A Department of Education plan is encouraging more college students to apply for financial aid online by enabling students to send in their entire Free Application for Federal Student Aid form electronically.
Tony Starks, Federal Student Aid representative from the Department of Education, said that although the online FAFSA form has been available for four years, this is the first year electronic signatures could be used to fill out the application completely online.
The new Electronic Access Code can be used by applicants as a personal identification number and will work as "a signature, an authorization," Starks said.
University Financial Aid Director Yvonne Hubbard said that previously even online applicants "still had to print out a signature page, sign it and send it out."
Hubbard said the University's Office of Financial Aid advocates online financial applications for a variety of reasons.
"The key here is that [the online financial aid applications] make it very fast," she said. "The paper FAFSA took four to six to eight weeks to process because the information was keyed in.
"Sometimes the information was written in incorrectly. Online, it is incredibly accurate and edits can be made right there," she added. "This is all part of making financial aid easier to apply for. This is a response by the Department of Education to expectations of today's students."
The FAFSA form still is available in both paper and online forms.
Students who were renewing their FAFSA application could use a PIN to re-verify their information online, Hubbard said.
Starting this spring, anyone can request a PIN before applying for aid, including high school students and parents, she said.
"For students who filled out FAFSA forms last year, you get something called a renewal form and you could make changes to your information from before. Now they can send you a PIN number instead of the renewal form," she added.
Starks said a student can access his or her records in the National Student Loan Data System with his or her PIN and can find out the status of personal financial loans from the federal government.
Hubbard said the PINs are encrypted, but noted that "there's some responsibility involved" in taking care of one's PIN. Fraud exists "in the financial system just like in any other" type of electronic transaction, she said.
She added that, on average, about 60 percent of entering first-year students apply for some sort of need-based financial aid, and about 30 percent of first years receive need-based aid.
About 35 percent of undergraduates at the University have some form of need-based aid, which Hubbard said is unusually low for a public university.
Between 50 and 55 percent of undergraduates across the nation have need-based assistance, she said.
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