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Back To school with the FAFSA

Looking for financial aid to pay for college? The U.S. Department of Education provides more than $80 billion a year in grants, loans, and work-study assistance for college and career school students. Most students are eligible for federal financial aid, but you have to apply for it. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid—the FAFSA—is the first step.

The Early Bird Gets the Federal Funding

You must submit a FAFSA to get federal financial aid, and the FAFSA is also frequently used to determine your eligibility for funding from your state or school. You can submit a FAFSA as late as June, but most state and school financial aid deadlines are much earlier. Financial aid experts all offer the same tip: the early bird catches the worm. The sooner you apply, the better.

FAFSA Facts

• You have to fill out a FAFSA every year for the upcoming school year.
• The FAFSA can be filled out online or on paper. Online is faster.
• Once you get a FAFSA P.I.N (Personal Identification Number), it can be re-used every year that you apply for federal financial aid.
• You don't need to be accepted at a school before you can submit your FAFSA. You only need to list which schools you have applied to.
• Once you save your FAFSA online, you have 45 days to add to it and make final changes to it.
• Your share of your school costs is called the Expected Family Contribution (EFC). Your FAFSA will determine what your EFC will be.

FAFSA Requirements

• A P.I.N. from the U.S. Department of Education if you plan to submit your FAFSA online. Your parent(s) must have a PIN too if they can claim you as a dependent on their taxes.
• Your Social Security number—and the SSN of the parent claiming you as a dependent
• Several tax and financial documents (listed below)
• If you are not a U.S. citizen, your alien registration number

FAFSA 1-2-3

Step 1: Get a PIN or request a paper form

FAFSA Online

• Print out the "FAFSA on the Web Worksheet" from the Department of Education's "Before Starting the FAFSA" page. Use the worksheets at the end of the document to help you calculate the data you'll need for the FAFSA.
• Look up the federal school code(s) of the school(s) you plan to apply to. (You can also do this on the federal student aid website.)
• Apply for your PIN online at www.pin.ed.gov.
• Your PIN allows you to "sign" your online FAFSA, and to access your FAFSA file every year that you apply.
• Apply for your PIN ASAP because processing your request will take at least 2-5 business days. Your parent(s) will also need a PIN if they claim you as a dependent on their taxes.
• Providing an email address will speed up the PIN process.

FAFSA by Mail

• Beginning with the 2008-2009 academic year, the paper FAFSA will be available only upon request.
• Call the Federal Student Aid Center at 1-800-4-FED-AID or download a PDF copy from the federal student aid or FAFSA web sites.

Step 2: Collect the documents you'll need

You'll need several essential pieces of information for the FAFSA. The first are:

• Your Social Security Number (can be found on Social Security card)
• Your driver's license if you have one
• Your most recent bank statements
• Your most recent business and investment mortgage information, business and farm records, stock, bond, and other investment records

You'll also need your 2008 W-2 forms and income tax records:

• Your 2008 W-2 Forms and other records of money earned
• Your 2008 Federal Income Tax Return (and your spouse's, if you are married): IRS Form 1040, 1040A, 1040EZ, foreign tax return, or tax return for Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia or Palau
• Your 2008 untaxed income records - Social Security, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, welfare, or veterans' benefits records
• Your parents' 2008 Federal Income Tax Return, if they claim you as a dependent student on their taxes

Note: You can submit your FAFSA before filing your tax return. Estimate your tax information on your FAFSA, then submit a FAFSA follow-up with any corrections after you've completed your tax return. Filling out the FAFSA online makes this follow-up process fast and hassle-free.

Step 3: Reserve some time to fill out the application

Set aside a couple of hours to fill out the FAFSA. The Department of Education recommends submitting the FAFSA online for several reasons:

• Online instructions are provided for each question and live online help with a customer service representative is available if you get really stuck.
• FAFSA on the Web is designed to find mistakes and prompt you to correct them.
• You can fill out all the questions at once or save your application for later changes and updates. This is a great feature for submitting all the information you have other than your tax return. You have 45 days from when you first submit information, or until the application deadline passes.
• Once you click "Submit My FAFSA Now" your information is immediately sent to the Department of Education.
• Your application is processed more quickly.

Common FAFSA Mistakes: Don't Make Them!

According to the American Student Assistance website, the biggest FAFSA problems and longest delays in finding out how much aid you will get come from mistakes in the application and essential information being left out of the application. Be sure to:

• Include untaxed income. Listing untaxed income is one FAFSA requirement commonly overlooked by students and their parents. Use the worksheets at the end of the FAFSA document to figure out how to report untaxed income.
• Sign your application! Your FAFSA is not valid until you have signed it - and your parents, if you are a dependent. Online, your PIN is your signature and your parents' PIN is their signature. This is the most important reason for requesting your FAFSA PINs as soon as possible. If you mail in a paper FAFSA without a signature, the Education Department will mail it back to you — nice of them to do, but it won't help you much if you're already living at school when it's returned to your home.

FAFSA Application: Do It Today

The FAFSA may seem like a lot of work, but if you familiarize yourself with the application and collect all the information you'll need ahead of time, the process may go much faster than you think. And the federal financial aid you may be awarded if you submit your FAFSA early and correctly could give your goals and dreams an exciting fresh start this year. Don't delay!

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Sources:
1) Student Aid on the Web (studentaid.ed.gov) and FAFSA (www.fafsa.ed.gov). Download the latest version of "Funding Education Beyond High School, Guide to Federal Student Aid, 2008-2009".

2) American Student Assistance (www.amsa.com) Research by Carlos Soto, CourseAdvisor Content Editor.