Paying for school, as many people know, can be difficult. We all have our own personal income levels, and sometimes we could all use a little spare change. But what do you do when you don’t have quite enough to pay for school?

Financial Aid and Admissions Director Camille Nicolai shed some light on the inner workings of programs like FAFSA, student loans, the SALT program and Work-Study opportunities for students.

FAFSA (Free Application for Financial Student Aid

FAFSA forms can be confusing and intimidating if you’re new to the system. To help you navigate these forms Nicolai explained the fall and spring semester FAFSA application process, “As of October 1st students can fill out the 2017-2018 FAFSA application; students will be able to use the same tax information from 2015 and the Financial Aid department will be sending out a mass email with more information.”  Nicolai went into further detail about the fall and spring semester application process, saying, “For students attending classes next semester financial aid is automatically awarded to you, as long as you have filled out a 2016-17 FAFSA, however this isn’t applied if you have reached 150% of your program credits.” Nicolai also touched on FAFSA for students attending summer classes, “For summer classes financial aid is dependent on if you have any funds left from the previous semester. If you weren’t full-time in fall and spring, you would have money left over.”

Student Loans

Loans are provided to student sthrough two disbursement periods. The first disbursement period is around the same time students receive their financial aid refund checks. The second disbursement period comes Nov. 2 of this semester. For more information about these dates you can go to the dates of importance section on the MATC website.

The Pell Grant

A lot of people get confused about the Pell Grant because, like most people, the idea of free money is mind boggling.  Once again Nicolai saves the day,  “he Pell Grant is paid out to students based on their enrollment status. If enrolled full time (12 credits)  you get the maximum amount of your grant; if you’re enrolled [part time] between 11 and 9 credits, it is reduced by 25%; if you’re enrolled half time between 6 and 8 credits, your grant is cut  by 50% and anything under 6 credits it is reduced by 75%.”  Furthermore, Nicolai says, “There is also a census date; our date this year was Sept. 26 and by that date students need to be enrolled in all of the credits they want to apply to their financial aid…Say you decide to add another class on October 1st you can add that class but your financial aid won’t increase, however if you were enrolled for 12 credits and we paid you at 12 credits and you withdraw from the class before October1st, then we have to go back and adjust your financial aid, so you’d owe money back.”

Work-Study

When filling out FAFSA you are asked if you are interested in Work-Study. A lot of students don’t know how to respond to this question because they are unfamiliar with the program. Nicolai said, “If you say yes you can always change your mind later on. It’s awarded to you based on availability. Work-Study is when you work on or off campus for payment.  We have student workers all over the school. If students are interested in Work- Study and they aren’t awarded it, they can request to be put on the waitlist.”  If you do get accepted into the program, Nicolai tells students to visit the JOBShop, and see the available positions. Nicolai explains the next step once you have found a job that interests you, “[students] will then interview for that position by contacting the supervisor. It pays $11 an hour, and makes good work experience to be put on your resume.”

SALT

SALT is a very a useful and free program that students can use to navigate through student loans and the repayment process. While SALT can be tough to comprehend, it is still very important.  Nicolai said, “[SALT] is meant to teach our students how to be more financial savvy. You can activate your account, and view scholarships on their website. They also offer discounts from certain places for students. Also once you graduate they can help you through the loan repayment process.”

Students are welcome to visit the Financial Aid Office to discuss any more information or visit the financial aid section on the MATC website.