Posted Date:January 25, 2016
| Author: | Lisa DiCarlo, Director, Student Experience Group, Federal Student Aid |
Subject: Upcoming Distribution of 2016-2017 Renewal FAFSA® Reminders
The distribution of 2016-2017 Renewal Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) Reminders by the Central Processing System (CPS) will begin on January 26, 2016 and continue into early February 2016. For your convenience, the e-mail text is included with this announcement.
As described in the October 28, 2015 electronic announcement posted to the Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP) Web site, Renewal Reminder e-mail notifications are sent to students who are renewal-eligible for 2016-2017 and qualified for reminders by January 20, 2016. Eligible students must have a valid e-mail address on their 2015-2016 record to receive a 2016-2017 Renewal Reminder e-mail.
Note: The reminder qualification and distribution dates were originally scheduled to occur earlier in January 2016, but were rescheduled subsequently to later in January to accommodate revisions to reminder text.
Encouraging Students to Complete a FAFSA
In addition to sending Renewal Reminder e-mails, Federal Student Aid utilizes social media to encourage returning students to complete a FAFSA each year. We post information on many topics, including FAFSA completion, on our social media sites that can be shared with your student population. We encourage you to share or re-tweet anything from our pages. Feel free to use and personalize any of the information posted.
Another great resource is blogs. Federal Student Aid has a number of very useful blog posts geared toward both parents and students. One of the most popular is 11 Common FAFSA Mistakes. You can find this blog and other FAFSA and financial aid related blogs at http://blog.ed.gov/topic/federal-student-aid/
Available Resources
Federal Student Aid encourages financial aid administrators, high school counselors and anyone advocating on behalf of students seeking financial assistance to attend post-secondary education to visit the Federal Student Aid Financial Aid Toolkit at www.financialaidtoolkit.ed.gov for information and ideas on how to spread the word to students. Among the items available on the Web site are presentations, fact sheets, infographics and videos all easily accessible via an in-depth search engine. Feel free to take advantage of any and all material available on the site and to customize them to meet the needs of your institution.
New this year is a revamped toolkit page dedicated to digital outreach that showcases digital and social media resources to share important federal student aid information with your networks. You’ll find sample social media posts, messaging guidelines, infographics, and videos that you can use in your outreach efforts. Content exists for both FSA ID and FAFSA Completion.
Contact Information
If you have questions regarding the 2016-2017 renewal FAFSA process, contact CPS/SAIG Technical Support at 800/330-5947 (TDD/TTY 800/511-5806) or by e-mail at CPSSAIG@ed.gov.