Completing the FAFSA

The FAFSA, or Free Application for Federal Student Aid, is the universal application that the Department of Education makes available each year to students who want to apply for federal student aid.

By filling out, and submitting the FAFSA by the appropriate deadlines, students can make themselves eligible not only for federal student loans, but for federal grants, and other types of government aid as well.

The good news is that the FAFSA is relatively simple and easy to fill out—provided that the student, and perhaps their parents are prepared beforehand with all of the appropriate documentation that will be required.

As an important sidenote—the FAFSA must be completed for each year the student is planning on attending college. While information from the previous year’s FAFSA can be retained, and filled in automatically online, a new FAFSA must be completed for each new school year.

The earliest the FAFSA can be submitted is January 1

The latest the FAFSA can be submitted is June 30

The Federal Student Aid Eligibility Requirements

Students must be able to satisfy the litany of federal student aid eligibility requirements in order to become eligible to fill out a FAFSA. These items are fairly basic, and consist mostly of yes or no questions with regard to the student’s background, and other personal information.

The following is a brief list of the major federal student aid eligibility requirements:

• United States citizenship, or eligible non-citizen
• Presence of a valid social security number
• Must show an “ability to benefit” via a high-school diploma, GED, or other method
• Enrollment as a student in an eligible program that leads to a degree or certificate
• Registration with Selective Service if male between the ages of 18 and 25
• Satisfactory academic progress must be maintained once attending class
• Certify that you have not currently in default on a federal student loan
• Certify that you do not owe money on a federal student grant
• Certify that all proceeds of any federal student aid will be used toward educational purposes

Once you have gone through this list and have answered appropriately with regard to each item, you should be able to qualify for federal student aid, and therefore be able to fill out, and submit the FAFSA.

Information and Documentation to Have Close-by

Once you have gone over the list of federal student aid eligibility requirements, an have established that you are eligible for federal assistance, it is then time to review the information that will be needed during the completion of the FAFSA. It is critical to go ahead and accumulate the appropriate documentation that will be required, as this can hasten the process, and simply make it easier to complete by a significant margin.

The following is a list that contains most of the information and other documentation that you will need when completing the FAFSA:

• Valid social security number
• Driver’s license
• If not a U.S. citizen a permanent resident card, or perhaps an alien registration card
• W-2 forms, tax returns, and other relevant tax documentation
• Tax documentation from parents (if still a dependent)
• Tax documentation from spouse (if married)
• Income statements—government benefits, welfare, etc.
• Bank statements
• Mortgage documentation
• Asset and investment documentation
• Relevant documentation if an owner of a business, or farm
• School codes for all relevant postsecondary institutions

Once you have this information and documentation you should then be ready to go ahead and complete the FAFSA. You will then have the option of filling out a written (hard-copy) form, or the online version.

Accessing the FAFSA

I recommend to students and parents to choose the online version over the hard-copy application because it is generally easier to complete, and will be processed much faster than its written counterpart.

Regardless, some students prefer to complete the hard-copy version, and if that is the case, a copy can be obtained by visiting your college’s financial aid department, requesting a copy be sent to you by calling 1-800-4-FED-AID, or by going to the website fafsa.ed.gov to request a copy be sent to you.

If you choose to complete the online version of the FAFSA, the actual form can be accessed at the website fafsa.ed.gov. Students will have to obtain their PIN before they will be able to complete their online FAFSA.

The PIN is simply a unique number that acts as an electronic signature that each student is given when completing the FAFSA online. You can obtain your PIN at the website pin.ed.gov. Once you have your PIN you should now be ready to complete the online FAFSA at fafsa.ed.gov.

Going Through The Major Sections of the FAFSA

The FAFSA has seven major sections that you will need to complete before you can successfully submit the application. Most of these sections consist of simple questions that ask about certain kinds of personal information, and your current financial status.

Section One: Personal Information

This section almost acts as a confirmation page to determine if you are in-fact eligible to receive federal student aid. It therefore asks questions that are similar to the federal student aid eligibility requirements that were mentioned previously, and will inquire about the following data:

• Full Name
• Date of Birth
• Social Security Number
• Address
• Time spent living in your state of residence
• Phone number
• Email address
• Marital status
• Information with regard to your driver’s license (optional)

The next page will ask you several more questions that will pertain to your federal student aid eligibility status:

• Status as a U.S. citizen
• Presence of a high-school diploma
• High-school name, city, state
• Degree progress/ student status
• Level of schooling completed by parents
• Presence of any drug convictions

Upon finishing this section, a status message will reveal to you whether or not you are eligible for federal student aid for that particular school year.

Section Two: Postsecondary Institution Selection

In this section you will have to provide up to ten schools that you are interested in applying to. You don’t necessarily need to have the actual FAFSA school codes, as you are able to search by inputting the name of the school you are interested in.

You will also be asked about your housing plans—which will consist of either on-campus, off-campus, or “with parent” options.

A question about whether or not you are interested in various work-study programs will also be present in this section.

Section Three: Dependency Status

Section three will determine your dependency status. The following is a listing of the relevant questions that will be asked:

• Were you born before January 1, 1988?
• Are you currently married?
• Are you working towards a graduate, professional, or doctorate degree?
• Do you provide for more than half of the support for any of your children?
• Do you provide for more than half of the support for any of your dependents?
• Are you a veteran of the United State Armed Forces?
• Are you serving on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces?
• Are you an emancipated minor?
• Do you have deceased parents or foster care from age 13 on?
• Do you have legal guardianship?
• Have you been homeless after July 1, 2009

Answering “yes” to any of the above questions will typically establish your status as an independent student. If it is determined that you are a dependent, you will then have to provide certain information about your parents in the following section.

Section Four: Parent Information

• Parent names
• Social security numbers
• Date of birth for each parent
• Marital status of each parent
• Email address
• Addresses
• Size of household
• The number of children who may be attending postsecondary institutions between 7/1/2011 and 6/30/2012

Section Five: Financial Information

The fifth section of the FAFSA will require you to provide answers and information related to your financial situation. The following contains a listing of the information and documentation that you will need to provide in this section.

If the student is considered to be a dependent, then he/ she will have to provide both parental, and personal information. So in essence, this list will have to be completed once by independent students, and twice by dependent students—one pass with their information, and another with their parents’ information.

• 2010 tax return—will file, will not file, completed
• Adjusted gross income if yes
• Earnings from mother’s income
• Earning from father’s income
• Benefits from various federal programs
• Dislocated worker
• 2010 income tax
• 2010 exemptions
• 1040A or 1040EZ eligibility
• Cash and savings plus checking account balances
• Investment values, including real estate
• Net worth of current businesses and farms

Miscellaneous financial information where applicable:

• Taxable earning from work-study or internships
• Money from grants and scholarships
• Level of child support that has been paid
• Combat or special combat pay
• Earnings from cooperative education
• Tax deferred savings plans or pensions
• Payments to self-employed SEP, SIMPLE, Keogh. IRA deductions
• Level of child support that has been received
• Interest that may be tax-exempt
• Untaxed pensions
• IRA distributions that may be untaxed
• Housing, food, and living allowances
• Veterans benefits
• Untaxed income that may have been unreported—worker’s comp, first-time homebuyer tax credit, etc.

Remember that if the student is still a dependent, their parents will have to provide the same information that was included in the aforementioned lists.

Section Six: FAFSA Review and Submission

This section essentially involves the opportunity to print, review, and officially submit your FAFSA via the providing of your PIN.

Critical items that will appear include the following:

• Review and printing of the FAFSA form
• Preparers must provide SSN and employer identification number
• Provision of name, social security number, and PIN
• Agreement that federal aid will only be utilized towards education-related expenses
• Agreement that you are not currently in default on any federal student loans, or owe money on a federal grant
• Agreement to provide information to verify information provided during completion of the FAFSA
• Certify that the identification you provided is accurate

After these items have been taken care of, you will then have the opportunity to hit the “submit button” that once clicked on, will successfully attempt to submit your FAFSA application.

Section Seven: Confirmation

The seventh section of the FAFSA will consist of a confirmation page that will confirm your successful submission of the FAFSA, and will automatically generate a randomly generated confirmation number, along with a data release number.

Next you will have the choice to have your parents’ information to be transferred to another FAFSA—an example would be for a sibling, or to start an application for state-based financial aid. For both cases, all of the information will be pre-filled into the new applications if you so choose.

Your expected family contribution will also be revealed in this section. Your EFC is essentially a direct indicator of your level of financial need, and the closer it is to zero, the better your chances are at receiving the best federal student loans and federal education grants.

Below your EFC will be your eligibility status for various type of federal student aid, including:

• Eligible to receive a Federal Pell Grant up to ___ amount of dollars
• Eligible to receive an Academic Competitiveness Grant up to ___ dollars
• Eligible to receive low interest federal student loans

That is pretty-much all that is required on your end as far as completing the actual FAFSA form. Next you must check your Student Aid Report, which will explicitly detail your eligibility for federal student aid, your EFC, and other information that may be pertinent to receiving federal student aid for the following academic year.

The Student Aid Report: SAR

The Student Aid Report, or SAR, will be generated upon successful submission of your FAFSA. It will be sent to you in about 2-3 weeks via email if you completed the online version, and in about 4-6 weeks via conventional mail if you completed the hard-copy form.

Besides listing your eligibility status for various types of federal student aid, your SAR will also contain important information about your FAFSA submission that should be reviewed and checked for accuracy. Once you have received your SAR the completion and submission of your FAFSA will be official, and it will then just be a matter of waiting for an award letter from your college a few months down the line.

Within the award letter that will be sent to you by your college will be a specific detailing of all the federal student aid you qualified to receive, along with any other types of aid that may have been reported to your school. It is then up to you to go ahead and accept, or reject each type of aid via an acceptance letter that must be returned to your school before the start of classes in the Fall.

Private Student Loan Funding

That essentially sums up completing the FAFSA form, and just remember that it is usually best to look for private student loan funding after you have officially been notified of the amount of federal aid you will be receiving for the following school year.

This is because private student loans cost the more than most federal student aid, and should only be used to bridge the gap between what you receive via federal aid and scholarships, and what it costs to attend your particular university.