Joey Wahler (Host): It's an important part of being a student, so we're discussing navigating financial aid in higher education. Our guest, Sarah Johnson. She's Assistant Director of Student Financial Services for Mount Carmel College of Nursing.

This is Careers in Care, a Mount Carmel College of Nursing podcast. Thanks for joining us. I'm Joey Wahler. Hi there, Sarah. Welcome.

Sarah Johnson, MS: Hi, Joey. How are you?

Host: Great, yourself?

Sarah Johnson, MS: Good. Very good today. Happy Monday.

Host: Happy Monday to you as well. So first, how can college be affordable for nursing students? I'm sure it's a question many wonder about what types of financial aid are available?

Sarah Johnson, MS: Yeah, every day. That's exactly why the Office of Financial Aid exists. You know, we're waiting for students to jump in here and get some help organizing their finances to be able to afford their education. More importantly, it's to stay ahead of it and apply for scholarships early. Most agencies that are outside of Mount Carmel College of Nursing that offers students scholarships have specific deadlines to meet. So, it's important for students to stay organized, keep their essays organized. Sometimes you can use the same content that you provided in one essay and just kind of make small adjustments to that and use that same essay then for other scholarship opportunities. We encourage students not only to look within the college, but also look outside of the campus through their county. A lot of counties have foundations created just for students who are attending a college in the state of Ohio that also reside in their county.

In addition to that, they can look at agencies like the Mount Carmel Foundation. We do have a student application process for that. Our friends over at the foundation hold on to funds that are donated for college tuition use. And we're actually going through that scholarship application now. We just launched it on March 1st, and students are actually applying for that as we speak. There's also the Columbus Foundation, the Rotary here in Columbus, the Columbus Catholic Foundation, the list goes on and on and on.

But again, I encourage students to apply early for top consideration, and we accept all forms of those external aid opportunities along with our foundation scholarships.

Host: So, let's take a look at some of these options in terms of some of the basics here, starting with scholarships. What should students know about the scholarship world, do you think?

Sarah Johnson, MS: Scholarship world, most agencies, like I said, don't just look at where a student lives, but also their grade point averages. And that's for high school students just coming out of high school and into college, and also for returning students and even transfer students for college. They're looking at that GPA a lot. Many times, they're also looking at their program of study. Fortunately, we have one here at the College of Nursing, and that's Nursing. So, it it does kind of give a student a little bit more of an edge. Nursing's an in demand field, especially here for Ohio. There are Ohio State Funding for students seeking a nursing education from the state.

The most important step for students to apply for their top aid consideration is to complete the FAFSA, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Many agencies on top of the state of Ohio will use the free application for federal student aid to determine aid eligibility in their agency or the state. And we encourage students to actually start now. The '25-'26 FAFSA launched already, and we have students applying for them now, and we're actually working on awarding those students as we speak so that they understand what their financial situations look like long before they even start in either the summer or the fall term.

We are a summer header campus, so we will start new students here in the summer, and we will award their aid for summer, fall, and spring term. And then they'll apply for the '26-'27 FAFSA. So, every year they got to fill out that FAFSA for top aid consideration, and that will include their federal, state, and then institutional or external scholarship criteria.

Host: How about grants and loans in this instance? How do those work?

Sarah Johnson, MS: So, a lot of students will bring their award to us here in the office, and I encourage students to do that. I also encourage new students to bring in awards from other campuses so that, one, it's kind of like a checks and balances for us and that other campus; but two, it helps us understand what Mount Carmel College of Nursing is up against in terms of like our price point and what out-of-pocket expenses that student would be responsible for in relation to that other campus that they're looking into. So, it's kind of the line in the sand, as grants and scholarships are what we call free aid. These are monies that you won't have to pay back.

And then, of course, our federal loans or the nursing education loans. Anything up that realm will be loans that you will have to pay back eventually, depending on the terms and conditions of that loan. So, that's where a lot of students get a little bit hung up, is they will look at their financial aid award, their complete package that would include their federal direct loans, for example. And new student coming in may not understand that you do have to pay loans back. And it may seem pretty understandable as an adult, but as a student, you know, coming out, I mean, I think back to when I was 17, I probably didn't understand at that time either that those federal direct loans were something that I had to pay back until I was able to speak with a financial advisor. And then, that was all cleared up for me. But sometimes students don't always have that kind of access. Especially some of the larger campuses, they might not have that immediate access to a financial aid advisor.

