Chesterton High School is hosting a free night to help current seniors and their parents with their FAFSA forms! It will be a great opportunity for students to get started and learn more about FAFSA. It will take place on December 5, 2024, from 6-7 pm in the Large Group Instruction Room (LGI). Make sure to enter through door one!
One might be wondering: What even is a FAFSA? FAFSA stands for “Free Application for Federal Student Aid.” In simple terms, it is a form that gives college students and incoming college students access to grants and loans from all levels of government, from federal to state to just your school. It can be a great way to lessen the burden of the cost of schooling past high school. It may seem a little complicated but it is extremely worth it in the long run and can save you thousands of dollars.
CHS is hoping to lessen the amount of confusion or stress that comes along with filling out a FAFSA. Their Free FAFSA Completion Night does just that. It is a chance for students and their families to get support and ask questions.
“So we are actually going to have like people there from the state who actually specialize in FAFSA and they’re going to be able to help students and parents complete their FAFSA form, which can be a complicated process especially if you’ve never done it before. So basically it’s just gonna be a night to help,” said CHS Counselor, Gretchen Arthur.
Arthur has been a long-time and well-informed counselor for CHS. She mentioned that CHS is bringing in specialists from the state in order to give students accurate and helpful information.
“I would say definitely use your resources. Like a lot of colleges they’re applying to would have people that would help them turn in FAFSA, come to FAFSA completion night, you can come see your school counselor. We can’t help you complete the form but we can get you started and get you pointed in the right direction,” said Arthur.
There are plenty of options to make filling out a FAFSA easier. With the amount of money that FAFSA can save and the amount of help available, there is no reason not to fill it out.
The only prerequisite to the Free FAFSA Completion Night is that students must register for a FAFSA ID prior to attending. Registration is available at this link:studentaid.gov/fsa-id/create-account. In addition to having a FAFSA ID, there are some additional documents that students may want to bring. These documents include student and parent social security numbers, 2023 tax returns, records of child support received, current balances of cash, savings, and checking accounts, and the net worth of investments, businesses, and farms.
“There is, in FAFSA, there’s like a student portion they have to do, but I would say that if the student’s unable to come it’s totally fine just for the parent to be there and they can get started,” explained Arthur.
The school is working to make it as easy as possible for families to get the help they need to take advantage of the opportunities that are available by filling out the FAFSA form.
CHS is looking forward to seeing you at the Free FAFSA Completion Night!
