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Editor’s Note: The new, simplified FAFSA form for the 2024-2025 academic year is available, although applicants are reporting a number of glitches. Try not to worry, take your time, and aim to submit your application as soon as possible.

Applying for federal aid is a crucial step most high school students take while transitioning to college life. Parents going through the college admissions process for the first time, though, may not realize that they also play a huge role in helping their children apply for grants and scholarships through the Free Application for Federal Student Aid or FAFSA®.

Applications for the 2023-2024 round of FAFSA opened on Oct. 1 and will remain open until June 30, 2024. If you’re looking for facts about FAFSA that will help your child apply for college aid during the 2023-2024 academic year, we’ve compiled some of the most important information on how you can help your child during the FAFSA process.

Recommended: FAFSA Guide

FAFSA Facts and Tips

Filling out FAFSA for the first time? These facts and FAFSA tips can help you prepare for the application process and offer suggestions for getting the most aid.

1. FAFSA Is Required to Receive Government Student Loans

For those who may be new to the financial aid process, FAFSA is the form students fill out to apply for federal financial aid. Just over 18 million students fill out the FAFSA each year. Your child won’t be eligible for government-funded college aid, such as federal loans or grants if they don’t apply.

Recommended: 12 Steps to Filling Out the FAFSA Form for School Year 2023-2024

2. Your Child Could Qualify for Grants by Filling Out FAFSA

While you can get subsidized or unsubsidized loans through FAFSA, your child may also be eligible for grants. One common federal grant is the Pell grant, which is awarded to first-time undergraduate students who show exceptional financial need, such as coming from a low-income family.

Recommended: Types of Federal Student Loans

3. It Determines Work-Study Eligibility

Federal work-study is a way for students to earn income at a part-time job while in college. These jobs can be on or off-campus and vary by school, although not all schools participate in the program. You have to fill out FAFSA to determine if you’re eligible for work-study programs.

4. Some Schools Use FAFSA to Determine What Aid They Offer

If the schools your child applies to offer their own aid, such as need-based scholarships, they may use FAFSA to determine eligibility. You may want to check with the schools your child is applying to and ask if they have a separate application for internal scholarships and grants.

5. Most Applicants Under Age 22 Are Considered Dependents

Most students under the age of 22 who are neither married nor parents themselves won’t be able to apply as an independent student . As a result, for most incoming freshmen, their parents’ income is counted in the determination of financial need.

Recommended: Independent vs Dependent Student: Which One Are You?

6. Your Child Needs Your Information to Apply

If your child is filing as a dependent, then they’ll need some basic information about your finances, such as your income and paid taxes. You may also elect to apply for a Parent PLUS loan, which can help cover your child’s educational expenses if they don’t receive enough in loans and grants to cover costs. Note that you may need additional information to apply for a Parent Plus loan.

7. High-Income Families May Want to Still Apply

If your family is middle- or upper-class, you may wonder if your child will receive any FAFSA aid. However, applying is free, and family income is just one of many factors considered during the application process. Additionally, your child’s school still may require FAFSA to be eligible for institutional aid, so it may be worth applying for even if you don’t think your child will need or receive aid.

8. Grades Don’t Affect FAFSA Eligibility

FAFSA does not have a GPA requirement to apply. However, your child may want to keep in mind that they could lose any aid given to them through FAFSA if they have poor grades for multiple semesters after they receive the aid.

9. Deadlines May Differ by State and School

While the FAFSA doesn’t close until June 30, 2024 for the 2023-24 academic year, FAFSA application deadlines may vary by state and school. State and school deadlines may close prior to the federal deadlines. If you’re not sure what deadlines apply to your student, consider checking with the financial aid office of each school your child applies to and ask what their FAFSA deadlines are.

10. Having Multiple Kids in College No Longer Affects Financial Aid Awards

Since 2021, the number of children in a family who are in college or applying to college no longer affects aid eligibility. Before, families with multiple children in college may have qualified to receive more aid. This is one of many changes throughout the FAFSA Simplification Act, which aims to simplify the FAFSA form and therefore hopefully encourage more families to fill out FAFSA.

