South Texas College spreads information, Financial Aid Awareness
February is Financial Aid Awareness Month
Every semester there is a long line at the financial aid office on campus. Students scramble to check for the award and make sure that the numbers align in their favor.
STC is preparing for Financial Aid Awareness Month in February.
Judy Martinez is the coordinator of scholarships at South Texas College and says staying on an annual schedule can help alleviate some stress.
“Among the important things that students need to consider is that the application does need to be done every single year,” Martinez said. “They need to renew their FAFSA (Financial aid application) every year, which becomes available every October.”
Martinez also stressed that students can find many answers within the JagNet portal.
“The other important thing I think that students miss out on is the importance of checking their JagNet account,” Martinez said. A lot of times a lot of the information that they come here to our office or call to find out is a few clicks away. They can navigate through menus there and look whether their class has been paid, how much financial aid they’re receiving, pending documents and things like that.”
For returning students or students updating their FAFSA the process might become routine, but what should first-time applicants expect?
“There’s several factors that the FAFSA looks at in order to determine eligibility,” Martinez said. “The first thing they look out is income which is obviously very important but at the same time there are other factors as well. The size of your family is one, the number of people within your family that are attending college as well, that makes a difference.”
The key for students is to submit early. It gives more opportunity to receive aid and plan payment options.
“The earlier you do it the better for several reasons: You can get things done ahead of time and there are some types of aid that are given early on. Students that do it earlier have a better chance of receiving that additional aid versus someone who might do it at the last minute," Martinez said.
“The earlier you do it the better for several reasons: You can get things done ahead of time and there are some types of aid that are given early on. Students that do it earlier have a better chance of receiving that additional aid versus someone who might do it at the last minute," Martinez said.
South Texas College is hosting a Financial Aid Fair on the Pecan, Starr and Mid Valley Campuses for students to get more information and one-on-one support to students filing FAFSA or TASFA (Texas Application for State Financial Aid)
Martinez insists that even students who might not qualify should complete their application.
“Even if they don’t think they’re going to qualify, even if they don’t know ahead of time if they want to attend in the fall,” Martinez said. “It’s good just to submit and have it ready.”
The college’s Financial Aid Fair will take place Wednesday, Feb. 26th from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. across all campuses.
Each STC campus has a different phone to contact for financial aid assistance. All of those numbers can be found on this site: https://studentservices.southtexascollege.edu/finaid/contact.html