Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, if you want to be considered eligible for grant/need-based aid, you must apply for federal student aid for every school year that you attend. To reapply, you should submit a FAFSA.

From grants to loans, there’s a wide range of funds available from many different sources. We’re committed to helping you find everything you qualify for. Visit Types of Aid for a full breakdown of each option.

Financial aid money can be used to cover many educational expenses, such as tuition, housing, books, and transportation. 

Your financial need is the difference between our estimates of your cost of attending Gustavus and the amount the federal and state governments expect you and your family to contribute to those costs. [Cost of Attendance (COA) - Student Aid Index (SAI) = Financial Need.] Your Student Aid Index is calculated using a federal needs analysis formula and is based on income and other data you report on the FAFSA, including your own savings and employment income. 

If you are found to have financial need, we will offer you financial aid to meet that need. The aid offered may be any combination of grants, loans, scholarships, or student employment. 

Yes. If you are receiving any kind of financial aid from colleges or government sources, you must report it to the Financial Aid Office. 

We will adjust your financial aid package to compensate for the additional aid. Keep in mind that outside aid has some beneficial effects. We use outside scholarships to reduce the self-help level and/or replace loans instead of grants.

Most students are considered dependent. This means that we will consider your parents’ incomes and asset information when determining your financial aid. The Department of Education is very strict when it comes to determining dependency status. To qualify as independent, you need to meet certain criteria, such as being a veteran of the U.S. military or having a child that you support. You may have to provide documentation to prove that you are an independent student. If this is approved, then your parents’ financial information will not be considered when determining your financial need.  

Student loan fraud is on the rise. Here are five scams to look out for:

Student Loan Forgiveness: Fraudsters may try to entice you by offering “quick and easy” student loan forgiveness for a fee. As a borrower, there are several factors that can help you qualify for legitimate loan forgiveness. Unfortunately, none of them allow for a quick and easy process. The factors include, your chosen career path, financial situation, place of employment, and several others outlined on the studentaid.gov website. Usually, student loan forgiveness takes 10-25 years to complete. If a company claims that they provide forgiveness in less time, then it is probably a scam.

Student Loan Consolidation: Some scammers offer to consolidate your student loans in exchange for money up front. Unfortunately, they take your money without consolidating your loans. As a borrower, you can consolidate your federal student loans for free at Studentaid.gov. There are also loan consolidation options if you have private student loans or a mix of private and federal loans. Keep in mind that consolidating your loans may reset your qualifying payment count on your student loan repayment plan. A legitimate loan consolidation company will ensure that you understand what you’re signing up for before you consolidate your loans.

Student Loan Debt Relief: In this type of scam, a fraudster will promise to either eliminate or reduce your student loan debt. Use extreme caution with regards to these claims. Except under certain special circumstances, student loan debt cannot be eliminated or forgiven. These include death of the borrower, permanent disability, identity theft, federal loan forgiveness plans, and income-based repayment plans. These plans take many years to ultimately resolve and are only available through the Department of Education. For more details on student loan discharge and which loans are eligible, check out the Department of Education’s student loan forgiveness, cancellation, or discharge criteria.

Advance Fee: Some fraudsters promise to negotiate lower interest rates or better loan terms than the federal government offers. The catch: they want you to pay a “small” fee up front. When everything is finalized, the fees are not small. They are paid before any service has been provided and you will end up paying more than what the federal government has offered. Yes, federal, and private loans generally have fees attached to them. Federal loans have origination fees and private loans have either an origination fee or a disbursement fee. These fees are added to the total of the loan itself. Any additional fees are usually the result of nonpayment or late payments.

Lawsuit/Law Firm: A law firm may claim it can save you thousands of dollars by settling your entire student loan debt. Most often, these scammers ask you to pay your monthly loan payments directly to them. They promise to  make payments to the loan servicers, as well as work to negotiate a settlement for your debt. Your loans end up in default because the law firm never pays the servicer. Once your loan is in default, the law firm then works to negotiate a settlement with your servicer based on the pretense that you are unable to make your payments. Not only does this tactic cost you thousands of dollars in legal fees, but it also causes your credit score to plummet. This can negatively affect your financial life for many years.

Red flags to look for: 

• High-pressure sales tactics
• Aggressive advertising with outrageous claims
• Customer service that asks for your FSA ID
• Requires you to provide sensitive personal information
• Upfront fees that don’t match the services they are promising
• Upfront or monthly fees to get help or assistance
• Official-sounding names and logos that suggest a connection to the federal government
• Use of the term “document preparation service” in marketing materials
• Customer service with limited knowledge of student loan repayment options
• Businesses that only offer loan consolidation and no other options
• The company promises immediate loan forgiveness
• The company advertises on social media or shows up in search engine ads

How to Avoid Becoming a Victim of Fraud:

• Block unwanted calls and text messages. 
• Do not give your personal or financial information in response to a request that you didn’t expect. Legitimate organizations will not call, email, or text to ask for your personal information, like your social security number, FSA ID, bank information, or credit card numbers.
• Do not click on any links in emails or text messages, even from companies you do business with. Instead, contact them using a website or phone number you know is trustworthy. Never call a number they gave you over the phone or the number from your caller ID and never respond to an email or text. Fraudsters spend a lot of time and effort trying to make their business seem legitimate. They create call centers, ads, commercials, videos, and even websites in order to look as real as possible.
• Resist the pressure to act immediately. Always remember that a legitimate business will give you time to make the best decision for your circumstances. Anyone who pressures you to pay or to reveal your personal information is a scammer.
• Pay close attention to how a person or business asks you to pay them. Never pay someone who insists that you pay them with gift cards or using a money transfer service. Also, never agree to deposit a check and send money back to someone. This is known as a fake check scam. In a typical fake check scam, victims lose roughly $1,000 to $4,000 as well as paying costly bank fees or penalties. 