11. Expected Family Contribution Is Also Changing

Expected family contribution (EFC) is an estimate of how much FAFSA believes families can contribute to the cost of a student’s education. However, as part of the FAFSA Simplification Act, EFC will be replaced with the Student Aid Index, or SAI, starting on July 1, 2024 (for the 2024-2025 academic year). While that may sound far off, a freshman during the 2023-2024 academic year will be a sophomore when SAI is put into effect.

12. FAFSA Is Changing the Process for Children of Divorce

Before the new simplified FAFSA, in the case when a child’s parents are separated, the custodial parent’s information was included on the form. However, with the new changes, the parent who provides the most financial support to the student is responsible for filling out the FAFSA.

Recommended: How much FAFSA Money Can I Expect?

13. Your Child Will Need Their Social Security or Alien Registration Number

As your child prepares to fill out the FAFSA, they’ll need their Social Security or Alien Registration number.

14. Have Nontaxable Income at the Ready

One question that may trip up parents is what FAFSA considers nontaxable income. For FAFSA, that generally includes (but is not limited to):

•   Workers compensation

•   Disability benefits

•   Welfare benefits

•   Social Security income

•   Veteran’s benefits

•   Military or clergy allowances (if applicable)

•   Foreign income not taxed by any government

15. Your Child May Need to Report Grants and Scholarships

Most first-time college students won’t need to report any grants or scholarships they received. However, they may if they had to report them on their taxes, such as:

•   AmeriCorps benefits, such as living allowances or awards

•   Taxable work-studies, assistantships or fellowships

•   Combat pay, special combat pay, or cooperative education program earnings

•   Other grants or scholarships reported to the IRS

If you have any doubts about what types of grants may be taxable, consider consulting a tax professional.

16. Have Bank Statements Available

To fill out FAFSA, you’ll need bank statements for both you and your child. This information helps determine how much aid your child will be eligible for.

17. You Don’t Have to Have a Social Security Number to Sign the Form

If you’re filing for FAFSA online, you can create a federal student aid (FSA) ID . This is simply your login and password. Your child can create one here . But if you don’t have a Social Security number, you can print out the signature page of the form, sign it, and mail it in.

18. You Don’t Need to File Taxes Before Submitting FAFSA

If you filed for an extension for your tax return, you can use your W-2 or 1099 statements. But you will need to update FAFSA once you file. This is because which tax bracket you’re in can impact how much aid your child is eligible for.

Recommended: What Tax Bracket Am I In?

19. You’ll Need to Have a List of Assets Ready

FAFSA uses parental assets to help determine aid eligibility. You’ll need to know how much in assets you have, which include (but are not limited to):

•   Money in cash, savings, and checking accounts

•   Non-retirement investments (such as stocks and mutual funds)

•   Businesses that have more than 100 full-time equivalent employees and you and your family have minority stakes in

•   Investment farms (in other words, you don’t live on and operate the farm)

•   Other investments, such as real estate and stock options

20. 529 Plans Are Also Considered Assets

When filling out information about assets, you’ll also need to provide the value of all 529 College Savings Plans you own — including the accounts for siblings. Also, if your child owns a 529 plan (often called an UGMA or UTMA 529 plan), you will need to report it as a parental asset – and not as the student’s asset. (Please note, however, that if your child owns a UGMA or UTMA account that is not a 529 plan, you don’t list it as an asset — your child does as their asset.)

21. Your Primary Home Doesn’t Need to Be Listed as an Asset

One common FAFSA mistake is listing your primary home as an asset. However, FAFSA does not require you to do so. In fact, listing it as an asset can decrease the amount of aid your child receives.

22. You Don’t Need Your Retirement or Insurance Information

FAFSA also doesn’t count retirement or insurance accounts as assets. Again, including them can inflate the number of assets you have and therefore may decrease the amount of aid your child is offered.

23. You’ll Need to Include Each School Your Child Is Applying To

When you and your child fill out the FAFSA, you’ll want to have a list of all the schools your child may be interested in applying to. You’ll need each school’s federal school code to add them to the list of schools you want your FAFSA information sent to, although you can also search for this information on the form itself if you can’t find it on the school’s website. It may be wise to include schools your child isn’t sure they want to apply to yet since it’s easier to simply add the school to the list now than having to send the school your FAFSA information later.

