Students like Monet Patrick are one of many University students who are filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) as early as possible in order to get the most from the federal government for college aid.

“I fill out the FAFSA so I can get financial aid to help pay for college,” said Patrick, sophomore in LAS.

The Office of Student Financial Aid’s deadline for students to complete the FAFSA is March 15. Dan Mann, director of student financial aid, said the one program that he’s most concerned about is the Monetary Award Program (MAP grant). The MAP grant is given to students in Illinois who demonstrate great financial need.
Mann said grants are becoming more competitive because more people in Illinois are applying and are becoming eligible for the grant.

“We still hope that if you meet our March 15 deadline date, you’ll still be in time for all the state and federal institution aid,” Mann said.

One reason the MAP Grant become a popular form of government aid is because families need more assistance because of the economy, he said. Also, community colleges have become better in educating their students in the importance of filling out the FAFSA early, Mann said.

“It’s a little bit of the entire population, but especially the community college population that’s applying earlier,” Mann said.

The University itself doesn’t have a lot of institutional aid to offer students to meet their needs, Mann said. Only the neediest students are covered by University funds, he added.

With students coming from all different kinds of financial backgrounds, the middle class students are the ones who have the most difficulty in receiving aid while lower income families are in the position to receive the most aid, Mann said.

“The middle (class) I think kind of struggle because they’re not always eligible for grant aid, where if they are eligible for grant aid, they’re not always eligible for the full amount,” Mann said.
“We’re not seeing increases in that population because it’s harder and harder for families to find the funds to afford the University of Illinois.”

Mann said the typical financial background the University students come from is the upper class, who tend to receive no financial aid and take out some type of loan.

U.S. Under Secretary of Education Martha Kanter held a FAFSA office hours via Twitter Thursday where parents and students could tweet in their questions and have them answered. Jane Glickman, Department of Education spokeswoman, said the Education Department is trying to reach out to people in all mediums in order to get their FAFSA concerns met.

“We do outreach in as many different ways as we can. Our goal is use all media available to reach our audiences and students,” Glickman said. “We have a lot of avenues to provide information to students.”

Monet Patrick comes from a low income family. Although much assistance can be given to someone from her background, her family feels more could be given from FASFA.

“I don’t think the FAFSA pays enough money because every semester we still end up struggling to pay the bills that slowly start to add up,” she said.