The start of the year means a new year to apply for federal financial aid, better known as FAFSA.
If you need financial aid, you should look into applying as soon as possible.
It became available January 1 for the 2015-2016 school year.
It's the largest student financial aid provider in the country.
You should apply for the aid because it gives you more opportunities to get help, and you don't need your 2014 taxes, said Carolyn Schloemann, the acting financial aid director at the University of Illinois Springfield.
“Go ahead and fill out the 2015-2016 application using their 2013 taxes that were already completed,” Schloemann said. “Go ahead and submit the application and then once their taxes are done for 2014, they can go in and make a correction to the 2015-2016 application and still have the application on file and still be considered for all the grant programs that might be available.”
Schloemann said more students are sending their FAFSA applications early in January, but there are some students who learn too late about the advantages.
This story appeared online at WICS Newschannel 20 on January 5, 2015.
Watch the story online.
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
UI proposes no tuition hike for freshmen
Faced with more Illinois students turning them down, the University of Illinois has proposed keeping tuition rates flat for in-state freshmen who enroll for this fall.
The move was prompted in part by an increasing number of Illinois students who have declined offers of admission to the state's flagship university in recent years and an attempt by the UI to lessen the burden on middle-class students who find themselves not poor enough to qualify for financial aid but not wealthy enough to pay full sticker price for a college education.
UI trustees, President Bob Easter and President-elect Tim Killeen praised the plan, which was detailed Monday at a trustee committee meeting. The proposal will likely be approved next week when the board meets as a whole in Chicago.
Killeen, sitting alongside Easter in Washington, D.C., listened in on the meeting via videoconference. "I'm supportive of the tuition freeze. I think that will play very well," he said. "I think we're heading in the right direction," added trustee James Montgomery.
Freshmen from Illinois would pay no increase in the general tuition rate on the university's three campuses.
For non-Illinois residents, base tuition rates would increase by 2 percent, according to the proposal.
Base tuition for in-state students currently is $12,036 a year in Urbana-Champaign, $10,584 in Chicago and $9,405 in Springfield.
This story appeared online in The News-Gazette on Monday, January 5, 2015.
Read the entire story here.
The move was prompted in part by an increasing number of Illinois students who have declined offers of admission to the state's flagship university in recent years and an attempt by the UI to lessen the burden on middle-class students who find themselves not poor enough to qualify for financial aid but not wealthy enough to pay full sticker price for a college education.
UI trustees, President Bob Easter and President-elect Tim Killeen praised the plan, which was detailed Monday at a trustee committee meeting. The proposal will likely be approved next week when the board meets as a whole in Chicago.
Killeen, sitting alongside Easter in Washington, D.C., listened in on the meeting via videoconference. "I'm supportive of the tuition freeze. I think that will play very well," he said. "I think we're heading in the right direction," added trustee James Montgomery.
Freshmen from Illinois would pay no increase in the general tuition rate on the university's three campuses.
For non-Illinois residents, base tuition rates would increase by 2 percent, according to the proposal.
Base tuition for in-state students currently is $12,036 a year in Urbana-Champaign, $10,584 in Chicago and $9,405 in Springfield.
This story appeared online in The News-Gazette on Monday, January 5, 2015.
Read the entire story here.
Monday, January 5, 2015
Three developers submit proposals for UIS housing
A University of Illinois Foundation committee is awaiting responses from three developers who submitted proposals for a mixed-use residential development on the west edge of the University of Illinois Springfield campus.
The Urbana-based foundation, which owns about 75 tillable acres of farmland at UIS, including the 14-acre development site along the west edge of 11th Street, asked developers to submit proposals by Nov. 20, and three responded, said Kevin Noland, assistant vice president for real property and finance for the foundation.
“We did get some interesting proposals,” Noland said. “The committee (made up of foundation and UIS officials) decided to go back with question-and-answer sessions with the three developers to get more details of what they are proposing and to further clarify what we are looking for.”
He said the developers were asked to respond by Jan. 6.
Van Vieregge, assistant vice chancellor for student services at UIS, said one of the submitted designs resembled a downtown apartment building while the other two featured garden apartments with a central courtyard.
“We wanted to see what amenities they were offering,” he said. “We’re just waiting to hear, and we’ll go from there.”
The story was reported by The State Journal-Register on January 1, 2015.
Read the article online
The Urbana-based foundation, which owns about 75 tillable acres of farmland at UIS, including the 14-acre development site along the west edge of 11th Street, asked developers to submit proposals by Nov. 20, and three responded, said Kevin Noland, assistant vice president for real property and finance for the foundation.
“We did get some interesting proposals,” Noland said. “The committee (made up of foundation and UIS officials) decided to go back with question-and-answer sessions with the three developers to get more details of what they are proposing and to further clarify what we are looking for.”
He said the developers were asked to respond by Jan. 6.
Van Vieregge, assistant vice chancellor for student services at UIS, said one of the submitted designs resembled a downtown apartment building while the other two featured garden apartments with a central courtyard.
“We wanted to see what amenities they were offering,” he said. “We’re just waiting to hear, and we’ll go from there.”
The story was reported by The State Journal-Register on January 1, 2015.
Read the article online
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