alanthompson1984 Posted February 28, 2009 Posted February 28, 2009 Hey everyone. I know this time of year is hectic trying to meet deadlines. FAFSA form isn't what I call a walk in the park. I think I can fill up a uHaul with all my forms, applications, and paperwork required for admissions and other government loans. I'd like to know why they make it so difficult. I had read Obama wants to streamline a lot of this. Hopefully. I was looking around to get my FAFSA form processed and done correctly and I used [website]. They were really good so for those who are in need of the assistance. thekidisalright and repatriate 2
Yellow#5 Posted February 28, 2009 Posted February 28, 2009 FafsaUSA charges you money. The FREE Fafsa website is http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/ Please ignore the spammer.
Dreams Posted February 28, 2009 Posted February 28, 2009 FafsaUSA charges you money. The FREE Fafsa website is http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/ Please ignore the spammer. They get smarter and smarter don't they! Furthermore, the OP lists Bachelors in the program; and this is a grad forum after all :shock:
Yellow#5 Posted February 28, 2009 Posted February 28, 2009 That's true FSIA, good eye. Just to reiterate, for foreign students, stressed out and haggard first time appliers or just anyone who might be somewhat distracted today and off their guard for the extensive tenticles of internet thievery, I'd like to quote my own post: FafsaUSA charges you money. The FREE Fafsa website is http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/ Please ignore the spammer.
alanthompson1984 Posted February 28, 2009 Author Posted February 28, 2009 Actually my bad when updating my profile since I just completed my bachelors and moving on to graduate program at USC. Like I said I've been a litle pre-occupied with preparing for my loan grants and getting FAFSA taken care of. I simply provided the info since I came across it as of this week and deadlines are up in CA as March rolls around. Yes you can totally fill it out for free at the government site. And you can stand in line at the DMV without an appointment. For those of us who are pressed for time, its helpful to have services available to take care of the FAFSA process. I also checked out FAFSA.COM and other sources. So not to show any bias, yah you can go to the government site at: http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/ or you can go to any of the other services. Its just like filing out your tax form. You can do it yourself or you can have assistance. Just passing on the advice. Thx Alan thekidisalright and repatriate 2
Yellow#5 Posted February 28, 2009 Posted February 28, 2009 I did my FREE Fafsa very quickly at http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/ . It is not an intimidating form at all. I'm not sure why anyone would voluntarily pay more for this process, or why they would give their social security number to a company that charges you to file free government paperwork. thekidisalright 1
alanthompson1984 Posted February 28, 2009 Author Posted February 28, 2009 Yellow, yes you can fill it out free. But if you are crunche for time, work two jobs and got a lot going on, sometimes it pays to have those who can really take care of the details for you take care of it. Like I said, you can do your own taxes too or you can go to such places as HR. Its to each his own. I just offered my experience and wasn't looking to start a flame war. Just passing on my experience I had this week. You may find it easy but there were several reasons why I chose to have a third-party do it. I wanted to make sure I didn't make any mistakes given its so close to the deadline and they took care of the finer details to make sure I didn't screw up my submission. For those who are filing, FREE or if you PAY...again to each his own, do whatever you feel comfortable, but make sure to follow these tips that sum up nicely the process and what you need to look for: http://www.distance-education.org/Artic ... SA-55.html thekidisalright and repatriate 2
Dreams Posted February 28, 2009 Posted February 28, 2009 I am curious Alan. Are you an American student or a foreign student? If American, did you not complete it while in undergrad? If so then you can renew it annually and the basic info will carry over. The only thing essentially needing updating would be the tax information. Or did you not get need based assistance in undergrad?
Dreams Posted February 28, 2009 Posted February 28, 2009 Also Alan, did your undergrad university (again assuming you are an American applicant) have resources available to help you complete the FAFSA? At my university, I help all students under my advisement who need it complete the FAFSA, as well as incoming freshmen who ask my department. I would think the resources or people are there on campus, it would just take some digging. And it could save people the expense of paying another organization as well. repatriate 1
yivorechecho Posted February 28, 2009 Posted February 28, 2009 Also Alan, did your undergrad university (again assuming you are an American applicant) have resources available to help you complete the FAFSA? At my university, I help all students under my advisement who need it complete the FAFSA, as well as incoming freshmen who ask my department. I would think the resources or people are there on campus, it would just take some digging. And it could save people the expense of paying another organization as well. Seriously. When I got stuck I just called Student Financial Services at my school and they walked me through those questions. On one occasion I had a complicated question related to work-study that they couldn't answer immediately, but they told me to call back an hour later and they would have researched the answer for me. I did, and they had. I can barely find the front of a tax return and I successfully filled out my own FAFSA. You absolutely shouldn't pay for it. Alternatively, there's http://www.fafsaonline.com/fafsa-form/, which is a free online guide that walks you through every step, tells you what info to put in and where to find it. Or there are message boards, etc. Even if you are clueless you should be able to figure it out just by asking.
was1984 Posted February 28, 2009 Posted February 28, 2009 The FAFSA takes like 15 minutes to fill out. The things people try to make money on!
