The Betsyanne Find Scholarships and Grants Blog: Filling out a FAFSA form

Monday, October 10, 2011

The FAFSA: when should you apply for next year?

The Explorer art is from the Microsoft Clipart Pages.

Exploring the FAFSA...

You can check for your state's FAFSA Deadlines at this page:
http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/deadlines.htm

This is the official page to check. I looked up Kentucky's deadlines today. It listed these deadlines for the 2011-2012 school year: The Federal deadline is June 30, 2012. Corrections must be made by September 15, 2012.

(from the website)

College Deadline
Each college may have a different deadline. Check with the college(s) you are interested in attending. You may also want to ask your college about their definition of an application deadline - whether it is the date they receive your FAFSA, or the date your FAFSA is processed."

So, if you are wanting to attend next year, and plan ahead, I'm pretty sure the due dates will be similar. AND the budget crisis being what it is, I would apply right on January 1st of next year. That is the first day to apply. As the FinAid site explains,

"FAFSA Deadlines

Financial aid applications, such as the FAFSA, should be submitted as soon as possible after January 1, but no sooner. You cannot submit the form before January 1, because the need analysis process uses your financial information from the prior tax year when calculating eligibility for the upcoming award year"

You can contact FAFSA directly at this link:

https://fafsa.ed.gov/contact.htm

They have live help here every day but Sunday. They also have an email address at this site.

You can also find out more about Federal Student Aid at this page:

http://federalstudentaid.ed.gov/students.html

Here is something new at the site. It's called the FAFSA4caster. You can see what your estimated loan amounts may be and what you qualify for ahead of time.

Here is the page for that:

https://fafsa.ed.gov/FAFSA/app/f4cForm?execution=e2s1

Let me know how this works if you try it!

Why fill out a FAFSA? Here are tips.

Filling out your FAFSA form

The FAFSA is the free application for Federal student aid. It not only gives you the estimated amount that you will receive when you fill it out, it also sends your application to the school of your choice and also applies you to other scholarships and grants that you qualify for.

Some sites just pretend to be the "real" FAFSA site, and will do your application for you or help you for a price. Never use those if you can help it. The REAL FAFSA site is totally free.

Here is the link to go there:
http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/

Tips to help!
Save your form often: Fill out this form and save it often, so you don't lose any of your information. At the end of the application, you will receive your very own password and PIN number. Keep this information totally private. You will find out what awards and loans you qualify for in a few days or a week after that usually. (Read the page at the end to find out how long you will be waiting.)

Print out the ending page with your personal information on it and keep it in a safe place, marking on your calendar when to check back.

See what YOU qualify for by filling out this form for yourself. And good luck!

Have what you need out when you fill out the FAFSA: (watch this video):

More information:
Scholarships, page one on the Nontrads site
Start Here: How to fill out the FAFSA form (official)
FAFSA Tips and Common Misstakes to Avoid When Applying for Student Aid (from the NASFAA.org site)
The Five-Minute FAFSA (above)

I hope this is helpful to you!

Betsyanne

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Monday, October 10, 2011

The FAFSA: when should you apply for next year?

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Why fill out a FAFSA? Here are tips.