FAFSA is Now Available For Students to Apply

MUSKINGUM COUNTY, Ohio- It’s that time of year again to start applying for FAFSA, which stands for free application for federal student aid.

FAFSA is an application that allows families to determine how much federal and state financial aid they qualify for to attend any college they’ve been accepted to, says Marcy Ritzert, the Interim Director of Enrollment at Muskingum University.

“The FASA looks for parental tax information so they do make it easy to pull the tax information right from the IRS retrieval site, but it does kind of follow along with the W2’s look like, so it asks for some of that information and if there again a unique parent or guardian situation it typically looks at the parent that claims the students,” Ritzert stated.

Ritzert also encourages families to work with the financial aid office and the assigned financial aid counselor if someone is experiencing a different situation or needing individual attention.

“I think I would just encourage families to really consider all school options. Muskingum is a private institution, but 100 percent of our students that enrolled in August got financial aid so every student got some type of financial support,” Ritzert said. “So really don’t rule out a school because of cost. Go through the financial aid process, get accepted to the school that you’re interested in and then allow the FASA to work, and allow that University to put together a financial aid package for you.”

A FAFSA filing night is not offered this year, but Ritzert said they are providing financial aid counselors that will provide assistance from start up all the way up to graduation.

The FAFSA has been open since October and people can apply at studentaid.gov where it is free.