Keene State College believes that the primary responsibility for financing your college education rests with you and your family. However, financial aid is available to assist in your efforts to pay college costs. The application for financial aid at KSC is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Get started...

Some factors used to determine the financial aid package include:

• KSC's Cost of Attendance,
• Your Expected Family Contribution (EFC), and
• Your FAFSA filing date (before or after KSC's March 1 priority deadline).

Cost of Attendance
The Cost of Attendance includes tuition, fees, room, board, books and supplies, as well as personal and transportation expenses.
Current year costs
Planning Worksheet

Expected Family Contribution
Your Expected Family Contribution (EFC) is calculated by the U.S. Department of Education. The EFC is the amount the federal government believes you and your family are able to contribute toward your college costs, based on the financial information you provided on your FAFSA.

Student Financial Services subtracts your EFC from your Cost of Attendance. The difference is your financial aid eligibility, including federal, state, and institutional funds, as well as student employment.

Verification
If your FAFSA is selected for verification, you will have to submit additional financial documentation to KSC in order to qualify for financial aid. Verification does not mean you have done anything wrong. It affects about 30 percent of all FAFSA applications and is a relatively routine request.

If selected, you will be asked to provide documents to KSC that authenticate the data on your FAFSA. You will also be asked to complete and submit a Verification Worksheet. Because aid is distributed on a first-come, first-served basis, it is very important that documents are submitted in a timely manner.

Note: Your financial aid application will be reviewed when we receive all requested documents.

Adjustments to your Expected Family Contribution
A number of factors may cause Student Financial Services to adjust your EFC in ways that can either reduce or increase your eligibility for financial aid.

Factors that can reduce your eligibility include (but are not limited to) your having:

• Underestimated income, savings, or investments
• Over-reported taxes, tax exemptions, family size, or the number of family members attending college
• Reported business or real estate income or losses that do not decrease real income

• Over-reported income, savings, or investments
• Under-reported taxes, tax exemptions, family size, or the number of family members attending college
• Lost income due to unemployment or underemployment
• Unforeseen medical expenses due to the major illness of an immediate family member

Where can I get my EFC?
If you have not filed your FAFSA for the current year, you may estimate your EFC using an EFC calculator (provided courtesy of FinAid!). Note that you must file a FAFSA for the current or upcoming year to receive aid at KSC. For assistance financing your EFC, see Financial Aid and the related bullets on our website.

Identify Yourself

• Use your legal name as it appears on your Social Security card. Nicknames or aliases will cause a processing delay.
• Read the questions carefully. The words "you" and "your" on the FAFSA always refer to the student, not the parents.
• To be considered a veteran, you must have served on active duty and been discharged under other than dishonorable conditions. If your service was only for training purposes (e.g., National Guard, Reserves, or ROTC), you are not considered a veteran for your federal financial aid application.
• Remember to count yourself, the student, as one of the people in your household who will be a college student during the award year.

Your Parents and the FAFSA

• If your parents are divorced or separated, the parent with whom you lived the most during the past 12 months is the parent responsible for filling out the FAFSA. This is not necessarily the parent who has legal custody.
• If the parent responsible for completing the FAFSA has remarried, the new spouse must report their income and assets on the FAFSA. Prenuptial agreements have no bearing on this requirement.

Your Dependents and the FAFSA

• A legal dependent is a person for whom you provide and will continue to provide more than half of their support. Support includes money, gifts, loans, housing, food, clothing, automobile, medical and dental care, and payment of college costs.
• If you have a child who is supported by your parents or someone else, you should answer "no" to the question that asks about legal dependents other than a spouse.
• If you have an unborn child who will be born before or during the award year (July 1 through June 30) and will be your legal dependent, that child should be counted as a household member.

Avoid Common FAFSA Mistakes

• The most frequent mistake made is leaving a field blank. If the answer is zero or the question does not apply to you, write in a zero. If you leave a question blank, the federal processor will assume that you forgot to answer.
• Use the 1040 federal tax return for income reporting and reporting taxes paid. Some parents and students mistakenly use their W-2 form.
• Report all the required sources of untaxed income, which include Social Security, child support, and Aid to Dependent Children (ADC).
• Report your/your parents correct marital status. If you/your parents plan to file as married, you/they must be married on or before the date that you sign your FAFSA.
• Make sure to include your stepparent's information.
• Include yourself in the household size. Even if you didn't live there during the previous year, you should always include yourself as part of your parent's household.
• Don't forget to sign the application. If you are filing as a dependent, both you and your parents must sign. You and your parents can sign the form electronically using your federal PIN numbers.
• Remember to file on time; priority is given to students who file the FAFSA by March 1.
• As with all forms and applications, make sure you read the instructions and questions carefully.