Accurately completing your FAFSA is a crucial part of the financial aid application process.  These helpful hints and common application errors were designed to help you avoid mistakes John Tyler students commonly make on the FAFSA.  In addition to the list below, please also thoroughly read the instructions on the FAFSA application and review the additional FAFSA instructions on the Department of Education web site. 

If you are still unsure of how to answer a question, please call either the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 1-800-4-FED AID or the College’s Financial Aid Office. Taking a few extra minutes to ask a question during the application process could save you from weeks of delays. 

Helpful Hints  

Complete your federal tax returns early

It is best to use information from your completed tax return on your financial aid paperwork.  However, if necessary, you should use estimated information to meet the priority deadlines established by John Tyler.

Item 27 - College Graduate

High school seniors should answer “no” to Item 27,“Will you have your first bachelor's degree by July 1, 2009?”

Item 30 - Enrollment Plans

Item 30 is not considered in the packaging process. For the fall and spring semesters, students will be awarded aid based on a projected full-time enrollment status until the end of the add/drop period. After that time, your aid will be revised and based on the actual number of credits you are taking. For the summer semester, financial aid will be awarded based on your actual enrollment.

Items 48-60 – Student Status

If you answer "No" to all of the questions in items 48-60, you must complete the green student and purple parent sections of the application.

Item 49 - Enrolled in a graduate or professional program

John Tyler students will answer no to this question. It pertains to students who have already earned a bachelor's degree and are enrolled in a master's or doctorate program.

Items 75 and 96 - Household Information

For these items, you should include only those people in the household for whom you or your parents will provide more than half of total child support paid during 2008. For more information, refer to pages 6 and 8 in the application instruction booklet. Roommates do not count as family members.

Item 37 or 87 - Income Tax Paid

Use the line item reference for the tax form used. This is not the amount of tax reported on W-2 forms.

Item 46 or 94 - Work-Study/Child Support Exceptions

On pages 5 and 7 in the application booklet, list federal work-study and other financial aid reported as taxable income. List any child support you paid in 2008.

Common Application Errors

About Yourself

• Be sure your social security number is accurate and written clearly on the form. Both the federal government and John Tyler use this number to drive the application process; an error here can cause serious delays.
• If you have not completed your first bachelor's degree by July 1, then this question should be answered with a "no.” Read this carefully.

Your Plans

• You should enter any veterans educational benefits that you will receive during the academic year. This includes reservists, national guardsmen, previous active duty, and dependents of veterans. This information can affect your aid eligibility if not reported correctly.

Household Information

• If the FAFSA requires you to provide parental information, list the marital status of the parent that you live with. This means, if your biological parents are divorced and you live with your mother who has remarried, then her status is “married.” Given this same scenario; when completing the income information both the mother's income and her husband's must be listed on the application.
• The number of people that you list as being part of your household should be people that are being supported by that household. If you have a sister or brother who is a college student, and is required by the FAFSA to put parent data on the form, they count as a family member. A self-supporting sister or brother who doesn't live at home, and does not attend college, is not considered part of the household for purposes of the FAFSA.

Income

• All income information needs to be completed.  If a certain kind of income is not applicable to you, answer zero. A blank answer indicates to us that you meant to check a number and forgot to fill it in. We will request verification for all blank answers, which will delay the process.
• Earned Income Credit, if reported on your tax return, is considered "untaxed income" on the FAFSA. This is also true of IRA or Keogh payments you and/or your parents made during the year.
• For most of our students the only income that would be applicable here is the money earned from Federal Work-Study employment. Remember this is only the amount for the tax year indicated on your FAFSA. For a dependent student's parent, this allows you to indicate child support that the parent paid for children not residing with that parent. These are the two most common exclusions.
• Remember no to leave any questions blank.  Blank answers will require verification, delaying the process. 

Asset information

• Again, do not leave any of these questions blank.  Answering zero indicates that a question is not applicable to you. Leaving a question blank indicates that you skipped the question.  Many people who think they do not have to complete this section and leave it blank cause their aid to be delayed, because blank answer are flagged and must be verified.  If you complete the section, but were not required to, the information will not be used in the calculation to determine your aid.

Housing Code

• We base your cost of attendance on your housing code. If you do not complete this question we will assume a cost less than what you may be eligible to receive.

Federal School Codes and Signatures

• John Tyler Community College's Title IV Code is 004004.  If you do not list John Tyler Community College’s code in step 6, we will not to receive your FAFSA information and cannot process any financial aid for you.
• Finally, be sure to sign your form. An unsigned form is essentially the same as no form at all. If you are married, your spouse must also sign the application. If you are a dependent student, or if parent information was required on the form, then your parent(s) must also sign the form.