How to Report Fraud, Waste, and Abuse:

• U.S. Department of Education - Office of the Inspector General
• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: 1.800.411.2372

• If you have any questions regarding fraud, please contact Christopher Baxter, Certified Fraud Examiner, (507) 933-7730, or stop into the Financial Aid Office.

The FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) is the form used to determine your eligibility for financial aid. By submitting the FAFSA, you provide information about your financial situation, which Gustavus and the government use to assess what types of aid you may qualify for, such as federal grants, student loans, work-study, and, in many cases, state and institutional aid. There is no cost to complete the FAFSA. Without it, we cannot determine your full financial aid eligibility or offer most forms of need-based assistance. To qualify for the $30,000 Gustie Guarantee scholarship, you must fill out the FAFSA.

The sooner you fill out the FAFSA, the better. File it by June 15 to receive a $2,000 FAFSA Filer Award from Gustavus. The final deadline to file is October 15.

When the Gustavus Financial Aid Office receives your FAFSA information, we will customize a financial aid package based on your eligibility and needs. 

Yes, there are three ways to make corrections or updates to the FAFSA after it has been submitted:

• Log into your account at studentaid.gov and submit your new information.
• Write in the corrections on your Student Aid Report, sign it and mail it to the provided address.
• Call the Gustavus Financial Aid Office and ask us to make the changes for you electronically.

If your parents are undocumented immigrants, but you are in the U.S. legally, you can still fill out the FAFSA. While filling out the FAFSA will not endanger your parents (by law, other federal agencies cannot see your FAFSA application), you should consult a financial aid professional before filling out the form. You can also call the FAFSA hotline at 1-800-433-3243 (8 a.m. to 10 p.m. EST) to ask about any special steps you might be required to take if your parents are undocumented.

If you are undocumented, you cannot receive federal money in any form and should not submit the FAFSA to the Department of Education. You may qualify for in-state tuition, or aid from your state or college that is earmarked for undocumented immigrants. In some cases, schools may ask you to fill out a printed version of the FAFSA to calculate your Student Aid Index and determine what aid you qualify for.

After the Gustavus Financial Aid Office receives all requested documentation, we will compare it with the information provided on the FAFSA. If necessary, we will reach out to you by email or phone to seek additional clarification. If there are differences between the FAFSA information and the documentation submitted, we will make corrections to the FAFSA data. All corrections will be reprocessed electronically. There is typically a five-day turnaround period for this process. Any corrections may cause changes to your federal aid eligibility.

The Gustavus Financial Aid Office will notify you of the FAFSA verification results through an email that directs you to any federal aid offer, shown within your MyGustavus account.

If you don't understand a question or are having trouble filling out the FAFSA, please call the Federal Student Aid Information Center at the number listed in the Help Completing the FAFSA section, or the Gustavus Financial Aid Office at (507) 933-7527.

The US Department of Education also provides advice on completing the FAFSA. 

To keep your application on track, read the questions carefully and avoid mistakes that can cause delays or limit the amount of aid you can receive. These are the most common errors on the FAFSA:

• Not updating the household size when prompted.
  • Your FAFSA asks for your family size: the number of people your household supports. This includes anyone claimed as a dependent on federal tax returns, along with anyone who receives more than half of their financial support from your household. Family life doesn't always fit neatly on a tax form. If your parents are divorced or living apart, and the parent completing your FAFSA also provides more than half the support for someone who isn't claimed on their return, that person still counts. It's worth taking a moment to make sure your family size reflects everyone your household truly supports.
• Leaving blank fields.
  • Too many blanks may cause miscalculations and an application rejection. Enter a '0' or 'not applicable' instead of leaving a blank.
• Using commas or decimal points in numeric fields.
  • Always round to the nearest dollar.
• Listing an incorrect Social Security Number or driver's license number.
  • Double-­check and triple-­check these entries to ensure accuracy.
• Failing to use your legal name.
  • Your name must be listed on your FAFSA as it appears on your Social Security card. Don't enter nicknames or other variations on your name.
• Entering the wrong address.
  • Don't enter a temporary campus or summer address as your permanent address.
• Incorrectly filing income taxes as head of household.
  • If there is an error in the head of household filing status, the school will need an amended tax return to be filed with the IRS before paying out aid awards.
• Listing marital status incorrectly.
  • The Department of Education wants to know your marital status on the day you sign the FAFSA. If you are in a legally recognized same-­sex marriage, you will need to provide your spouse's information as well.
• Listing parent marital status incorrectly.
  • If your parent of record (the parent who is providing the most financial support) has remarried, you'll need to include the stepparent's information on the FAFSA. If you have two parents in a legally­‐recognized same-­sex marriage, you'll need to list both parents.
• Failure to list both parents if they live together.
  • If both your legal parents (defined as biological or adoptive parents) live in the same household, you are required to list both parents on the FAFSA even if they are not married.
• Failing to count yourself as a student.
  • Be sure to count yourself as a member of the household attending college during the award year.
• Forgetting to list the college.
  • Obtain the Federal School Code for the college you plan on attending and list it along with any other schools you've applied to attend.
• Forgetting to sign and date.
  • If you're filling out the paper FAFSA, be sure to sign it.
• Sending in a copy of your income tax returns.
  • You do not need to include a copy of your tax returns with your FAFSA. Any information sent with your FAFSA will be destroyed. In addition, do not write any notes in the margins of your FAFSA.