Skip the Scavenger Hunt: The Treasure Trove of Federal Student Aid Resources

Sept. 16, 2014Susan Thares

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Topics

• StudentAid.gov– Prepare for College– FAFSA– Repay Loans

• My Federal Student Aid• Financial Aid Toolkit• Ordering Print Publications• Social Media (Facebook and Twitter)• YouTube Videos• Blogs

StudentAid.gov

• College prep

• Career search

• Budgeting tips

Prepare for CollegeStudentAid.gov

• Grants, loans, work-study

• Scholarships

• Fraud alert

Types of AidStudentAid.gov

• Basic criteria

• Eligibility of special groups

• Staying eligible

• Regaining eligibility

Who Gets AidStudentAid.gov

• Filling out FAFSA• Dependency status• Which parent• IRS DRT• What to expect

after FAFSA

FAFSA: Apply for AidStudentAid.gov

• Repayment plans• Repayment

Estimator• Consolidation• Loan forgiveness• Default prevention• Ombudsman

Repay Your LoansStudentAid.gov

StudentAid.gov/login

• NSLDS interface

• Quick access to other sites

My Federal Student AidStudentAid.gov

• Overview of aid received

• Links to detailed info re individual loans & grants

• Alerts for default, converted TEACH Grant, aid overpayment

My Federal Student Aid Home Page

• Fact sheets• Brochures• Booklets• Videos • Infographics• Info re: pubs

in Spanish and Braille

StudentAid.gov/ResourcesStudentAid.gov

AUDIENCE:

School counselors & other mentors

SITE STRUCTURE:• Learn About

Financial Aid• Conduct Outreach• Get Training• Search Tools and

Resources

FinancialAidToolkit.ed.gov

• Self-instruction

• Talking points and tips for advising students

• Featured resources

Learn About Financial AidFinancialAidToolkit.ed.gov

IDEAS & RESOURCES FOR OUTREACH:

• In-person or remote

• Resources to help answer FAQs from special audiences

Conduct OutreachFinancialAidToolkit.ed.gov

• Accessing free formal training in financial aid

• National Training for Counselors and Mentors (NT4CM)

Get Training

FILTER SEARCH BY:

• Resource Type (e.g., videos, presentations, how-to guides)

• Audience Type

• Topic (e.g., FAFSA completion, loan repayment)

• Time of Year

Search Tools And ResourcesFinancialAidToolkit.ed.gov

For organizations to order and share– www.FSAPubs.gov– Search “How-to Guides” on Toolkit for instructions

on signing up for ID number for organization

Bulk Publication OrderingFinancialAidToolkit.ed.gov

FSA Social Resources

SOC IAL MED IA

/FederalStudentAid

@FAFSA

COMING TH IS FALL

FSA Blog

BLOGS

www.ed.gov/blog

YOUTUBE V IDEOS

/FederalStudentAid

www.studentaid.gov/blog

Paying for college

College preparedness

Student loan repayment

Facebook

Facebook.com/FederalStudentAid

Search “Federal Student Aid”

Facebook.com/FederalStudentAid

“Like” our page“Follow” us to see our posts on your newsfeed Share our posts or use the content to create your own content

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FSA responds to many questions on Facebook

Facebook.com/FederalStudentAid Facebook Post Examples

FSA responds to many questions on Facebook

Facebook.com/FederalStudentAid Facebook Post Examples

FSA responds to many questions on Facebook

Facebook.com/FederalStudentAid Facebook Post Examples

FSA responds to many questions on Facebook

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Facebook.com/FederalStudentAid Facebook Post Examples

We also post “fun” content that is relevant to students and parents.

Facebook.com/FederalStudentAid Sharing a Facebook Post

Clicking on the “Share” button will prompt this pop-up. You can add your own personal text.

Facebook.com/FederalStudentAid Sharing a Facebook Post

The post will be shared via your timeline and appear on your fans/friend’s newsfeed.

Also, “liking” or “commenting” on a Facebook post are other activities that can be shared to your newsfeed.

Twitter @FAFSA on Twitter

Twitter.com/FAFSA“Follow” @FAFSA to see our tweets.Currently, FSA has over 63k followers.

Twitter.com/FAFSA Twitter Post Example

Reply FavoriteRetweet

Reply to a tweet and say something about it. The tweet appears on your feed and begins a discussion thread.

Twitter.com/FAFSA Twitter Post Reply

Twitter.com/FAFSA Twitter Post Retweet

Retweet is similar to “re-sending” someone else’s tweet to all of your followers.

The original tweet is duplicated.

This tweet has been retweeted 22 times.

Twitter.com/FAFSA Twitter Post Favorite

Favorites:Lets FSA know you liked our tweet and allows you to save it for later.

This tweet has been favorited 31 times.

Twitter.com/FAFSA #AskFAFSA Office Hours

Storify Page #AskFAFSA Office Hours

Storify.com/FAFSA

Storify.com/FAFSA #AskFAFSA Office Hours

Storify.com/FAFSA

YouTube YouTube Channel

YouTube.com/FederalStudentAid

Subscribe to ourYouTube Channel

Ed.gov/Blog HomeRoom Blog

View our blogs by visiting www.ed.gov/blog

In the sidebar, click on “Federal Student Aid.”

Upcoming FSA Blog

Will launch late 2014. Stay tuned for updates!

URL:StudentAid.gov/Blog

Interested in being a guest blogger?

Upcoming FSA Blog

Will launch late 2014. Stay tuned for updates!

URL:StudentAid.gov/Blog

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FAFSA® Completion by High SchoolData is available on the number of submitted and completed FAFSAs among first-time filing applicants no older than 18. Data is broken down by state and by high school for the current (2014-2015) cycle and for the same time period last year (2013-2014) cycle). It’s currently updated monthly (more frequently during the early months of the application cycle. www.StudentAid.gov/FAFSA-HS-Data

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Questions?