University of Texas Permian Basin has set a FAFSA night for 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Feb. 1. Campus tours also are planned.
The event will be in the Welcome Center entrance, also known as the enrollment lobby at the Mesa Building at UTPB. Refreshments are typically available.
There will be Spanish speakers available.
Admissions Counselor Madeline Green said the Free Application for Federal Student Aid events have been held for about a year.
“We’ve gotten a really good response,” Green said.
Filling out a FAFSA is now a state high school graduation requirement. It’s a chance for parents and students to get help filling out the forms.
Green spends every Tuesday and Thursday at Permian and she urges the students to attend the FAFSA nights because it takes 15 to 30 minutes to complete the forms, especially if there is someone from admissions and/or a financial aid representative on hand.
Filling out the FAFSA can provide students with funds on top of the scholarships that UTPB awards.
“And we have Falcon Promise where if … the family makes less than $60,000 a year, then you don’t pay a dime in tuition and fees. Whatever you don’t get through the Federal Pell Grant, we supplement with institutional and state grants,” Green said.
Along with Feb. 1, she said FAFSA nights will be held March 1, April 5 and May 3 at the university.
“It’ll be a monthly FAFSA night, not just to help out the high school kids, but anyone in the community who is looking to get started. We’ll have admissions counselors there, as well as financial aid representatives. So if you are trying to figure out if maybe you want to come to UTPB, you could also come to a FAFSA night and try and kind of get a preliminary idea of how much things would cost,” Green said.
She noted that you don’t necessarily have to be looking to go to UTPB, you could be unsure about whether you want to go to college and attend a FAFSA night and talk to a financial aid and admissions representative.
The number of people who turn out for FAFSA night varies.
“… There were a few times when there was only … two, three kids. But the last one, the one that was hosted in October, November, that one was the biggest one we had,” she said.
It has been a while since the last FAFSA night. The way they had been having them was in cooperation with the high schools.
“… But now we’re going to start in the spring (having) the FAFSA nights at our campus, because that opens it up to not just high school kids, (but) to everyone,” Green said.
Even though students get into college, they may not always enroll.
“… One of the things that we try to do is keep them engaged throughout the process where as soon as they’re admitted to the point of enrolling they have an application portal where they can go and look and see who their admissions counselors are, and it will have a picture on there of the admissions counselor. That application portal would help them see, what do I need, and we’ll send them emails all the time” to remind students of what they need, she said.
“We’re kind of pestering them just to like, kind of keep them engaged. And to … remind them that there are certain things that need to be turned in before school starts, as well as just keeping an open line of communication with them,” Green said.
She added that student orientation is one of the biggest factors in sealing the deal because there are fun things to do such as games and campus tours.
“… New student orientation is mandatory and so that’s how we try to engage them to enroll,” she added.
New student orientations are held throughout the summer.
“… Once you apply, you have to keep an eye out on your email … so that whenever orientation registration opens up, you get to sign up for a date that you want.”
For FAFSA night, students need to bring their IRS tax form from 2020 because it runs two years behind.
“If you don’t have IRS tax information, then it’s really not possible to complete the FAFSA unless you have special circumstances …,” Green said.
You will also need your Social Security number and those of your family.
“… If you don’t have a Social Security number, you can fill out the TASFA (Texas Application for State Financial Aid) and we’ll help you fill out the TASFA,” she said.
