Your role, your boundaries, their dignity
Learn what an EFF Financial Aid Peer Mentor can do, what is off-limits, and how to protect a student’s privacy.
If a student gives written permission, a peer mentor can log into the student’s StudentAid.gov account.
No passwords. No Social Security numbers. No verification codes. No tax returns. No bank details. No identity documents. The student stays in control of every account, answer, signature, and submission.
01You are a guide—not the financial-aid office
Your job is to make a confusing process feel possible. You may explain public information, help someone build a checklist, practice questions for a school, and point to the right official office or website. You may not decide eligibility, interpret school policy as a final answer, or promise that aid will be approved.
- Say: “Let’s identify the next step and the right office.”
- Do not say: “You definitely qualify” or “Your school has to approve this.”
- For account, eligibility, verification, professional-judgment, or award decisions, refer the student to the school’s financial-aid office or Federal Student Aid.
02Never touch private credentials
A StudentAid.gov account is a person’s legal electronic identity and signature. Never ask for or accept a password, Social Security number, tax return, verification code, recovery code, bank information, or a photo of an identity document. Never log in for a student or contributor. Sit beside them only if they remain in control of their own device and account.
03Use the pause–protect–refer rule
If a student begins sharing sensitive information, pause them kindly, protect what has already been shared, and refer them to the secure official process. If someone reports homelessness, abuse, abandonment, identity theft, immigration concerns, or immediate danger, do not investigate. Connect them with the appropriate trained professional.
“I can help you map the next step, but I can’t take your password or enter the account. You stay in control.”
Use the idea, then make it sound like you.Practice: “Can you just do it for me?”
A student texts you their StudentAid.gov password and asks you to finish the FAFSA before midnight.
How are you feeling about this level?
Receipts, not rumors
Rules and dates can change. Use these official sources instead of guessing or trusting a random post.
Can you make the safe call?
Get both right to collect 125 XP and unlock the next level.