| January 1 | 2016 - 2017 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is available |
| January 4 | Administrative offices open |
| January 15 | All campus residences open at 10 a.m. |
| January 19 | First day of classes; tuition and fee payments due |
| January 26 | Last day to add classes; last day to drop classes with no tuition penalty |
The final weeks of the semester can be hectic for students and families. We hope that you are able to enjoy quality time with your student during this winter break. From all of us here at Orientation and Family Programs and Services, we wish both you and your student a fun and restful vacation! We look forward to serving you in the New Year and are thankful you and your student are part of the Mason Family.
Orientation and Family Programs and Services
On January 1 the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) for the 2016-2017 academic year will be available to complete online at www.FAFSA.gov.
Students, both returning and prospective, who wish to apply for financial aid will want to submit the FAFSA by George Mason University’s priority filing date of March 1. It is never too early to start this process by having conversations with your student over winter break. It is important for students and families to ensure they are completing the FAFSA accurately and on time. See below for more information on the priority filing deadline and resources designed to guide students and families through the filing process.
What is a priority filing date?
Due to the increasing number of financial aid applicants at George Mason University, combined with a limited amount of state and institutional aid available, the priority filing date is used to determine who will be considered eligible to receive such awards. To ensure that your student is considered for these types of aid, please encourage your student to submit their FAFSA prior to the March 1 deadline.
The FAFSA requests completed tax information. What if my student has not yet not yet filed his or her taxes?
On the FAFSA application there is an option to choose “will file”. Both students and parent(s) can enter estimated income information into the FAFSA to submit the application in a timely manner. Each year, in order to meet the priority deadline, a number of our applicants choose this method to ensure that the FAFSA is submitted before this deadline. Once you and your student have completed and filed taxes, both of you will need to go online and make corrections by using the IRS Data Retrieval process within the FAFSA. The IRS Data Retrieval process will import tax information directly into the FAFSA in order to ensure an accurate financial aid package based on actual income and data.
What if my student needs help completing the FAFSA?
There are many tools available to assist both students and families with completing the FAFSA. For example, on Mason’s Office of Student Financial Aid website there are videos with step-by-step instructions to assist with the process. Also, you can visit the Federal Student Aid website for more helpful information to assist your student when completing the FAFSA.
Dan Frank
Financial Aid Counselor
Student Financial Aid
The time off during winter break can be an adjustment for the entire family. Your student is probably feeling a great sense of relief now that final exams have wrapped up, but they may need some down time between semesters. Determining how your student wants to spend their break can be difficult, so we asked current Mason students to tell us a little more about how they are feeling during winter break.
What is one thing you want to do over winter break?
Every student we spoke with mentioned that the perfect winter break consists of time spent relaxing after a busy semester, while also spending time with family and friends. A Mason sophore and Mason junior had the following to say about how they would like to spend winter break:
“Sleep, but also mix it with a balance of feeling productive. I like catching up on sleep for my well-being, but I also want to feel productive for sanity’s sake. “
“I want to spend a lot of time with my family over winter break. We don’t need to do a lot of planned activities I just want to be able to see them and spend some time with them like the times before I left for school.”
What is one thing you want your family to know about how you feel entering winter break?
Students want their families to know they are just wrapping up a stressful few weeks and may want to have some quiet time to decompress. Students also want you to understand that they are developing a new independence and may want to interact differently at home. A sophomore here at Mason had the following insight on adjusting to time at home:
“While it may be exciting that I’m home, I still want to feel some independence while I’m there for Winter Break. After spending so much time at school looking after myself, I just don’t want my parents to feel like they need to do my laundry, cook all my meals, or clean everything for me. I can understand the need for it but it can be a little overwhelming.”
If your families are wondering what you want to do over break, what would you like them to do?
All of the students we spoke with expressed that they just want to be asked what they want to do over break. Instead of over-planning because your student has additional free time, or avoiding planning activities because you are not sure how your student feels, open the lines of communication and discuss your student’s expectations over break.
We hope these tips are helpful as you transition to some additional free time with your student! Communication and understanding is key to enjoying a restful and fun winter break.
Kristen Wright
Graduate Assistant, Family Programs and Services
Orientation and Family Programs and Services
