Students receive assistance completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid
By: Andrew Ameer
Opinions Editor
On October 12, students and family members met with workers from the Financial Aid Office during a workshop for assistance with filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
The event ran from 2-3 p.m. in Business Administration room 105.
Arika Biney, with the Financial Aid office said this was the first of four workshops that the Financial Aid Office will conduct during this academic year.
“We do our best to kind of walk people through it because we understand it can be kind of overwhelming,” Biney said.
During the workshop, students were led to a table where there were about six computers set up, already on the FAFSA website (https://fafsa.ed.gov/).
From there, a staff member guided the students and their parent or guardian through the process and answered any questions they had.
Nineteen-year-old student Jacob Brockelmeyer said the workshop made filling out the FAFSA much easier.
“It was pretty easy; she was really helpful,” Brockelmeyer said.
Brockelmeyer hopes to attend Meramec in the spring for General Transfer Studies, although Brockelmeyer said he is also interested in Business Administration.
There will be a second workshop later on in the semester relating to the standards of academic progress as it relates to financial aid.
“Not everybody understands what it means to get financial aid, the responsibilities that come along with it and the standards that we require to keep getting it,” Biney said.
The second workshop will educate students on the standards of academic progress and refer them to resources if they are not meeting them.
“If people are struggling in their class, they now have been exposed to all these different resources that we have provided for them,” Biney said.
“So we’re not just saying ‘Here are our standards, go meet them’, but we’re saying, ‘here are our standards, if you’re not meeting them, here are some resources to help you meet them.’”
