FAFSA Overview
Get a sense of the questions asked at each point in the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)… and how best to respond.
Student Demographics
a. Select “Never Attended College/1st Year” even if students are dual-enrolled. Students who achieve an associate’s degree while still in high school—or those who may have accumulated enough dual credits to rival the credit count of an early- to mid-level college student—should contact the postsecondary program through which the credits were earned to determine how to answer this question.
This question is trying to determine a student’s Pell Grant eligibility and their potential loan amount.
COMMON MISTAKE
High school students will sometimes answer “graduate/professional,” which will disqualify them for a Pell Grant. Pell awarding is automatic at a lot of institutions; the FAFSA parser will assume the student is already being considered for it and will not create redundancies.
b. Students interested in work-study or who have not yet decided whether they are interested in work-study should answer “yes” to this question. Work-study is a limited, first-come first-served resource that can be declined later if the student so chooses.
High School
It is up to the institution(s) to verify high school completion, not the Office of Federal Student Aid.
College or Career School
a. Students should list all colleges they are considering, in order of interest.
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- The FAFSA allows up to 20 institutions on the form.
- Students can search for each college or career school by name, state, or by its ID number. They will need to check a box and click “add” to ensure the school is on their list.
b. Each college will ask if the student is living on campus, off-campus, or with family. This can affect the cost of attendance (COA), so students should be as accurate as possible.
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- For example, if a student selects “with parent” the COA will shrink because the estimated cost of room and board for that student is significantly reduced.
Dependency Status
Parent/Family Details (if applicable)
a. Household Size
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- Only include the number claimed on tax return 2022.
Taxes
a. If a student’s parents or legal guardians did not file taxes and/or have no income, the student should choose “not going to file” in the tax return question.
b. If a student and/or parent plans to file taxes but has not yet, choose “will file” and provide estimated tax information from the previous year’s tax returns.
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- Parents and students MUST return to the FAFSA form and make their corrections once they have filed their taxes.
- Be aware that if corrections are made after the student receives a financial aid package from a college, the aid package could change.
c. If a student and/or parent has already filed this year’s taxes, choose “already completed.” Students can use the Direct Data Exchange Tool.
Benefits Received from the Federal Government
These include SSI, SNAP, Free and Reduced Lunch, TANF and WIC. Any aid a student receives from filing the FAFSA will have no impact on benefits received by parents.
Supplemental Financial Information
The Direct Data Exchange Tool often pulls some—but not all—of an individual’s assets. Occasionally, students will need to provide additional information about their finances and any untaxed income, e.g., vacation home equity, savings accounts, investment incomes, etc.
Submit the FAFSA
DO NOT FORGET
The final step is to click submit.
After submitting the FAFSA, a confirmation page will be generated showing that the student has successfully completed the FAFSA. If an email address was provided on the form, the student will automatically receive the confirmation page by email. There are a few differences between the emailed confirmation and the one seen in the FAFSA form before exiting the application, so students should consider printing or saving their confirmation page before exiting. For example, the emailed confirmation won’t include the college graduation, retention, and transfer rates for the schools that students listed on their FAFSA form.
Source: MCAN