FAFSA and Financial Information
FAFSA - Free Application for Federal Student Aid
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All Bootstraps applicants must complete the FAFSA and submit the FAFSA Submission Summary (FSS) with the application. The FSS includes the Student Aid Index (SAI), which is the amount of money the Federal Government has determined your family can pay for your postsecondary education. The calculation is based on the previous year's tax return.
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It can take up to three weeks to receive your FSS, so please complete the FAFSA form as soon as possible and plan accordingly.
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Financial Information
Having a financial need is not required to apply for a Bootstraps scholarship or interest-free loan, but it is strongly considered during the evaluation process. Our goal is to serve as many students as possible and help make education affordable for all.
We determine financial need by comparing Cost of Attendance (COA) – which includes tuition, fees, insurance, transportation, room and board, and books – minus your Student Aid Index (SAI), minus any scholarships you receive.
If you're planning to attend a school outside of Colorado, we'll use an average COA of $42,738.94 - based on the average COA of Colorado's public universities and the four largest private colleges - to calculate your financial need, unless your school's COA is lower. We do this to honor your school choice while also allowing for greater distribution of available funds and keeping things as fair and consistent as possible for all students.
Over the past five years, Bootstraps scholarship recipients have had an average SAI of $14,752 and an average financial need of $18,748. We know that an SAI may not always tell the whole story of your family's financial situation, but it remains the best tool available to evaluate financial need.
If your SAI or financial need is higher than these averages, please complete the Special Circumstances question in the Financial Information section of the application. The more we know and understand about your situation, the better we can give your application thoughtful and complete consideration.
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CONFIDENTIALITY
Your financial information, and that of your parents or guardians, will never be shared outside the Bootstraps organization. All board members and evaluators sign confidentiality agreements before reviewing any application materials.