And that's what's so nice about Mount Carmel College of Nursing is Steve Wetz and I-- and I pointed in that direction because he is just in the office next to me taking all the phone calls and student appointments now-- we tag team these students and make sure that they understand fully their obligations for federal direct loans. We also give them lots of resources that they can check online to determine what their loan repayments look like, and kind of where they stand in terms of their federal student loans.

We also consider private lenders. We're not limited to private lenders. Students can pick and choose any private lender that they feel fits their needs financially. And then, they will send their student loan information to our campus to certify and we can do that. I do encourage students who are looking at private lenders not to seek out those loans if they're enrolling in the fall, for example, until after the middle of May. Reason being is those lenders are going to do a credit check. So if they're doing a credit check and our term starts after that credit check window expires, they would have to go back in and reapply for that loan, meaning they're going to get tapped on that credit score again. So, students looking to apply for alternative lenders, make sure that they're doing it after the middle of the May term here or May month.

Host: How about work study programs? How do those affect the overall financial picture for these students?

Sarah Johnson, MS: Well, I'll speak on federal work study in terms of a prior experience that I've had dealing with federal work study. Most campuses offer federal work study. Mount Carmel College of Nursing currently does not. It's not to say that we won't at some point, but we're a commuting campus. A lot of our students have jobs outside of the college here. So at the point that we determine that we want to bring that program back, we will. And a lot of campuses use the work study program for students, you know, to get some experience. Sometimes there's lots of good office positions that students can get some really good experience on top of their education to learn the professional world a little bit, maybe a little bit elevated from what they experienced in high school if they did like a shadowing program. Students are awarded a federal work study. It's not deductible off of their award meaning, off of their balance. And once their work study allocation is met, sometimes campuses will take over their payroll at that point. Otherwise, their payroll's coming from the federal government through that work study grant, is what you're going to see on the financial aid package. And students can work through those funds while they're attending college. And the purpose of that is not that a student's working 40 hours a week and then also doing their education. They're working anywhere between 10 to 12 hours a week just to get that experience in, be able to go home, collect a paycheck, you know, order that pizza out, or save it, you know, to help pay-- maybe they want to pay on their loan interest while they're enrolled, it's completely up to them. But they do receive a paycheck if a campus offers the federal work study program, but it's not a deductible award. If you're looking at like your total cost, you won't see that. You know, let's say it's a thousand dollars that they were awarded for federal work study, you won't see that come off of their bill like a scholarship would.

Host: So Sarah, what about scholarships or grants specifically for nursing students and how those can be applied for.

Sarah Johnson, MS: Outside of the Mount Carmel Foundation where donors have generously given to students seeking a nursing education, those grants and scholarships are applicable for students now. Like I mentioned before, we opened our application up and the foundation then will help us collect those students who applied for these nursing education scholarships, and determine then from the donor's perspective who they wish to have received those. And then, they will let us know. And then, we'll award it to that student's package.

I will say that the state does have some funding support for students seeking an education. It comes in the form of a loan. Give just a second here. Let me read it off the screen. It's called the Nurse Education Assistance Loan Program, and specifically for students seeking education in Nursing. And it's awarded from the state and students will need to complete the free application for federal student aid to be considered for that loan program.

Host: Taking a step back for a moment here, you've given us some great comprehensive information about the process along the way, but where does it all start? What's step one in terms of the forms that need to be completed? Because those forms are always a big part of financial aid, right?

Sarah Johnson, MS: That's right. Very first thing, filling out the 2025-2026 FAFSA for this award year coming up. That will pretty much kick off any aid eligibility for any campus, even outside of Mount Carmel College of Nursing. The federal government implemented some changes to the FAFSA in the '24-'25 award year, the Better FAFSA, Better Future FAFSA Simplification Act, where students used to only be able to add 10 campuses to their application to be able to receive their personal information. Now, they can add 20. And that was a big change. Because 10 before, it would limit students, you'd have to go back in there, rotate campuses around as you were doing your college search. But at this point, you know, an eligible senior that's graduating from high school, for example, trying to get their college search underway, adding 20 campuses is a lot easier to do now and compare and contrast financial aid awards from those different campuses versus. Back when, let's say when I went to college, we can only add 10 at the time. So, funny story. I used to have to file the FAFSA through TouchTone.

