[256] Current, Prospective MTSU Students Should File FAFSA ASAP

mtsunews.com


Release date: Jan. 7, 2011

News & Public Affairs contact: Randy Weiler, 615-898-5616 or jweiler@mtsu.edu
Financial Aid contact: Bonnie McCarty, 615-904-8414 or bmccarty@mtsu.edu

Current, Prospective MTSU Students Should File FAFSA ASAP

(MURFREESBORO) — An MTSU financial-aid official urges all current and prospective students and their parents or guardians to file their FAFSA as soon as possible.
“If you expect to receive need-based (financial) aid, file your FAFSA as early as possible,” Bonnie McCarty, assistant director of scholarships, said of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid process to help them to potentially receive financial aid for college.
Online, FAFSA is found at fafsa.ed.gov.
McCarty said if the expected family contribution on the FAFSA is $2,100 or less and you are a Tennessee resident, “you may qualify for a $2,000 grant from the state.
“However, they ran out of funds in mid-February for the 2010-11 year and probably will run out by mid-January for the upcoming 2011-12 year. So you need to file your FAFSA as early as possible.”
McCarty said people “can use estimated income information to get the FAFSA filed quickly, then go back and correct the numbers once parents file their actual tax returns.”
During presentations at high school financial-aid nights, McCarty said she shares the following:
• use 2009 tax return and final 2010 pay stubs to estimate total income and taxes;
• when the 2010 tax return is completed, compare with the estimated information on FAFSA;
• if the estimate was correct, make no changes to FAFSA; or
• if the estimate was incorrect, correct the FAFSA and resubmit it.
On Sunday, Jan. 30, starting at 2 p.m. in the Business and Aerospace Building north lobby area, MTSU financial-aid representatives will assist families of new or prospective high-school seniors and their parents or guardians with FAFSA and financial aid questions during College Goal Sunday. The event is free. You can preregister by going online to tn.gov/collegegoalsunday.
Visit mtsu.edu/financialaid/cgs.shtml online to learn more about College Goal Sunday or visit mtsu.edu/financialaid online to learn more about the Financial Aid and Scholarship Office, a division of Student Affairs.

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Founded in 1911, Middle Tennessee State University is a Tennessee Board of Regents institution located in Murfreesboro and is the state’s largest public undergraduate institution. MTSU now boasts one of the nation’s first master’s degree programs in horse science, and the Council of Graduate Schools in Washington, D.C., acclaims MTSU’s Master of Science in Professional Science degree — the only one in Tennessee — as a model program. MTSU recently unveiled three new doctoral degrees in the sciences.

For MTSU news and information, go online to mtsunews.com.