By: Kaitlyn Pfeiffer
We’ve all heard of FAFSA or the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, but do you know how it actually works? Many colleges and universities tell you when meeting with them that you should apply for the FAFSA, but they don’t usually tell you much more. FAFSA can be confusing especially for those who have never done it before. FAFSA is how you get more scholarships, grants, and loans for college so you don’t have to pay for it out of pocket.
Every year you are enrolled in college, you should complete a new FAFSA so that it is current and up to date. The FAFSA form opens on October 1st of every year and you should try to fill it out as soon as possible after that. I wouldn’t recommend filling it out the day it opens because many people try and the website crashes numerous times and can cause everything that was inputted to be lost. “Any U.S. citizen with a social security card, a legal permanent resident or eligible non-citizens like a U.S. national, a person born in one of the Pacific islands, or a person with refugee status can fill out the FAFSA. Males between 18 and 25 who are filling it out must also be registered for the Selective Service and those with criminal records can fill it out as long as they weren’t convicted of possessing or selling illegal drugs while they were receiving financial aid in the past” (NitroCollege).
FAFSA uses your expected family contribution (EFC) or how much your family can pay for college based on other families of similar income and compares it to the cost of attendance (COA) to determine which scholarships and other types of aid you may receive to attend that school (NitroCollege). Every college bound student and college student should fill out the FAFSA as colleges may withhold financial aid until the FAFSA is submitted to ensure that the financial aid is suited to your EFC. In many cases, the EFC is much higher than expected, but don’t be alarmed because you can still qualify for grants, scholarships, work-study, and loans from many schools.
Once you fill out the FAFSA through the Department of Education, you’ll be notified of your rewards through the schools you’ve applied to. “If you are qualified for federal grants, loans, or work study, the school will disburse the money directly to your tuition and if you live on campus, you room and board and you will be notified any time they disburse the money which is typically twice a year. After the two payments, if there is still money left over, the school will pay that to you to use on other school associated costs such as books and supplies. If you qualify for work study, the school will most likely pay you directly unless you request that the money is applied to your student account” (NitroCollege).
Some things that you will need to complete the FAFSA application include,” your FSA ID which will be created on fsaid.ed.gov and your parents will need to create their own FSA ID as well and keep them private. You will need your social security number, driver’s license, and/or registration number if you aren’t a citizen. You will also need your federal income tax returns, W-2 forms, and other records of the money you earned. You will need your parents income tax returns, W-2s, and 1040s if you are a dependent, and finally, the Title 4 institution codes for each of the schools you are applying for” (NitroCollege). What helps make the FAFSA application easier for families with multiple children filling it out is that it can carry the information to another persona and just change the college.
Many college students don’t fill out the FAFSA because they think it is too time consuming or that they won’t qualify for any aid (Insider) which isn’t the case, so fill it out as soon as possible at https://studentaid.gov/h/apply-for-aid/fafsa/ and if you have anymore questions go to https://www.nitrocollege.com/fafsa-application for step by step in depth answers.
Works Cited
Brown, Mike. “How Does FAFSA Work?” How to Pay For College: The Complete Guide from Nitro, 26 Aug. 2020, www.nitrocollege.com/blog/how-does-the-fafsa-work.
College, Nitro. “How to Complete the 2021-2022 FAFSA Application.” How to Pay For College: The Complete Guide from Nitro, 2020, www.nitrocollege.com/fafsa-application.
“Inside Higher Ed.” New Research Shows Why Students Don't Fill out the FAFSA, 14 Jan. 2019, www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2019/01/14/new-research-shows-why-students-dont-fill-out-fafsa.
“Scholarships & Financial Aid / (FAFSA) Free Application for Federal Student Aid.” Horry County Schools, www.horrycountyschools.net/Page/13003.
I really like how you provided not only basic facts, but also your opinion throughout the article. This process has always seemed quiet scary and intimmidating, but after reading all of the information you included, it is apparent that everyone should at least apply for this opprotunity. I do wonder, however, how many students that apply actually recieve the financial aid that they need?