24. Schools, Not the Government, Will Give You Financial Aid Updates

Part of the reason you’ll need to send your FAFSA to schools your child is considering applying to is because schools, not the government, send out financial aid packages. As such, each school your child applies to may offer a different financial aid package.

25. Skipping Information Can Be Costly

Before hitting submit, you might want to double check that every section of the FAFSA is filled out (and accurate). Skipping FAFSA sections may result in delays in your application being processed, errors that prevent you from submitting, or even a decrease in the amount of aid offered.

26. Your Child Will Need to Take Student Loan Exit Counseling

While filing FAFSA or talking to your school’s financial aid office, you may hear about something called student loan exit counseling. This is mandatory for anyone who gets federal student loan aid. Counseling is simply an online module that will help your child navigate how the student loan repayment process works. A reminder will be sent to your child’s email in their last year of school about when this exit counseling is due. However, you and your child may want to consider reviewing student loan exit repayment options before the counseling is due to ensure they pick the best option based on their financial situation.

27. File Early to Get the Most Aid

While it may seem like you have a ton of time to fill out the FAFSA, it may be best to complete it sooner rather than later. Delaying can mean financial aid for your state or school dries up before your child can even be considered for it. Additionally, knowing how much aid each school is offering your child may help them when deciding on which school to attend.

28. You Could Be Selected for FAFSA Verification

After your child receives their student aid report, they may get a message saying they were selected for verification. FAFSA verification is used by some schools to simply verify that students’ FAFSA information is accurate. Some schools randomly select people to be verified, some verify all students, and some may elect not to verify any students.

Recommended: 14 Must-Know College Financial Aid Terms for Parents

29. You Can Appeal Your Aid Package

Once your child has their financial aid packages, they may find that they were offered less than they expected or hoped for. If your child’s dream college didn’t offer enough aid (or perhaps even didn’t offer them any aid), they may be able to appeal for more financial aid. This process may be especially important if your financial situation has changed since you and your child first applied for FAFSA. While schools may deny the request, it doesn’t cost you or your child anything but time to ask for more aid.

30. You Can List Unusual Circumstances That Affect Your Finances

Another way to try and increase your financial aid package is by listing unusual financial circumstances both on your FAFSA and in an appeal letter to schools you’re applying to. Some common unusual circumstances include (but are not limited to):

•   Having tuition expenses in elementary and/or secondary schools

•   Experiencing unusual medical or dental expenses not covered by insurance

•   Having a family member become unemployed recently

•   Experiencing changes in income and/or assets that could affect aid eligibility

31. You’ll Have to Reapply Every Year

Once you’ve filed your FAFSA, you may want to keep your login information in a safe place. You’ll need that information to file for FAFSA every year your child is in school, and losing your FSA login information may delay your ability to apply next year. You may also want to set a reminder on your phone or calendar to apply next year, although FAFSA will send you an email reminder when next year’s FAFSA is open.

The Takeaway

Filing for FAFSA is an important first step in helping your child pay for college. Knowing how FAFSA works and how to optimize the amount of aid your child receives can help increase the amount of federal aid they’re offered.

However, if their financial aid package isn’t enough to cover college costs, they may want to consider private student loans. Private student loans aren’t required to offer the same borrower protections as federal student loans, and are, therefore, generally considered as an option only after all other sources of funding have been exhausted.

If you’re considering private loans to pay for college, you may want to review the differences between private and federal student loans to ensure that you and your child choose the best options for them to pay for college. SoFi offers private student loans that have no hidden fees and allow borrowers to choose between four repayment options.

Cover up to 100% of school-certified costs including tuition, books, supplies, room and board, and transportation with a private student loan from SoFi.

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Please borrow responsibly. SoFi Private Student Loans are not a substitute for federal loans, grants, and work-study programs. You should exhaust all your federal student aid options before you consider any private loans, including ours. Read our FAQs. SoFi Private Student Loans are subject to program terms and restrictions, and applicants must meet SoFi’s eligibility and underwriting requirements. See SoFi.com/eligibility-criteria for more information. To view payment examples, click here. SoFi reserves the right to modify eligibility criteria at any time. This information is subject to change.

