I’ve had the pleasure of going and speaking to several campus organizations and GEP 101 classes about financial management. Throughout my presentations, there have been fabulous questions, some of which I haven’t been able to answer in class or during the presentation. So please see below the answers to some useful questions. Also, if you have any questions feel free to comment or to send me a question through email at realLIFE@missouristate.edu.
Q: Is it true if I don’t pay my credit card bill for seven years the debt will then go away after seven years?
A: No that is not true. What you may be thinking of is bankruptcy. When you claim bankruptcy, it takes seven to ten years for that bankruptcy to not be shown on your credit report. Otherwise, your bad credit can remain there until you pay it. We always recommend that you don’t skip a payment because late payments can negatively affect your credit score.
Q: How does the MSU Scholarship application work? Do I have to complete the FAFSA to get a scholarship?
A: To answer this question, I consulted Heather King, the Assistant Director for Scholarships. Please see what she writes below:
A student is not technically required to complete a FAFSA for most scholarships; however, we highly encourage students to complete it for multiple reasons. One, they may qualify for aid that they didn’t realize they would be eligible for, and two, there are scholarships that require financial need. We determine financial need from the FAFSA. So, if a student wants to be considered for a scholarship with financial need, then a FAFSA needs to be on file. There’s no guarantee that the student will have financial need, but we don’t know without the FAFSA.
The FAFSA information that we need will come directly from the student’s FAFSA. What I always recommend to students/parents is to complete the FAFSA as soon as possible with correct tax information (if they can because it is more accurate). So, that would mean a timeline of:
- W-2’s will be received around end of January to the beginning of February.
- Get taxes done as soon after receiving W-2’s as possible.
- Complete FAFSA with actual tax information sometime around mid-February to mid-March (w/the new FAFSA, they will have the option to pull their tax information into the FAFSA directly from the IRS).
- If taxes won’t be done by then – I recommend to complete FAFSA with W-2’s that were received in late Jan.
- If using W-2’s or estimates from last year, then I recommend to get FAFSA done as soon after they receive the W-2’s as they can and remind them that they will need to go back in with accurate information when taxes complete.
The main thing is that the scholarship application be completed as close to March 1 or sooner if at all possible, since we will begin reviewing scholarship applications shortly after that date.
Once a student submits the scholarship application, he/she cannot go back into it.