ReplyDeleteThis blog post is super helpful to read to anyone that is applying to FAFSA that doens't previously know what it is. Last week, I attended a Zoom meeting with a college counslor that explained what the FAFSA was and how to fill it out. Your blog post perfectly summed up everything I know about the FAFSA and even a little more information. Also I think it's crazy that most college students don't fill out the FAFSA because it's time consuming or they won't qualify. Why wouldn't anyone want the possiblity to get more money to pay towards their college tution so that they are preventing further debt? I just think that it's cfrazy that people would pass up that opportunity. Overall, great job writing this blog, it really can help educate students on why they should apply for the FAFSA.
ReplyDeleteThis blog was very helpful to learn about as, FAFSA was something that I didn't know about at all. After reading the blog, I started to understand of what FAFSA and on what's used for. Many of the facts that you gave out were interesting to read, as overall the blog was helpful as you did an excellent job!
ReplyDeleteThis is so helpful because I honestly had no idea about any of this stuff because no one in my family has really gone through it so reading this really helps because it can be scary to think about the rest of your life at such a young age.
ReplyDeleteThis blog was so informational and really helped me get a better idea of FAFSA. I will definitely be applying soon since it just opened up. I heard that it's pretty hard to qualify for financial aid even if your parents can't really afford it. Is that true? Also I know you can apply for scholarships separate from FAFSA is you need help paying.
ReplyDeleteKaty, you made this post very informative and it was especially applicable to our lives right now because we are starting to deal with FAGSA and funding college. I appreciate you making this post because it help reassure some of the things I was already questioning, like the fact that you should apply sooner rather and later. I don't really understand what, "Males between 18 and 25 who are filling it out must also be registered for the Selective Service," means, but I'm glad you included it so I can look further into it. All and all great job creating a post that is relevant to you and hundreds of thousands of other students.
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ReplyDeleteThank you so much! I had no idea that they called it the expected family contribution. As Collin said, it is very applicable to our lives right now and one of the things with an ever-looming deadline approaching. But, federal student aid is going to be a must for a lot of lower to medium income or single-parent families. I know I'm going to need it as my parents are divorced and I am stressed about paying for college like we all are. How difficult is it to fill out and how long does it take? I know I started mine and my mom said she needed a few weeks to get everything together for it. Does it request financial aid packages from all your schools that you applied to or just your top ones? I know when I started filling it out it asked me about my schools but I have no idea how that all works. What qualifies someone for work study? But thank you for helping us all understand it a little better, I think we all are searching for answers about applications for our futures, so this was very enlightening!
ReplyDeleteThis is a great topic to inform people about, especially us, since we're seniors and most of us are going to college soon. I know about FAFSA, but I didn't know exactly how it worked or what I would need. It was very helpful that you included what is all needed for the FAFSA application and even including the link to fill it out and a link with detailed answers for any questions we may have. I'm wondering what work-study is and what the qualifications are.
ReplyDeleteI think FAFSA is extremely important for aspiring college students, you can truly gain a lot by submitting this simple application. I think the only thing that I feel that FAFSA assumes too much is that parents are going to contribute to your college or are supporting you after high school. Because the only way that you can be marked as independent on FAFSA would be if you had a child, you were married, something like that. Otherwise, it assumes that your parents are paying which isn't always the case. However, I think your blog gave a good understanding of what FAFSA is and the importance of filling one out.
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ReplyDeleteI think it is interesting from an economics standing point that they would incentivise early submissions. I would think that FAFSAs goal would be to provide aid to the students who need it most and not to those who apply the earliest. As someone who applied on october 3rd two days after it opened I can safely say that this application is daunting don't be fooled by it's "this only takes one hour," comment as it took me multiple days to complete; in spite of this, however, the opportunity cost of not submitting your fafsa is heavily out weighs the explicit costs especially if you are poor like me.
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