High school students applying for the state’s Promise Scholarship and other West Virginia students seeking financial aid for higher education should mark their calendars.

The deadline to apply for the merit-based scholarship and to file a federal financial aid application is March 1.

The FAFSA — Free Application for Federal Student Aid — must be filed by all students to receive any need-based financial aid from the state or federal government.

West Virginia law requires those students applying for the Promise Scholarship — even though it’s not need-based — to file a FAFSA application.

Students do not need to re-file the FAFSA form or the Promise application each year. However, if the student is receiving other forms of financial aid, he or she is encouraged to file the federal aid form.

“I certainly encourage all students applying for Promise and any other West Virginia grant programs to file by March 1 to qualify for those programs,” said Lisa DeFrank-Cole, executive director of the Promise Scholarship program.

Those students who fail to file the FAFSA form on time could risk not receiving the scholarship, she said.

Last year, 50 students were denied the Promise Scholarship because students filed FAFSA or Promise applications after the March 1 deadline.

About 3,000-4,000 West Virginia students are awarded the scholarship each year.

To fill out the federal aid form, students must have on hand their Social Security number, driver’s license, 2006 W-2 tax forms and other records of money earned, and their 2006 Federal Income Tax return.

Those dependent students also must have on hand their parents’ federal tax returns and financial documents such as most recent bank statements, any untaxed income records, and most recent business and investment information.

“The process of compiling the necessary paperwork to complete this application can be daunting,” said Sharon Murphy, account director for American Education Services. AES is one of the nation’s leading not-for-profit providers of student financial aid services.

About $89.6 billion is available in federal student aid. That money can come in the form of grants, scholarships, work-study programs and low-cost loans, Murphy said.

To get their share of the funds, students need to fill out the FAFSA form completely, properly and on time.

Students at West Virginia State University can file their FAFSA forms electronically at the university’s filing lab in Sullivan Hall, Room 327. The lab is open Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Students also can file the federal aid form at www.fafsa.ed.gov.

For more information on the Promise Scholarship and the FAFSA, visit www.promisescholarships.org/promise/home.aspx.

This entry was posted by Taman Siswa on Monday, February 19, 2007 at 6:31 am and is filed under Education News, Scholarship. Tags: Education News, Financial Aid, Grant, Loans, Scholarship, Student, Study, . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.