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Figuring out just how much car insurance you really need can be a challenge.

At minimum, you’ll want to make sure you have enough car insurance to meet the requirements of your state or the lender who’s financing your car. Beyond that, there’s coverage you might want to add to those required amounts. These policies will help ensure that you’re adequately protecting yourself, your family, and your assets. And then there’s the coverage that actually fits within your budget.

We know it may not be a fun topic to think about what would happen if you were involved in a car accident, but given that well over five million drivers are involved in one every year, it’s a priority to get coverage. Finding a car insurance policy that checks all those boxes may take a bit of research — and possibly some compromise. Here are some of the most important factors to consider.

How Much Car Insurance Is Required by Your State?

A good launching pad for researching how much car insurance you need is to check what your state requires by law. Only two states do not require a car owner to carry some amount of insurance: New Hampshire and Virginia. If you live elsewhere, find out how much and what types of coverage a policyholder must have. Typically, there are options available. Once you’ve found this information, consider it the bare minimum to purchase.


💡 Quick Tip: Saving money on your fixed costs isn’t always easy. One exception is auto insurance. Shopping around for a better deal really can pay off.

Types of Car Insurance Coverage

As you dig into the topic, you’ll hear a lot of different terms used to describe the various kinds of coverage that are offered. Let’s take a closer look here:

Liability Coverage

Most states require drivers to carry auto liability insurance. What it does: It helps pay the cost of damages to others involved in an accident if it’s determined you were at fault.

Let’s say you were to cause an accident, whether that means rear-ending a car or backing into your neighbor’s fence while pulling out of a shared driveway. Your insurance would pay for the other driver’s repairs, medical bills, lost wages, and other related costs. What it wouldn’t pay for: Your costs or the costs relating to passengers in your car.

Each state sets its own minimum requirements for this liability coverage. For example, in California, drivers must carry at least $15,000 in coverage for the injury/death of one person, $30,000 for injury/death to more than one person, and $5,000 for damage to property. The shorthand for this, in terms of shopping for car insurance, would be that you have 15/30/5 coverage.

But in Maryland, the amounts are much higher: $30,000 in bodily injury liability per person, $60,000 in bodily injury liability per accident (if there are multiple injuries), and $15,000 in property damage liability per accident. (That would be 30/60/15 coverage.)

And some may want to go beyond what the state requires. If you carry $15,000 worth of property damage liability coverage, for example, and you get in an accident that causes $25,000 worth of damage to someone else’s car, your insurance company will only pay the $15,000 policy limit. You’d be expected to come up with the remaining $10,000.

Generally, recommendations suggest you purchase as much as you could lose if a lawsuit were filed against you and you lost. In California, some say that you may want 250/500/100 in coverage – much more than the 15/30/5 mandated by law.

Recommended: What Does Liability Auto Insurance Typically Cover?

Collision Coverage

Collision insurance pays to repair or replace your vehicle if it’s damaged in an accident with another car that was your fault. It will also help pay for repairs if, say, you hit an inanimate object, be it a fence, tree, guardrail, building, dumpster, pothole, or anything else.

If you have a car loan or lease, you’ll need collision coverage. If, however, your car is paid off or isn’t worth much, you may decide you don’t need collision coverage. For instance, if your car is old and its value is quite low, is it worth paying for this kind of premium, which can certainly add up over the years?

But if you depend on your vehicle and you can’t afford to replace it, or you can’t afford to pay out of pocket for damages, collision coverage may well be worth having. You also may want to keep your personal risk tolerance in mind when considering collision coverage. If the cost of even a minor fender bender makes you nervous, this kind of insurance could help you feel a lot more comfortable when you get behind the wheel.

Comprehensive Coverage

When you drive, you know that unexpected events happen. A pebble can hit your windshield as you drive on the highway and cause a crack. A tree branch can go flying in a storm and put a major dent in your car. Comprehensive insurance covers these events and more. It’s a policy that pays for physical damage to your car that doesn’t happen in a collision, including theft, vandalism, a broken window, weather damage, or even hitting a deer or some other animal.

