Founder Posts | Taking a Different Perspective Through Data
I’ll never forget the moment I thought I would have to drop out of college because I couldn’t afford my next tuition check.
I had busted my ass for years to get there. I took classes at night. I took classes on the weekend. I took classes while deployed to Iraq. I had completed my FAFSA, maxed out my GI BIll (this is before the 9/11 GI BIll had passed), applied for every scholarship I could. I had done everything I was told I was supposed to do and yet there I was facing a $16,000 bill that I clearly couldn’t afford.
I was told by my college that maybe I could apply for a loan, and so I did that too. I typed in the income from my three part-time jobs, and was told that there wasn’t really anything that could be done. “Maybe I could find a co-signer?” they said... No. My mom was bankrupt and did not qualify.
I talked to my grandma, and she was very hesitant to sign for a massive loan for something I was doing. Frustrated, I remember thinking that this was ridiculous. Of course I took my education seriously. Of course, I was doing well enough to graduate. Of course, I would find a job when I graduated (I had three at the time!). It didn’t matter. Luckily I managed to convince my grandmother to co-sign. To this day, I shudder to think about I would have had to do if she hadn’t agreed to do so.
This is, of course, why I started A.M. Money. A credit score or my income back then clearly wasn’t a reflection of who I was or what I was doing.
So what should be used to determine a student’s ability? A story is great, but you can’t run an analytical business on a story. You need numbers to not only tell the story, but to build the backbone of how you will make decisions and take on risk.
To do so, I spent 6 months in a rabbit hole learning everything I could about student debt, and educational and career attainment. There are robust sets of data that can help you paint a picture but you need to paint it for an audience (investors etc) that isn’t used to looking at this type of data and in the way that we use it.
Along the way I talked to hundreds of people about how to think about this data (and others like it), and I imagine I’ll talk to hundreds more as we continue to grow and expand our model. As we do this, I’ve always found that it’s helpful to not just view the data dispassionately, but to talk to people who not just have an understanding of the data, but have also lived it themselves. This allows for you to get inferences and insights that even the best statistical technique may struggle to see, let alone understand.
As such, I’m happy to announce that we will be launching our first ever Data Hackathon in conjunction with Capital One and The Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation. We’ll be introducing some of the basic educational datasets we use in our underwriting model, explore some of the insights and techniques we have used to make sense of them, and then hopefully use that as an opportunity to learn how others might think about and use this data.
If any of this sounds interesting, I hope you’ll join us:
The A.M. Money Data Hackathon
Part of the Career Boot Camp
Presented by A.M. Money, The Academy Group, and College Greenlight
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January 8, 2020 | 10am-6pm | 1452 E 53rd Street
FAFSA Season: 3 Week Checkpoint
FAFSA season is upon us, and to keep us all on our toes, the U.S. Department of Education has made several changes to the filing process this year. These changes include the launch of a mobile-responsive IRS Data Retrieval Tool, synchronization of fafsa.gov and the myStudentAid mobile app, and more. You can check out the full list of updates HERE, and find a comprehensive FAFSA Completion Guide focused on the most common pain points HERE.
In other FAFSA news, the Department of Education has launched a FAFSA demo site where you can go to complete a sample FAFSA. The site has been updated to include the 2020-21 FAFSA questions, and you can check it out HERE.
Before you kick off your FAFSA journey, be sure to prep accordingly with this guide on the 7 things you need before filing. Guide included HERE.
Finally, our friends at Credible have put together the epitome of a cheat sheet when it comes to prepping for the FAFSA and getting to the bottom of any commonly asked questions. Check it out HERE, and godspeed.
Finally, it’s important to remember that filling out the FAFSA form does not need to be overwhelming or confusing. We’ve included some simple steps below that we hope will make the process smooth and headache free:
1. Create (or remember!) your FSA ID
An FSA ID is your Federal Student Aid Identification. You will need to create a username and password that will then give you access to US Department of Education websites. If you’re returning to conquer the FAFSA yet again, you’ll just login with your login from the prior year(s).
2. Gather Documents
You’ll need the following documents to make sure you’re able to fill out the FAFSA in one sitting:
Your Social Security Number
Your parent’s Social Security numbers (if you are a dependent student)
Your driver’s license number (if you have one)
Your Alien Registration number (if you are not a US citizen)
Federal tax information or tax returns for the past two years. You’ll need your parent’s and your own if you are a dependent student, or your spouse’s if you are married.
Records of any untaxed income including: child support, alimony, interest income and veterans non-education benefits.
Information on your current assets including checking and savings accounts, stocks and bonds, real estate ( not including the home you live in.)
3. Fill out the FAFSA application
Head on over to www.fafsa.gov and click on ‘Start a New FAFSA’.
Here are the following steps you will take:
Fill in your personal information including your name, social security number and other identifying details.
You will list colleges and schools to receive information from your FAFSA form. You can list up to 10 schools if you have not decided which institution you’d like to attend yet, or just include the school you currently attend.
You will have to determine your dependency status, whether you are a dependent or independent student.
If you are a dependent student you will report your parents’ financial information
If you are independent, you will report your own
Sign and submit!
Have any individual questions? We want to help! Reach out to us at info@a-m.money for additional insight on the FAFSA, or questions on our work.