GenderMediaGrad Posted March 1, 2009 Posted March 1, 2009 These companies are getting sneakier and sneakier. I didn't need to fill out a FAFSA as an undergrad and didn't know much about it, but went to the free website and started filling out the information. I saved it with the intention of coming back later. The next day, I got an e-mail telling me to go back and finish my FAFSA as the deadline was approaching. The e-mail said "FAFSA" so I clicked on the link and went to the form. Some of my information seemed to be missing so I figured I didn't save it correctly, re-did those sections and went on and completed the form. Then, at the very end, it asked for my credit card information. Confused, I looked more closely at the website. It was FAFSA.COM. Realizing I had been directed to a paid site I felt both angry and stupid, but simply deleted my personal information and went to the free site and re-did the form. Like everyone else said, the FAFSA is easy to fill out and takes about 15 minutes. And I just have to say that sending those unsolicited e-mails to students and using company names that have 'FAFSA' in the name is rather sheisty. I know I'm about to be a Ph.D. student and should have been paying more attention, but still--- sheisty.
slowbro Posted March 1, 2009 Posted March 1, 2009 Hey, look at what the user "alanthompson" tried to submit to Digg yesterday! I'm headed off to college and recently needed to file my FAFSA (confusing!). I recently came across _____.COM to help with my filing. They were good at answering my questions and it wasn't expensive to do it. You can do it through the government site, but it is long and drawn out. The guy at _____.COM helped me out. I'd recommend 'em. Thanks. It was promptly deleted, but you can see Google's cached copy for now at http://209.85.173.132/search?q=cache:4m ... d=12&gl=us. As a first-generation college student to whom these scams are usually targeted, I have nothing but loathing for the original poster, whoever he or she is.
alanthompson1984 Posted April 10, 2009 Author Posted April 10, 2009 Yes. I used them and posted my feedback on using the service as anyone would as a word of advice, but everyone seems to think when one offers their own personal advice on something or post something of relevance to the web then its a scam or advertisment. I was simply offering my take on having assistance with filing out the form. YES. You can do it for free. YES. You can do your taxes for free. YES. You can clean your own car. YES. You can clean your own house. But there are times when you need assistance and help, and in this case, I found the extra guidance worthwhile by being able to speak to someone who could help me process the form. Sometimes going through the government sites/institutions take time and extra energy. For those who have done it on their own and feel its easy enough, great. But I don't think that means you automatically need to condemn and judge others who may wish to try other means. Secondly, if I was strictly out to promote XYZ business, I highly doubt I would have simply posted a simple message here at thegradecafe.com or one posting on DIGG. Like I said, I just recently had my FAFSA processed through them, I liked having the help, and was just passing on my experience. No conspiracy theory. sheesh. repatriate and thekidisalright 2
juilletmercredi Posted April 11, 2009 Posted April 11, 2009 I tried to visit the FAFSA USA website to see if the forms were really less time-consuming. I couldn't get past the first page because when i attempted to submit my information to the site (just basic demographic information), I kept getting a "login error." This could possibly be a genuine error, or it could be an attempt to force me to call them. Calling carries a higher price -- it costs $40 to file online, but $50 to call them and have them walk you through the steps. It also costs $30 to refile every year. This company reports that the FAFSA can take up to 5-6 hours to complete online, which is completely ridiculous. The Department of Education reports that the FAFSA can take up to 2 hours to finish, but generally in my experience (I've been completing the FAFSA since 2004 when I went to undergrad) it takes around 30-45 minutes tops if you have all of the information that you need in front of you. It takes even less time to complete a renewal, especially if you are entering graduate school and do not have report your parents' financial information. I also checked out a competitor, FAFSA.com. That service charges you $80 for filing your FAFSA. And faster and more convenient my ass. This service asks the EXACT same questions as the fafsa.gov.edu website, in the exact same format and order. It would take exactly the same amount of time to complete as the FAFSA from the government website because of this. These website are, IMO, scams. The fafsa.ed.gov website is FREE -- hence the name "FREE application for federal student aid" -- and the FAFSA does not take hours and hours to complete. Collect all of the information you need ahead of time and it should take you under an hour to complete. The comparison to tax filing does not hold up because tax code is complicated and tax professionals can save you thousands of dollars by helping you find loopholes -- there's not the same kind of process for student aid, it's relatively straightforward. Besides, you can file your taxes electronically cheaper than it costs to use some of these FAFSA-filing services, for something that is inarguably much less complicated and time-consuming! Considering that you can save your FAFSA information online and return to it when you have a free moment, and that calling the FAFSA people is free (and they are very friendly and helpful -- I have called them a few times before), don't do it. That $40-80 could be better spent on helping to cover GRE fees, application fees, flights to see your schools if you have to pay for those, an interview outfit, or buying a gift for your recommenders.
HisRoyalHighness Posted April 13, 2009 Posted April 13, 2009 If someone really finds the FAFSA difficult to fill out then they're probably going to find most graduate programs extraordinarily difficult. I can't empathize with people who complain about how hard it is to fill in an electronic form which asks such difficult questions like: "how much was your total income last year." thekidisalright 1
COLLEGEKID1 Posted September 19, 2010 Posted September 19, 2010 FAFSAUSA.COM IS A RIPOFF, YOU CAN FILE FOR FREE WITH THE REAL FAFSA
COLLEGEKID1 Posted September 19, 2010 Posted September 19, 2010 FafsaUSA charges you money. The FREE Fafsa website is http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/ Please ignore the spammer.
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