The Office of Student Financial Assistance & Employment will be closed for the holidays from December 23, 2016 - January 2, 2017.  Happy Holidays!

Important News from Financial Aid & Student Employment

Introducing the College Board's IDOC Service... Beginning with the 2017-18 Academic Year, the Office of Student Financial Assistance and Employment (OSFAE) will require all families to submit their income tax information and other documents to the College Board's IDOC process. For this year only,  continuing students who have already submitted their 2015 parent and student income tax information to our office will only need to submit the CSS Profile and FAFSA application for 2017-18. An  IDOC Overview  will provide you with a comprehensive review of this process. To start submitting documents you can click the  CollegeBoard  logo.

2017-2018 FA Webinar Series We are pleased to announce the second installment of our Fiscal Fitness Webinar Series. To help you understand the latest changes, and what they mean for you, we've released a new webinar that explains everything in detail: Register for the December 7th webinar below.  Navigating the 2017-18 FAFSA Application - December 5th at 6PM        Click here to review the CSS Profile webinar recording or download the PowerPoint.

YOUR OSFAE TEAM

Extended Hours for Phone Support

Over the last six months, we have piloted extended phone call support hours.  The response has been overwhelming and we are pleased to announce that the extended hours will now become permanent. Below are the published office hours for both walk-in and phone support.

Walk-In Support Hours Monday               9:00AM-5:00PM Tuesday                9:00AM-5:00PM Wednesday         10 :30AM-5:00PM  Thursday              9:00AM-5:00PM  Friday                  9:00AM-5:00PM

Phone Call Support Hours Monday               9:00AM-5:00PM Tuesday               9:00AM-6:00PM Wednesday         9:00AM-6:00PM  Thursday             9:00AM-6:00PM  Friday                  9:00AM-5:00PM

Ask the Executive Director...

Q:  Why does UM require the CSS Profile and the FAFSA application to award financial aid eligibility?

We frequently get questions from families as to why we require both the CSS Profile and the FAFSA application to award financial aid to undergraduate students. The FAFSA is required of all institutions to award any Federal financial aid such as the Federal PELL Grant, Federal Direct Loans and Federal Work Study. The FAFSA does not accurately reflect the financial strength of a family when deteremining the Expected Family Contribution (EFC). The CSS Profile provides the University with additional information which more accurately reflects income, assets, and reasonable living expenses so that we can ensure an equitable distribution of financial aid resources. Families with similar resourses should pay similar amounts and famillies with varying resources should pay appropriately different amounts. Since financial assistance is awarded annually, it is important to know that assistance may fluctuate based on the changes in the financial aid application from year-to-year.  To help you understand institutional methodology (IM), please view our IM Overview . If you would like to be considered for need-based financial assistance, please visit our How to Apply  webpage for more information on the financial aid application process.

Do you have a question you would like the Executive Director to answer?  If so, you can send an email to The Executive Director and it may be included in next month's newsletter.

University of Miami | 305-284-6000 | 305-284-4082| ofas@miami.edu | www.miami.edu/osfae

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