If you finance or lease your car, your lender will probably require it. But even if you own your car outright, you may want to consider comprehensive coverage. The cost of including it in your policy could be relatively small compared to what it would take to repair or replace your car if it’s damaged or stolen.

Personal Injury Protection and Medical Payments Coverage

Several states require Personal Injury Protection (PIP) or Medical Payments coverage (MedPay for short). This is typically part of the state’s no-fault auto insurance laws, which say that if a policyholder is injured in a crash, that person’s insurance pays for their medical care, regardless of who caused the accident.

While these two types of medical coverage help pay for medical expenses that you and any passengers in your car sustain in an accident, there is a difference. MedPay pays for medical expenses only, and is often available only in small increments, up to $5,000. PIP may also cover loss of income, funeral expenses, and other costs. The amount required varies hugely depending on where you live. For instance, in Utah, it’s $3,000 per person coverage; in New York, it’s $50,000 per person.

Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage

Despite the fact that the vast majority of states require car insurance, there are lots of uninsured drivers out there. The number of them on the road can range from one in eight to one in five! In addition, there are people on the road who have the bare minimum of coverage, which may not be adequate when accidents occur.

For these reasons, you may want to take out Uninsured Motorist (UM) or Underinsured Motorist (UIM) coverage. Many states require these policies, which are designed to protect you if you’re in an accident with a motorist who has little or no insurance. In states that require this type of coverage, the minimums are generally set at about $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident. But the exact amounts vary from state to state. And you may choose to carry this coverage even if it isn’t required in your state.

If you’re seriously injured in an accident caused by a driver who doesn’t carry liability car insurance, uninsured motorist coverage could help you and your passengers avoid paying some scary-high medical bills.

Let’s take a quick look at some terms you may see if you shop for this kind of coverage:

Uninsured motorist bodily injury coverage (UMBI)

This kind of policy covers your medical bills, lost wages, as well as pain and suffering after an accident when the other driver is not insured. Additionally, it provides coverage for those costs if any passengers were in your vehicle when the accident occurred.

Uninsured motorist property damage coverage (UMPD)

With this kind of policy, your insurer will pay for repairs to your car plus other property if someone who doesn’t carry insurance is responsible for an accident. Some policies in certain states may also provide coverage if you’re involved in a hit-and-run incident.

Underinsured motorist coverage (UIM)

Let’s say you and a passenger get into an accident that’s the other driver’s fault, and the medical bills total $20,000…but the person responsible is only insured for $15,000. A UIM policy would step in and pay the difference to help you out.

Guaranteed Auto Protection (GAP) Insurance

Here’s another kind of insurance to consider: GAP insurance, which recognizes that cars can quickly depreciate in value and helps you manage that. For example, if your car were stolen or totaled in an accident (though we hope that never happens), GAP coverage will pay the difference between what its actual value is (say, $5,000) and what you still owe on your auto loan or lease (for example, $10,000).

GAP insurance is optional and generally requires that you add it onto a full coverage auto insurance policy. In some instances, this coverage may be rolled in with an auto lease.

Non-Owner Coverage

You may think you don’t need car insurance if you don’t own a car. (Maybe you take public transportation or ride your bike most of the time.) But if you still plan to drive occasionally — when you travel and rent a car, for example, or you sometimes borrow a friend’s car — a non-owner policy can provide liability coverage for any bodily injury or property damage you cause.

The insurance policy on the car you’re driving will probably be considered the “primary” coverage, which means it will kick in first. Then your non-owner policy could be used for costs that are over the limits of the primary policy.

Rideshare Coverage

If you drive for a ridesharing service like Uber or Lyft, you may want to consider adding rideshare coverage to your personal automobile policy.

Rideshare companies are required by law in some states to provide commercial insurance for drivers who are using their personal cars — but that coverage could be limited. (For example, it may not cover the time when a driver is waiting for a ride request but hasn’t actually picked up a passenger.) This coverage could fill the gaps between your personal insurance policy and any insurance provided by the ridesharing service. Whether you are behind the wheel occasionally or full-time, it’s probably worth exploring.

Recommended: Which Insurance Types Do You Really Need?

Why You Need Car Insurance

Car insurance is an important layer of protection; it helps safeguard your financial wellbeing in the case of an accident. Given how much most Americans drive – around 14,000 miles or more a year – it’s likely a valuable investment.

What If You Don’t Have Car Insurance?

There can be serious penalties for driving a car without valid insurance. Let’s take a look at a few scenarios: If an officer pulls you over and you can’t prove you have the minimum coverage required in your state, you could get a ticket. Your license could be suspended. What’s more, the officer might have your car towed away from the scene.

That’s a relatively minor inconvenience. Consider that if you’re in a car accident, the penalties for driving without insurance could be far more significant. If you caused the incident, you may be held personally responsible for paying any damages to others involved; one recent report found the average bodily injury claim totaled more than $24,000. And even if you didn’t cause the accident, the amount you can recover from the at-fault driver may be restricted.

If that convinces you of the value of auto insurance (and we hope it does), you may see big discrepancies in the amounts of coverage. For example, there may be a tremendous difference between the amount you have to have, how much you think you should have to feel secure, and what you can afford.

That’s why it can help to know what your state and your lender might require as a starting point. Keep in mind that having car insurance isn’t just about getting your car — or someone else’s — fixed or replaced. (Although that — and the fact that it’s illegal to not have insurance — may be motivation enough to at least get basic car insurance coverage.)

Having the appropriate levels of coverage can also help you protect all your other assets — your home, business, savings, etc. — if you’re in a catastrophic accident and the other parties involved decide to sue you to pay their bills. And let us emphasize: Your state’s minimum liability requirements may not be enough to cover those costs — and you could end up paying the difference out of pocket, which could have a huge impact on your finances.

Finding the Best Car Insurance for You

If you’re convinced of the value of getting car insurance, the next step is to decide on the right policy for you. Often, the question on people’s minds is, “How can I balance getting the right coverage at an affordable price?”

What’s the Right Amount of Car Insurance Coverage for You?

To get a ballpark figure in mind, consider these numbers:

Type of Coverage	Basic	Good	Excellent
Liability	Your state’s minimum	•   $100,000/person for bodily injury liability ◦   $300,000/ accident for bodily injury liability ◦   $100,000 for property damage	•   $250,000/person for bodily injury liability ◦   $500,000/ accident for bodily injury liability ◦   $250,000 for property damage
Collision	Not required	Recommended	Recommended
Comprehensive	Not required	Recommended	Recommended
Personal Injury Protection (PIP)	Your state’s minimum	$40,000	Your state’s maximum
Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist (UM, UIM) Coverage	Your state’s minimum	•   $100,000/person for bodily injury liability ◦   $300,000/ accident for bodily injury liability	•   $250,000/person for bodily injury liability ◦   $500,000/ accident for bodily injury liability

Here are some points to consider that will help you get the best policy for you.

Designing a Policy that Works for You

Your insurance company will probably offer several coverage options, and you may be able to build a policy around what you need based on your lifestyle. For example, if your car is paid off and worth only a few thousand dollars, you may choose to opt out of collision insurance in order to get more liability coverage.

Choosing a Deductible

Your deductible is the amount you might have to pay out personally before your insurance company begins paying any damages. Let’s say your car insurance policy has a $500 deductible, and you hit a guardrail on the highway when you swerve to avoid a collision. If the damage was $2,500, you would pay the $500 deductible and your insurer would pay for the other $2,000 in repairs. (Worth noting: You may have two different deductibles when you hold an auto insurance policy — one for comprehensive coverage and one for collision.)

Just as with your health insurance, your insurance company will likely offer you a lower premium if you choose to go with a higher deductible ($1,000 instead of $500, for example). Also, you typically pay this deductible every time you file a claim. It’s not like the situation with some health insurance policies, in which you satisfy a deductible once a year.

If you have savings or some other source of money you could use for repairs, you might be able to go with a higher deductible and save on your insurance payments. But if you aren’t sure where the money would come from in a pinch, it may make sense to opt for a lower deductible.

Checking the Costs of Added Coverage

As you assess how much coverage to get, here’s some good news: Buying twice as much liability coverage won’t necessarily double the price of your premium. You may be able to manage more coverage than you think. Before settling for a bare-bones policy, it can help to check on what it might cost to increase your coverage. This information is often easily available online, via calculator tools, rather than by spending time on the phone with a salesperson.

Finding Discounts that Could Help You Save

Some insurers (including SoFi Protect) reward safe drivers or “good drivers” with lower premiums. If you have a clean driving record, free of accidents and claims, you are a low risk for your insurer and they may extend you a discount.

Another way to save: Bundling car and home insurance is another way to cut costs. Look for any discounts or packages that would help you save.


💡 Quick Tip: If your car is paid off and worth only a few thousand dollars, consider updating your car insurance: You might choose to opt out of collision coverage and double down on liability.

The Takeaway

Buying car insurance is an important step in protecting yourself in case of an accident or theft. It’s not just about repairing or replacing your vehicle. It’s also about ensuring that medical fees and lost wages are protected – and securing your assets if there were ever a lawsuit filed against you.

These are potentially life-altering situations, so it’s worth spending a bit of time on the few key steps that will help you get the right coverage at the right price. It begins with knowing what your state or your car-loan lender requires. Then, you’ll review the different kinds of policies and premiums available. Put these pieces together, and you’ll find the insurance that best suits your needs and budget.

When you’re ready to shop for auto insurance, SoFi can help. Our online auto insurance comparison tool lets you see quotes from a network of top insurance providers within minutes, saving you time and hassle.

SoFi brings you real rates, with no bait and switch.

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If you are motivated, you may decide to pursue a PhD program in your given field of study. However, you are probably aware that doing so not only requires time and energy but can also be an expensive proposition. According the Education Data Initiative, the average cost of a doctorate degree (which typically takes four to eight years) is $150,835. The average student loan debt for this kind of degree is $112,080.

That can be a daunting sum, but a fully funded PhD program can offset part or all of these costs. In addition to financing tuition and fees, these programs usually provide a stipend to help cover living expenses. Some may also pay for any research and travel necessary for students to complete their graduate degrees.

Since this can make a huge difference in a prospective student’s financial outlook, here’s a closer look at fully funded PhD programs, how they work, and how they can help lower the cost of a degree.

Table of Contents

•   What Is a PhD Program?

•   What Does Fully Funded Mean?

•   How to Find a Fully Funded PhD Program

•   Examples of Fully Funded PhD Programs

•   Paying Down Student Loan Debt

What is a PhD Program?

PhD programs, also known as doctoral programs, are often a next step after a master’s degree. They give students the opportunity to do graduate-level research in the field of their choice and earn the highest degree possible (sometimes referred to as a terminal degree). They span a variety of subjects, such as engineering, English, public health, and computer science.

The application process for a PhD program can be competitive, and the programs themselves can be very time-consuming, taking (as mentioned above) on average between four and eight years. Working while pursuing these specialized degrees can be challenging, which is why it can be so helpful when a program offers an annual stipend.


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What Does Fully Funded Mean?

In a fully funded PhD program, the student typically receives full tuition reimbursement and a stipend to help cover the cost of living while pursuing the degree. Programs have varying funding requirements.

In some cases, students may receive a “no-strings-attached” fellowship. This means they receive funding but don’t owe the university anything aside from their research.

In many cases, to receive funding, a student will need to work part-time for the university by providing teaching or administrative assistance. These experiences can give students an opportunity to build out their resume while helping them pay for graduate school.

More often than not, these graduate fellowship positions are the main way to receive full funding to attend a PhD program and are commonly offered in research-based degree programs. Some fellowships may be offered in the form of scholarships or stipends, which are not usually taxed as income by the IRS (Internal Revenue Service).

Schools may also offer assistantships, where students earn an income from the university. Generally, these positions are given to doctoral students who are doing research in order to complete their theses or dissertations. Assistantships can be taxed as income.

While all PhD programs have their own unique funding packages, many fully funded programs are designed to help students cover a variety of costs. Here are some common ones.

Tuition and Fees

Typically, fully funded PhD programs provide students with so-called “tuition waivers.” The waivers cover the cost of attending the university, including tuition and fees. In some cases, book stipends, reduced-fare transit passes, and other benefits are included to lessen the student’s financial burden.

Recommended: How to Pay for Grad School

Living Expenses

Whether through fellowship funding or a university job, students in a fully funded PhD program can receive a stipend to pay for food, rent, transportation, and other living expenses.

Depending on a student’s cost of living and lifestyle choices, these lump sums might not be enough to fully cover costs. This may be especially true during the summer, when stipends are less likely to be given out. If their program does not offer summer funding, students might choose to work part-time or take out loans to make ends meet.

Recommended: Using Student Loans for Living Expenses Off Campus

Health Insurance

While many doctoral programs include health insurance benefits, some do not. As you’re exploring graduate school programs, it’s a good idea to find out if it provides this important type of coverage.

Generally, student health insurance packages only cover care and services at on-campus facilities. Some programs automatically enroll their students in one type of healthcare plan, and others allow students to choose their plan during the annual open enrollment period.

If a student is married or has dependents, they may be able to add them to their student health insurance plan for an additional cost.

Research and Travel Funding

If necessary, some programs allow doctoral students to apply for funding to help them conduct their research or travel to conferences, archives, or summer programs. This is something students apply for on an as-needed basis and is not a guarantee.

In some cases, students will pay the costs up front and then be reimbursed. Grants and scholarships can also help cover research and travel expenses.

How to Find a Fully Funded PhD Program

There are sites that allow you to search for various PhD programs around the world. But one of the best ways to discover which programs are fully funded can be by conducting your own research.

•   Before submitting an application to a PhD program, learn more about the university’s resources, faculty members, and requirements for graduation. Look into the specifics of the funding options available at each university you plan to apply to, as PhD programs may address funding differently. Often, schools will include information about these opportunities on their website.

•   While some universities automatically give grants or fellowships to their admitted students, others make their students complete a separate funding application. These applications can require submitting letters of recommendation or personal statements and can have deadlines that are different from the application deadline for the doctoral program.

Examples of Fully Funded PhD Programs

It’s possible to find fully funded PhD programs across a variety of subjects at many different schools. From a PhD in biological sciences at Harvard to education at Stanford to nursing at Duke, fully funded PhD programs cover an array of study areas.


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Paying Down Student Loan Debt

If you have student loan debt from an undergraduate or master’s degree that you want to pay down before or during a PhD program, you might consider exploring student loan refinancing. Refinancing could help you save money in interest over the life of the loan and pay down your debt faster.

Student loan refinancing involves taking out a new loan at a new interest rate and/or a new term that can be more favorable than the current rate or terms you currently have. It is possible to refinance both federal and private student loans.

But there are two important caveats:

•   When you refinance federal student loans with private loans, you forfeit access to federal benefits and protection, such as forbearance, forgiveness, and income-driven repayment plans.

•   Also, if you refinance for an extended term, while your monthly payments may decrease, you can pay more in interest over the life of the loan.

Think carefully about these points when deciding if refinancing could be the right option for you.

The Takeaway

Pursuing the highest possible graduate degree can be expensive, but a fully funded PhD program can offset all or part of the costs. Programs vary from school to school, but they typically cover the cost of tuition and may include a stipend to help finance living expenses and more. In some cases, PhD candidates will be required to do research or teach as part of the agreement to receive funding. Students can also explore other ways to cover the cost of school, including scholarships or grants.

In addition, PhD candidates who are paying off student loans from an undergraduate or master’s degree may want to consider student loan refinancing. Doing so with federal loans via a private loan means forfeiting federal benefits and protections. Also, refinancing for an extended term could mean paying more interest over the life of the loan.

Looking to lower your monthly student loan payment? Refinancing may be one way to do it — by extending your loan term, getting a lower interest rate than what you currently have, or both. (Please note that refinancing federal loans makes them ineligible for federal forgiveness and protections. Also, lengthening your loan term may mean paying more in interest over the life of the loan.) SoFi student loan refinancing offers flexible terms that fit your budget.

With SoFi, refinancing is fast, easy, and all online. We offer competitive fixed and variable rates.

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Financial Tips & Strategies: The tips provided on this website are of a general nature and do not take into account your specific objectives, financial situation, and needs. You should always consider their appropriateness given your own circumstances.

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