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The FAFSA is Here!

The 2024-25 FAFSA is here! Here are a few tips you can share with your students.

This year students can access the FAFSA by visiting StudentAid.gov. The FAFSA should be completed as soon as it is available to ensure priority consideration for some types of financial aid. It’s best to gather all necessary materials before starting the FAFSA. Since the 2024-25 FAFSA allows applicants to use 2022 tax information, families can use their 2022 return to complete the application right away! There's no need to wait.

To complete and submit the FAFSA online, students and one of their parents/guardians will each need to create an FSA ID (Federal Student Aid ID) at StudentAid.gov. This username/password serves as an electronic signature on the FAFSA and certain student loan applications, and allows them to access other federal student aid websites. It’s beneficial for families to create their FSA IDs before starting the FAFSA to speed up the application process. Visit UCanGo2.org to download an FSA ID Worksheet (in English and Spanish) to keep track of your information.

For more information and FAFSA resources, including educational tools and tutorial videos in English and Spanish, visit StartWithFAFSA.org.

 

Ready Set Repay Offers Videos

Ready Set Repay, the default prevention initiative of the Oklahoma College Assistance Program (OCAP), strives to help student loan borrowers make smart borrowing decisions and successfully repay their student loans. We receive a lot of questions about paying for school and repaying student loans, so we've developed and updated videos answering some of our most frequently asked questions:

These short videos outline specific steps to address these common issues. The videos are available on OCAP’s YouTube Channel and on the Videos page at ReadySetRepay.org. Feel free to share these videos or link to them from your website.


Ready Set Repay Offers New Video: Student Loan Repayment Plan Options

Ready Set Repay, the default prevention initiative of the Oklahoma College Assistance Program (OCAP), strives to help student loan borrowers make smart borrowing decisions and successfully repay their student loans. There are several different student loan repayment options for borrowers to consider, so we created Student Loan Repayment Plan Options, a short video that explains the eight different repayment options available.

The video is available on OCAP’s YouTube Channel and on the Videos page at ReadySetRepay.org. Feel free to share this video or link to it from your website.


New Poster on Interest Capitalization of Student Loans

Ready Set Repay, the default prevention initiative of the Oklahoma College Assistance Program (OCAP), is pleased to share our latest tool for financial aid partners: our new Interest Capitalization poster!

As part of OCAP’s continuing mission to help you teach students across the state how to make smart borrowing decisions and successfully repay their student loans, we are constantly developing new educational materials. Our latest poster focuses on the long-term benefits to students of making interest payments toward student loans while still in college.

Click here to view or print the poster. For more financial aid and default prevention resources, visit the Partners section at ReadySetRepay.org.


OCAP’s Partnership with Student Connections is an Investment in Student Success

The Oklahoma College Assistance Program (OCAP) recognizes the impact default prevention has on the mutual success of institutions and borrowers. Helping schools excel in this area is what led Mary Heid, OCAP’s executive director, to work with Student Connections, a nonprofit affiliate of USA Funds focused on enhancing student success in college and career. Under Heid’s leadership, OCAP forged an arrangement with Student Connections to provide default rate management support to 26 Oklahoma campuses with CDRs (cohort default rates) above 10 percent. The agreement provides the schools with the ability to offer comprehensive grace period and default prevention counseling to their borrowers.

Since OCAP began working with Student Connections, it has seen marked improvements in beneficiary school CDRs. “Our schools all seem extremely happy with the service we’ve been able to offer them through Student Connections,” said Heid. “Our state CDR rate has been declining at a greater pace than the national rate, which makes us feel really good that our service is working.”

Student Connections grace counseling informs borrowers of all options, which may include a return to school. In all cases, the objective is to determine the course of action best for the borrower’s individual circumstances. Since the OCAP partnership with Student Connections began, students who underwent grace counseling were more than 40 percent less likely to enter delinquency on their student loans.

Whether it’s measured in reduced default and delinquency rates or in the hundreds of millions of cured federal loan dollars, it’s clear the OCAP-Student Connections partnership has helped preserve the value proposition of higher education in Oklahoma. As Heid says, “I think this investment in our students and institutions is rather unique, and we are very pleased that we’ve been able to do that with an industry partner that shares our vision of student success.”

Read more about the Student Connections-OCAP partnership at the Student Connections website.


Unauthorized Use of Institutional Branding

The unauthorized use of instutional logos, seals, names and other trademarks is a growing trend. Often, third party companies using such trademarks without authorization target student loan borrowers for payment for services that would otherwise be free. The Department of Education (ED) recently issued two cease and desist letters to third-party "debt-relief" companies that were using ED's official seal without authorization.

Some third-party companies also target colleges and universities, claiming to offer special benefits for borrowers through the school. All postsecondary institutions are encouraged to:

To learn more, read ED's electronic announcement, Third-Party Debt Relief Companies’ Use of Institutional Names, Logos and Other Trademarks.