How to Pay for College: How Do I Apply for Financial Aid?

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Many students and their parents dread filling out financial aid forms. You may have heard horror stories about how difficult it is to complete financial aid applications. The reality is that in most cases, you only need to complete one financial aid form to be considered for federal, state, and college-sponsored aid.

The form every student applying to college should complete is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, known as FAFSA. To view the eligibility requirements, directions, worksheet, and online and paper applications, go to www.fafsa.ed.gov for the government’s free Web site. If you inadvertently go to the similarly named private Web site (fafsa.com), you will be charged a fee for the same application, so be careful typing in the Web site address.

Some private colleges may also require you to complete the CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE, a fee-based service, which is part of College Board. In addition, some colleges may have their own financial aid application.

Filling Out the FAFSA

Some people believe the FAFSA is too long and complicated. There is a movement towards simplifying the FAFSA, so changes to the form may be in the works. For now though, filing a FAFSA consists of completing an online application, the preferred method of applying, as soon as possible after January 1st of your senior year. An online FAFSA is error proof as the online version helps you detect and correct errors as you are completing the application. It also uses “skip logic,” which allows you to skip questions that don’t pertain to you. A paper version can be used; it is available to download, but it does not have the same benefits as the online version.

Before completing the FAFSA, you can obtain an unofficial estimate of your eligibility for student aid by completing a FAFSA4Caster. It is recommended that you use the 4Caster to give you an accurate estimate of what you might receive in financial aid, so you can properly plan for college expenses. A FAFSA On the Web worksheet can also be downloaded to use as a guide when completing the online FAFSA. Completing the worksheet saves you time, as you will then be able to plug in the numbers line by line.

There are five sections to complete on the FAFSA:

• Section 1: Student Information: Complete your name, Social Security number, state of residence, drug convictions, questions about the educational status of your parents, information about attending college part time or full time, and whether you will consider work study and loans.
• Section 2: Student Dependency Status: Includes questions about military duty, veteran status, dependent or independent status.
• Section 3: Parent Information: Includes questions about parents’ Social Security numbers, date of birth, tax information, and assets and investments.
• Section 4: Student Finances: Answer questions about student’s assets and tax information.
• Section 5: College Information: List names of colleges and housing information. You can list up to 10 colleges on the online application and up to 4 colleges on the paper application.

For assistance completing the FAFSA, you can request live online help or you can call a customer service number. The process after completing the FAFSA is as follows: