Resources & Forms

FAFSA Form
Complete the FAFSA using Lasell University code 002158. 

Create a Federal Student Aid ID Creating a Federal Student Aid (FSA) ID is essential for accessing and managing federal student aid. Here are the top three benefits of having an FSA ID:

• Secure Login: Access and manage your federal student aid safely.
• Sign Electronically: Your FSA ID acts as your legal e-signature.
• Use for Life: One FSA ID works every year for FAFSA and loans.
  

Financial Aid 101 Live Webinar (2025-26) Presented by MEFA

Learn how to navigate the financial aid process. Anything from starting the FAFSA, learn eligibility rules, and how to interpret aid offers. 

• March 18, 2026 — 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm
• May 6, 2026 — 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm
  Register Here for any of the above live sessions.

 What is the FAFSA Simplification Act? 

• FAFSA Simplication Act overview
• FAFSA Simplification FAQs (external PDF)

Federal Student Aid (FSA) Federal Student Aid Estimator

Federal Student Aid (FSA) has published its updated Federal Student Aid Estimator tool to help students and their families calculate the amount of financial aid they may be eligible to receive for the 2025-26 award year.

According to FSA the form should take students, parents, counselors, and prospective students about 5-10 minutes to complete.

Natural Disasters: Info for Affected Individuals

If you’re a student or a federal student loan borrower who has been impacted by a federally declared natural disaster (such as a wildfire, hurricane such as Helene or Milton, flood, or tornado), Federal Student Aid has posted information and answers to frequently asked questions.

Lasell University’s Financial Aid team is here to guide you and your support network through available options to finance your academic year.  

Fall bills are generated in July and are due August 1, and Spring bills are generated in December and are due January 1. All balances are due prior to the start of classes. An unpaid bill could result in dropped classes. 

Financing with a payment plan:

Monthly Payment Plan You can enroll in our 4-month payment plan online via QuikPAY. Payments can be made by check/e-check (no fee), credit card (includes a service fee), or you may have monthly payments deducted from your checking or savings account via ACH recurring payment (no fee). Visit Payment Plan to try and see if our plan can best suit your needs. There is a $40 per semester charge per payment plan. 

Loan Options:

Lasell University does not have any school-offered loans. We do accept federal loans (for FAFSA eligible students) and private educational loans. 

Federal Direct Parent PLUS Loan (Available for biological/adoptive parents of undergraduate dependent students, only.) The parent is the borrower for this federal loan and responsibility cannot be transferred to the student.

Private/Alternative Education Loans We cannot recommend a specific loan or lender, however students and their support network can use ELM Select to research and compare private/alternative loan options. Students can apply on their own (and depending on each lender's requirements, they may need a credit-worthy cosigner), or a parent can apply on a student's behalf. 

The first step to see how to afford college is to understand your own finances. Here are some budgeting resources to get more familiar with your income, expenses, and how to stay on track with your savings and spending goals. 

1. Step One: Determine your time frame for your budget. You can create a budget for a month, academic year, or the whole calendar year. 
2. Step Two: Find a tool to track your budget. Some students like using a free app on their phone, whereas others prefer a physical planner to write in. Whatever you use, make sure it's useful to YOU. 
3. Step Three: Review your income. You'll need to start by understanding your income, where it comes from, and how often you can expect to be paid. 
   
   • Possible Income sources: 
     • Paycheck from work/Federal Work-Study: review your work history to determine how much your take-home pay is each month. If your hours are irregular (for example, you earn more in Summer than the rest of the year) estimate your annual pay and then divide that by 12. 
     • Allowance from family: talk with your support network about regular expenses and everyone's comfort level on how much to spend. It's also a good idea to get on the same page about spending priorities. Can your allowance cover all your needs? Books, laptop, medications, gas...pizza? If one of your spending areas needs to be reduced, make sure your support network agrees as to where the money is going. 
     • Financial aid (scholarships, grants, loans): Include income from any financial aid credit balance refunds—money that may be left over for other expenses after your financial aid is applied toward tuition and fees, and housing and food. 
4. Step Four: Track your expenses. You will have new expenses now that you are entering college, but make sure you don't forget all your regular expenses, too! Review your financial statements for your recurring expenses like rent, groceries, digital services (like your cable/internet bill, Netflix, Hulu, etc.) childcare, personal/health care items (like haircuts or gym memberships, etc.) and see how much you are spending weekly/monthly/annually (make sure your spending timeline matches your budget timeline). 
5. Step Five: Balance! Now that you have identified your sources of income and your expenses, you can now compare the two categories to balance your budget. To do so, you simply subtract your expenses from your income. Simple as that! 
   • If your balance is + positive, it means you are spending less than your earned income! 
   • If your balance is - negative, it means you are spending more than your earned income and need to make some changes to afford everything you NEED. Consider reducing your expenses and/or seek additional sources of income. 

For more resources and how to create your budget for college, visit StudentAid.gov: Creating Your Budget 

Here are some resources students can use to find discounts just for being a college student! While there are no real "coupons" for college, the concept is the same: find small ways to reduce your expenses. It's not about going overboard (there's no such thing as Extreme Couponing to College) but every little bit you can do to save money will help in the long run. 

REMEMBER: check with the Brennan Library about free resources for your course materials like books, articles, downloadables, or even renting a laptop! 

(Resources below are NOT affiliated with Lasell University and students should research their options before signing up for any new services.)

• Boston.Com: A running list of college student discounts in Greater Boston
• MEFA Blog: College Student Discounts 
• MEFA Blog: Money-Saving Tips
• Localite: Student Deals and Specials 
• College Data: Best Student Discounts to Use in College 
• SoFi: Companies that Offer Student Discounts
• Savethestudent.org: Student Discounts and Student Discount FAQs

Managing Your Federal Student Loan(s) Can Seem Overwhelming—ECMC is Here to Help!

ECMC is excited to announce Counseling by Appointment feature on their website is live!  
Below you will find the complete link if you are interested in direct hyperlinking to the acuity calendar.

www.finaid.org
Includes interactive calculators, estimators, discussion groups, scholarship search links, and a listing of financial aid resources.

www.collegeboard.org
Information available from the College Board on SATs and other standardized tests, college costs, and scholarship information.

www.fastweb.com
Provides free scholarship search with more than 400,000 scholarship sources.

https://www.mass.edu/osfa/students/forstudents.asp
Provides information on the college application process and financial aid from the Massachusetts Higher Education Information Center.

www.ed.gov
Provides links to information on federal financial aid programs from the Department of Education.

www.studentclearinghouse.org
Provides real-time information regarding loan borrowing history, where and how much a student has borrowed, and through what programs to assist students with debt management.

www.doe.mass.edu
Link to the Massachusetts Department of Education.

American Opportunity Tax Credit
https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/individuals/aotc
Did you know that you may quality for a tax credit to help offset your costs? The American Opportunity Tax Credit is a federal program that provides a tax credit towards the cost of tuition, fees, and course materials for eligible filers. Find out if you qualify by visiting the website of the Internal Revenue Service.

For students who are selected for verification by their FAFSA, they may be asked to confirm additional information. This includes household size, wages, and other information. You can complete and sign it electronically: 

• 2026-2027 Verification Worksheet (New incoming students)
• 2026-2027 Verification Worksheet (Current/returning students)

If listed, this is being requested because your FAFSA has been selected by the Department of Education for verification, and you did not choose to use the IRS data exchange when completing the FAFSA, or did not qualify to use the retrieval process. We are required to collect a copy of the Federal Tax Return SIGNED or a Federal Tax Transcript for the student and parent as documentation of the federal tax return.

This may be obtained by requesting it online at https://www.irs.gov/Individuals/Get-Transcript or by phone at 1-800-908-9946. The IRS will mail the transcript to the address listed on the return when it was filed. They will not mail it or fax it to anyone else. If you need to request a transcript, please make the request as soon as possible. You may try the IRS retrieval process on your FAFSA, by going into the FAFSA and making that correction. If successful we do not need to collect a transcript from you.

Please do not email any documents which contain sensitive or personal information without encryption or via secure email. You may use our form 'Verification Form' to upload a copy securely. 

If listed, this is being requested because you have been selected for verification and either you or your parents did not file taxes. An IRS Verification of Non-Filing Letter provides proof that the IRS has no record of a filed federal tax return for the year you requested. Non Tax filers can request an IRS Verification of Non-filing of their tax return status, free of charge, from the IRS online, by phone or by mail. This may be obtained by requesting it online at https://www.irs.gov/Individuals/Get-Transcript or by phone at 1-800-908-9946. If you are requesting the letter online, please note that the letter may not be requested online if you have never filed taxes before. Please call the IRS or put in a paper request via the 4506-T which may be downloaded online at https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f4506t.pdf.

These are the wage statements sent to you by your employer(s). You should have one copy that was yours to keep. 

Please do not email any documents which contain sensitive or private information without encryption or via secure email. You may use our online 'Verification Form' to upload a copy securely. 

Before your FAFSA can be processed and your financial aid eligibility determined, every required contributor (student, parent, spouse, or parent's spouse, if applicable) must complete their assigned portion of the FAFSA. You can provide consent and electronically sign the FAFSA by logging into your StudentAid.gov Account: https://studentaid.gov.

We strongly encourage electronic signatures as this is the preferred and most efficient method of ensuring your FAFSA form is completed. Please review the StudentAid.gov website for help: https://studentaid.gov/help/how-sign-fafsa. 

If a signature, or required 'Consent and Approval' is missing, log back into your FAFSA at StudentAid.gov using the appropriate contributor's FSA ID and complete any outstanding actions. Once all required contributors have signed and provided Consent and Approval, your FAFSA will be reprocessed automatically.

The date of birth you reported for either your mother or father on the FAFSA does not match the date of birth the Social Security Administration has for that person. You must provide a copy of a birth certificate for the requested person. 

The date of birth reported for the student does not match the one the Social Security Administration has on file for the student. Provide a copy of the birth certificate for the student. 

The social security number reported on the FAFSA does not match the one the Social Security has on file for the student. A copy of the social security card is required. 

Direct Stafford Entrance Counseling

Entrance Counseling (Direct Subsidized/Unsubsidized Loans)
Students who have not previously received a Direct Subsidized, Direct Unsubsidized, or PLUS Loan must complete Entrance Counseling before receiving funds. This required session covers:

• Your rights and responsibilities as a borrower and a summary of Direct Loan terms.
• How to estimate your total and annual loan debt so you don’t borrow more than necessary.
• The impact of interest, including how it accrues daily on your loan balance.
• Best practices for staying on top of interest, and strategies like paying interest while in school to reduce total repayment.

Processing Details:

• Takes approximately 20–30 minutes to complete.
• Offered fully online, and must be done before disbursement via studentaid.gov — log in with your FSA ID.

Direct Stafford Loan Master Promissory Note (MPN)

Master Promissory Note (MPN)
Before borrowing under the Federal Direct Stafford Loan program, first-time borrowers must sign a Master Promissory Note online. The MPN is a legal agreement outlining:

• Your legal obligations, including interest rates, repayment terms, borrower rights, and responsibilities
• Valid for multiple disbursements (up to 10 years) if enrollment requirements are met—so returning students may not need a new MPN.

How to Complete:

• Students sign it electronically at studentaid.gov using their FSA ID.
• If borrowing via a PLUS Loan, a separate PLUS MPN applies

Legal Guardianship Documentation
The student indicated on the FAFSA that he or she is in a legal guardianship arrangement. A copy of the legal documentation establishing guardianship is required. 

Emancipated Minor Documentation
The student indicated on the FAFSA that he or she is an emancipated minor. This status is granted by a court of law. Copies of court documentation establishing emancipation must be submitted. 

Orphan/Ward of the Court Documentation
The student indicated on the FAFSA that he or she is an orphan, or was a ward of the court. Official documentation of this status is required. 

Unaccompanied Homeless Youth or At Risk of Homelessness
Some students are unable to provide parent information on the FAFSA because they are experiencing homelessness or are at risk of becoming homeless.
If you believe this describes your situation, the Financial Aid Office is here to help.
If you already have documentation from a school district homeless liaison, shelter, TRIO or GEAR UP program, or another college's financial aid office, please let us know. In many cases, we can accept that documentation as part of our review.
Our Unaccompanied Homeless Youth Determination Worksheet is an optional form that can help you layour your circumstances before speaking with a financial aid team member. Completing this worksheet is not required, but many students find it helpful when preparing to discuss their unique circumstances with the financial aid team. 
If documentation is not available, our office can work with you to understand your circumstances through a conversation or written statement.

Identity Verification (old Identity and Statement of Educational Purpose) -- schools are no longer required to to collect a Statement of Educational Purpose, but must still verify identity for selected students. If you're selected for identity verification, you'll need to present a valid, unexpired government-issued photo ID to a Financial Aid staff member. Please contact our office to schedule an appointment: 617.243.2227 or finaid@lasell.edu. 

In order to generate the Federal Tax Form 1098T we are required to request your correct identifying number to file the return with the IRS and to furnish a statement to you. Failure to provide your correct identifying number could result in a penalty from the Internal Revenue Service.

Students may find additional 1098T information at ECSI.

Please complete part 1 of the W-9S form with your social security or tax identification number so that we may update our records accordingly and provide you with an accurate form.

For security reasons, we request that you do not mail or email your social security or tax identification number. Please visit the Student Accounts Office on the 1st floor of O'Connor Hall with your completed form.

Use Form W-9S to provide your correct Social Security Number (SSN) or Tax Identification Number (TIN).  

ECSI Account Information

To register an account and link the keycode to the account:

•  Go to ECSI - Sign In or Register
• Click the “Register” at the top right corner
• Type in a username and password – it will ask you to create security questions, your address, social security number
• Once the account is made, click “Connect An Account”
• Copy + paste the Heartland key (this is within the automated email send to you)
• Type in your social security number then your account gets linked
• Click “View Account” to view your 1098-T form

1098-T Form Online Help

In support of ECSI’s recent efforts to assist students with accessing their 1098-T form online, ECSI released a new self-service feature to the ECSI EasyPath website.

Students may now look up their Heartland Key to connect and view their 1098-T tax form after they create and sign in to their profile. If a Heartland Key matches the information provided by the student, it will be presented on screen, and the student will be able to easily connect it to their user profile. Detailed instructions for this process can be found at the ECSI Service Desk.
 
Of course, students who want to talk with a Customer Advocate can reach the ECSI Contact Center via phone or chat. Information is located here. ECSI is making every effort to answer student calls in a timely fashion.