The New Year brings a new beginning! It also brings lots of financial forms. January is the month where senior families need to be filing the FAFSA (in addition to the CSS Profile if it is required and hasn't been completed already).
Most Common Questions About Financial Aid:
Click below to read!
Why should I fill out a FAFSA? I'll never get any money.
It is true, we can't know for sure what kind of financial aid package a school will or will not give you. However, most families, especially those that make less than $225,000 per year, will qualify for some form of financial aid at most private schools. Some families that make more can still end up qualifying depending on the number of people in the house, the number of kids in college, and other factors that could affect a family EFC (Estimated Family Contribution). Long story short - no one can force you to fill out the FAFSA but if you don't you are essentially telling the college that you plan to pay full price. Best case scenario - you get aid you were not expecting. Worst case scenario - you spent some time filling out a free form and ended up right where you started paying full price.
What documents will I need for the FAFSA? Are they the only documents I'll need?
To fill out the FAFSA be sure that you have access to the following right there in front of you as you are filling it out online (don't guess or go from memory!): Social Security Numbers for both the student and the parent (or alien registration number if you are a permanent resident), most recent tax return, final paystub(s) from 2011 to indicate yearly income, parent's date of marriage/divorce (if applicable), basic information like date of birth for both parent and child, bank statements to indicate amount in checking and savings, financial documents if the parent or child owns a business or farm.
What should I be sure I've done before starting the FAFSA?
If you are male and 18 or older on the day you file the FAFSA you need to have registered with selective service. You can also complete this at the time you are doing the FAFSA, but why distract yourself when you are already stressed? Just do it ahead of time. Regardless of if you are male or female, you and your parent are going to need a PIN. The PIN is an electronic signature and is a four digit number that you will get to pick out. You will keep your PIN your entire live, so pick it and remember it. If your parents have ever filled out a FAFSA before (for themselves or an older sibling) they already have a PIN and don't need to make a new one (but they do need to remember what it is). The site to make a PIN is: http://www.pin.ed.gov/PINWebApp/pinindex.jsp
What if my family's 2011 taxes are not done yet? It is only January, we like to get an extension.
Not this year you don't. Taxes need to be completed as early as possible. However, that doesn't mean they need to be done in January, the FAFSA will ask if you've filed and you can respond "I will file" but you need to follow up and file them sooner rather than later. If your family income is stable from last year to this year, you can use the 2010 tax return to estimate the values that the FAFSA asks for. Then, when the 2011 return is done go in and update the FAFSA with the new values.
It says I can list 10 schools to share my FAFSA with, but I applied to more than 10 schools, what do I do?
Remember when I suggested to students that they apply to no more than 10 schools . . . . But, if you've done that, you'll need to start by ranking your top ten schools and putting those down first. Balance your 'top ten' both by where you like best AND where you think you'll have a good chance to be accepted. Then after your FAFSA is fully processed (normally about 3 days) you have to log in and edit the schools, replaced the old ones with the others you didn't originally have room for. BUT keep in mind, if you did the FAFSA without your taxes being done, you'll need to repeat this process EVERY time you make an adjustment to your FAFSA.
How long do I have to get the FAFSA done?
It depends on the school, but my advice is to get it done during January, and not the last day of January. You can't blame the site for being slow and crashing when you waited until the final few days to log on. As always, be sure to check the individual school deadlines on their direct websites.
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