So, I will say that it's way easier now than it ever was back when I was filing my FAFSA. And doing it now probably takes the student anywhere between 10 to 15 minutes. And then, adding their parent information once they completed on their end, I mean, you could have a completed FAFSA done at about 20 minutes at this point. And then, within three to five business days is usually when it gets to the campuses that you elected your information to go to.

Host: And just remind people, please, when ideally should they start that application process, and what are the important deadlines involved?

Sarah Johnson, MS: The quicker the better. And I would say any campus is probably going to tell you that for top aid consideration, here at Mount Carmel College of Nursing, we're trying to get as many students to file their '25-'26 FAFSAs before May so that we can get their financial aid award information out to them.

Like for our returning students, for example, before they leave the campus for, you know, the summer, if they're not enrolling in the summer, we don't want their financial aid award to be delayed in any kind of way. We all know how summers get, they get busy, vacations and work and things. So, we're trying to encourage our returning students to file their FAFSAs before May.

I will say for the state deadline, for example, you would need to file a FAFSA before October 1st of 2025 to be eligible for consideration for the state of Ohio's aid. Currently, not many states allow students to take their state aid across borders to come into Ohio, but like I said, we're a commuting school. So, unless the student's willing to either go online or commit to moving to the state, most other states aren't going to let students take their state aid out of that state. Obviously, that's the point, right? It is to stay in the state. So if you're looking at aid consideration for the state of Ohio before October 1st, for top aid consideration for Mount Carmel College of Nursing, hopefully before May 1st of 2025.

Host: Gotcha. So, a few other things. In a nutshell, simply put, how would you say financial aid is awarded and how does the college determine an amount?

Sarah Johnson, MS: Yeah. So, the federal and state amounts are set by the federal government and the state. So, that's actually the easy part for us, is we don't usually have to make that determination unless we get into like a special circumstances review and we can obviously go over that later on. But for us to determine aid eligibility, we will receive that student's ISIR, which is the student information that comes to the college campuses based off the FAFSA submission. So, yes, it is your FAFSA that was submitted, but your information that comes to the college is, we call it the ISIR. And that gets to us, like I said, within three to five business days as long as there weren't any issues filing that information. Anymore, we don't usually have much issue retrieving a student's information as they've changed how their calculations and things like that work. Other systems have gotten better on getting that information to the campuses. So usually, within three to five business days after it's successful submission, we will get that student's information. It usually takes us a day or two here at the College of Nursing to process that information. And I would say within a week that students should have a financial aid award at the point that we're in the awarding season, which we just started. So, we just opened up our awarding season now, and students should be seeing financial aid awards before the end of this week.

Host: And then finally, in summary here, what happens. I'm sure many are wondering if a student's financial situation changes along the way or that of their family if their financial situation is altered. How is that figured in and what's the process for addressing that?

Sarah Johnson, MS: Yeah. So back about a decade or so ago, some things changed with how the information came into the FAFSA that students used to have to file in January for aid consideration for that same fall. But when everything changed with that administration, October 1st became the new filing date, and it also had students using the prior, prior year's tax information instead of just the prior year's information.

So, the expectation is that there are going to be students who have different financial situations from two years ago to now. Things like divorce, unfortunately maybe there was a death in the family. Maybe there was some medical expenses that they are now accruing that they didn't have back-- right now, I'm going to say 2023, but it's the 2025 FAFSA. Just differences, you know, in the household income and how it's being affected.

So, what we could do is an appeal or what most offices call a special circumstances review, where a student would apply. We have forms for that on their financial aid award letter. When they go out, they will have an option to appeal their financial aid at that point and say, "Hey, things aren't like they used to be in 2023. I lost a parent, or my parents got divorced. Financially, it's a lot different than what it used to be. Can you review my information again?" And at that point, we'll make sure they have the necessary forms. It does need to be documented, as the college then has to turn that information over to the federal government to determine why we had to do a special circumstances review for that student. And so, we need to make sure all of our information is accurate, the documentation is accurate, and we can make those changes for the student and then award them any eligible aid at that point.

Host: Well, folks, we trust you are now more familiar with navigating financial aid in higher education. Sarah Johnson, an important job you have. It affects many people's lives in a very important way. Thanks so much again. Keep up the great work.

Sarah Johnson, MS: Thank you. Happy to do so.

Host: For more information, please visit mccn.edu. If you found this podcast helpful, please do share it on your social media. And thanks so much again for being part of Careers in Care, a Mount Carmel College of Nursing podcast.