Before you apply for financial aid, learn how to spot potential fraud, avoid paying for free services, and prevent identity theft.
Save Your Money:
Don’t Pay for Help to Find Money for College
Try These Free Sources of Information
Don’t Pay for the FAFSA
Save Your Identity:
How Does Identity Theft Happen?
Reduce Your Risk When Applying for Aid
How We Keep Your Information Safe
Report Fraud and Identity Theft:
Report Financial Aid Fraud
Report Fraudulent Activity by a College
Report Identity Theft
Save Your Money
Don’t Pay for Help to Find Money for College
Commercial financial aid advice services can cost well over $1,000. You might have heard or seen these claims at seminars, over the phone from telemarketers, or online:
- "Buy now or miss this opportunity." Don’t give in to pressure tactics. Remember, the "opportunity" is a chance to pay for information you could find yourself for free. Check out our list of free sources of financial aid information below.
- "We guarantee you’ll get aid." A company could claim it fulfilled its promise if you were offered student loans or a $200 scholarship. Is that worth a fee of $1,000 or more?
- "I've got aid for you; give me your credit card or bank account number." Never give out a credit card or bank account number unless you know the organization you are giving it to is legitimate. You could be putting yourself at risk of identity theft.
Try These Free Sources of Information
- Types of Federal Student Aid
- other federal agencies
- a college or career school financial aid office
- a high school or TRIO counselor
- your state grant agency
- the U.S. Department of Labor’s free scholarship search
- your library’s reference section
- foundations, religious or community organizations, local businesses, or civic groups
- organizations (including professional associations) related to your field of interest
- ethnicity-based organizations
- your employer or your parents’ employers
- the Federal Student Aid Information Center
Don’t Pay for the FAFSASM
Several websites offer help filing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) for a fee. These sites are not affiliated with or endorsed by the U.S. Department of Education. We urge you not to pay these sites for assistance that you can get for free elsewhere. The official FAFSA is at www.fafsa.gov, and you can get free help from
- the financial aid office at your college or the college(s) you’re thinking about attending;
- the FAFSA’s online help at www.fafsa.gov; and
- the Federal Student Aid Information Center.
If you are asked for your credit card information while filling out the FAFSA online, you are not at the official government site. Remember, the FAFSA site address has .gov in it!
Save Your Identity
How Does Identity Theft Happen?
Criminals access personal data such as names, Social Security numbers, and bank and credit card information. Using the stolen data, the criminal can illegally obtain credit cards, set up cellphone accounts, and more.
Reduce Your Risk When Applying for Aid
- Apply for federal student aid by filling out the FAFSA at www.fafsa.gov.
- After completing the FAFSA online, exit the application and close the browser; any cookies created during your session will be deleted automatically.
- Don’t tell anyone your Federal Student Aid PIN, even if that person is helping you fill out the FAFSA.
- Review your financial aid award documents and keep track of the amounts you applied for and received.
- Never give personal information over the phone or Internet unless you made the contact. If you have questions about an offer of aid or about your student loan account, ask your college or contact the Federal Student Aid Information Center.
- We securely store your information on the National Student Loan Data System. However, if you complete or even request a student loan application from a lender, you may be granting the lender permission to access your file. Before providing personal information to an organization, review its privacy policy.
- Keep receipts and documents (for example, credit applications or offers, checks and bank statements) with personal information in a safe place, and shred them when you are finished with them.
- Keep your purse or wallet safe at all times; store it and other items containing personal information in a secure place at home, especially if you have roommates.
- Immediately report all lost or stolen identification to the issuer (the credit card company or your state’s Department of Motor Vehicles) and to the police, if appropriate.
How We Keep Your Information Safe
We care about the privacy of your personal information. The information you share with us via our secure websites (such as www.fafsa.gov and www.pin.ed.gov) goes through a process called encryption. Encryption uses a mathematical formula to scramble your data into a format that is unreadable to a hacker. This is how we do our part to keep your information safe—but you need to do yours as well.
The FAFSASM is free. Fill it out at www.fafsa.gov.
Report Fraud and Identity Theft
Report Financial Aid Fraud
A company charging for financial aid advice is not committing fraud unless it doesn’t deliver what it promises. For more information about financial aid fraud or to report fraud, contact the Federal Trade Commission.
Report Fraudulent Activity by a College
Contact the Inspector General’s Hotline if
- you suspect your school of fraud, waste, or abuse involving federal student aid (Federal Pell Grants, Direct Loans, etc.), or
- you believe that someone at the school has misrepresented any aspect of the educational program, its cost, or its outcome.
Report Identity Theft
If you suspect that your student information has been stolen, it is important to act quickly. These offices will help you determine what steps to take depending on your situation:
- U.S. Department of Education Office of Inspector General Hotline
- Federal Trade Commission
- Social Security Administration
- Equifax Credit Bureau
- Experian Information Solutions
- TransUnion Credit Bureau