The Financial Aid Resource Center conducted its first FAFSA workshop of the spring semester to offer assistance to those who need guidance in completing their application.
Held on Jan. 29 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., the workshop was led by Kimberly Munoz, who works in the financial aid office part-time and is a federal work-study student.
Having led a FAFSA workshop before she mentioned, “If they need it, we help them here. We have them sign in and once that’s done I’ll help them with the application.”
With attendees staying usually between 30 minutes to an hour, she was available all throughout the two-hour workshop to assist with any questions or concerns regarding the application process.
To ensure any issue such as that one is resolved, Munoz recommends having the necessary information available to bring to the workshop. This allows whoever is assisting, to be able to answer any questions as accurately as possible.
“Later in the semester as the workshops come, it becomes more full.” Having opened in early October, the FAFSA application is open until April 30.
Munoz mentioned it can take the FAFSA application “a month to process into our system.” For those who haven’t started on their application, Munoz recommends the earlier the better, especially for transfer students.
When asked for her thoughts on the assistance she received in the workshop, Yoon Park, art major, said that she was happy with how it turned out.
“Here I can simply ask and get assisted, so I don’t get stuck.” Having done FAFSA before, she felt that coming to this workshop made the process much easier this time around and was glad there was someone available to help her.
Similarly Abraxaz Sanchez, business major, who attended the workshop mentioned that he had less questions and was more familiar with FAFSA this time around. He felt that when he tried to do it on his own, it was difficult.
“What makes it good is that the people know what their doing whether it’s about waivers, transfer, anything…”
As part of a series throughout the semester, the Financial Aid Resource Center will be hosting a number of workshops from Financial Aid 101 to Limits on Financial Aid and even Financial Aid for transfer students.
The FAFSA application workshops are to be held over the next three months, with the second one set to be on Feb. 7, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the Financial Aid Resource Center.
