study and apply for 2017-2018 federal aid and have discrepancies on their forms will be given ten days to resolve the issues with their application.

If the corrections are not made after that period to resolve the issues with their application, the supervisor for that student must decide to switch that student over to student hourly employment, or have the student stop working entirely until the problem is fixed.

Goetsch stated that there are no other changes made to the FASFA that he is aware of, and that students should apply for financial aid as soon as possible to ensure that none of these issues exist in a student’s application, or fix any existing ones that might be present with the student and their family.

The priority deadline for the FASFA application is March 1, and the final deadline is June 30. More information on these changes can be found at studentaid.ed.gov

Jacob Barrett can be contacted at jbarrett@kscequinox.com