Almost 20,000 extra Michigan college students are anticipated to be eligible for a Pell Grant in 2024-25 and 1000’s of {dollars} can be found for Michigan college students to cowl prices of a post-secondary training.
However college students have to fill out the FAFSA, or the Free Utility for Federal Scholar Help, to assist them and their households unlock federal, state and institutional support to cowl faculty prices.
To assist college students and households, the primary of a number of periods can be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday in Detroit to reply questions and work one-on-one with folks on the newly revamped FAFSA kind. The occasion, a partnership of the Detroit Faculty Attainment Community, Nationwide Faculty Attainment Community and Capital One, can be held on the Capital One Café, 511 Woodward Ave., Detroit. Two different workshops can be held Feb. 24 and March 23 in Detroit, whereas related periods are scheduled to be held throughout the state.
FAFSA was a kind that college students and households have lengthy thought-about onerous and complicated. However the U.S. Division of Training streamlined the shape for the primary time in many years to make it easier and make extra college students eligible for 1000’s of {dollars} to pay for faculty that in lots of instances do not have to be paid again. Usually accessible in October, the brand new FAFSA was launched Jan. 1.
That is being hailed because the “higher FAFSA” however there’s much less time for highschool seniors to finish the shape if they’re planning to go to school within the fall, stated stated Cyekeia Lee, DCAN government director. Others who want to finish the shape, comparable to college students already in class or adults contemplating going again, may attend Saturday’s occasion.
“This enables us to be aspect by aspect serving to college students do FAFSA,” Lee stated. “Folks do not need to undergo this alone. They’ll undergo this with folks line by line. It should be a sport changer for individuals who really feel like they need to do it alone as a result of they will not need to.”
An estimated 19,844 extra Michigan college students are anticipated to be eligible for a Pell Grant in 2024-25, and over 38,000 extra college students are anticipated to obtain the utmost grant, which is $6,835, in response to data released in November by the U.S. Department of Education.
The FAFSA additionally helps scholar unlock funding from establishments they plan to attend in addition to state grants together with the brand new Michigan Achievement Scholarship, which awards grants ranging between $2,000 to $5,500 to state college students in all sectors of post-secondary training.
Greater than $53 million in scholarships have been awarded to 25,400 Michigan college students within the first yr of the Michigan Achievement Scholarship, decreasing prices by a mean of by $2,093, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s workplace stated in December.
“FAFSA is the golden ticket to entry federal, state and institutional monetary support, together with Pell Grants and the brand new Michigan Achievement Scholarship,” stated Ryan Fewins-Bliss, government director of the Michigan Faculty Entry Community. “Whenever you present college students and households with actual and correct details about monetary support that’s accessible to assist them pay for faculty, they notice their desires are extra attainable than they thought. In the end, the FAFSA is about getting folks the knowledge they should make your best option for his or her life and profession objectives and all college students and households deserve that.”
The workshops come as Michigan is working to extend the variety of folks with a university diploma.
Different scheduled workshops to assist college students and households fill out the FAFSA kind embrace:
- Jan. 29, Oakland University virtual FAFSA workshop, 6 p.m.
- Feb. 9, FAFSA Completion Event, 12-2 p.m., Delta Faculty, College Heart, Mich.
- Feb. 19, President’s Day FAFSA Event, 11 a.m. – 7 p.m., Jackson Crossing Mall, Jackson.
- Feb. 24, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m., Capital One Café, 511 Woodward Ave, Detroit.
- March 23, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m., Capital One Café, 511 Woodward Ave, Detroit.
