The Financial Aid office at Northwest Mississippi Community College wants to remind students who are planning to attend college in either the fall of 2010 or the spring of 2011 that they need to be sure that their Financial Aid has been filed with the college they are planning to attend.

If financial aid has not been applied for, the first step is to go to the PIN website at www.pin.ed.gov to obtain a Personal Identification Number (PIN), which will be used for the student’s electronic signature on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

Independent students will need an individual PIN, and dependent students will need a PIN for themselves and a PIN for one of their parents. The second step is to go to the FAFSA website at www.fafsa.gov and complete the application with the required 2009 income tax information.

Approximately 30 percent of all students filing for federal assistance to attend college are selected by the federal processor for a procedure called verification. Verification simply means that the student must provide copies of certain documents to help prove how their Financial Aid forms were completed through the FAFSA website.

The college’s Financial Aid office will contact the student as to what documents are needed to verify the information used while filing. Students and parents should respond to this request made by the college’s Financial Aid office immediately.

“To avoid delays, long lines, hassle and frustrations at the time of registration, students should complete any paperwork and check lists that may be received from the college,” said Joe Boyles, director of financial aid at Northwest.

Financial aid will not be complete until all the paperwork is on file in the Financial Aid office and verified by the counselors.

If financial aid is not complete at the time of registration, students should be prepared to pay tuition and fees at registration and be reimbursed once financial aid is completed after classes are in session, said Boyles.

Students planning to attend Northwest and who are scheduled to receive an Institutional Scholarship of any kind must file and complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), according to Boyles.

For more information contact the Northwest Financial Aid Office at 662-562-3271.