This year's copies of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid are available packaged with the University's 1999-2000 application guide. Students whose parents have not yet filed their tax returns should estimate this amount when filling out the application, Austin said. A new program that Austin encouraged students and their parents to review is the Tax Relief Act of 1997. However, this money is not accessible by individuals who have received tuition waivers. Filing the application is easily done online by independent students, usually graduate students or those over age 24.
Undergraduates can file online as well, as long as their parents are using the same computer.
The online program offers edit checks to make sure the form is filled out correctly. The University's financial aid program ranks as one of top in the Big Ten, according to Austin. Pennsylvania State University and the University of Minnesota are close competitors. State money followed at 17 percent, institutional loans and work garnered 11 percent, institutional grants for scholastics was 9 percent and 4 percent of the total came from private sources. With all of these resources available to students, Austin said students should be able to get subsidized or unsubsidized loans if their financial situation is dire enough.