First Applicants Find Substantial Assets, of course!
FAFSA is the national Free Application for Federal Student Aid but, based on how aid is distributed. Because aid is distributed on a first-come, first-serve basis, every student that hopes to receive aid for college must fill out this form to even be considered. Every college has its own deadline.
Beginning with the 2017-2018 FAFSA, students were able to file the FAFSA using prior-prior year (PPY) tax data. As a result of this change, you now can submit the FAFSA for the 2021-2022 academic year on October 1, 2020, using your 2019 tax and income information. As of September 27, 2020, the FAFSA$caster, an eligibility estimator tool for federal student aid, is no longer available.
The FAFSA is available online. This is a first come first serve as these loans are limited and time-sensitive. You can complete the application initially using estimated tax information and do not need to wait for your taxes to start the process. And, there is now an app for filling out FAFSA which includes access to the IRS’ data-retrieval tool. The app is called myStudentAid which will allow students to fill out the FAFSA on their phones on either an iPhone or Android.
For high school seniors who will not know what school they are attending, you can submit a FAFSA application for schools you are planning on attending and then update your application down the road. If your financial situation has changed since filing a tax return, do not hold off and starting the application process. You can discuss the change in finances with the financial affairs office once you know your student’s school. Each school has a different deadline and therefore better to apply early than risk not getting financial aid. You can add the schools you are planning on applying to as early as October 1st.
Keep up with the paperwork!
Make certain you apply EVERY year. It may not be the perfect scenario, but it is how FAFSA works. More information is available on the FAFSA website. We love this graphic that explains the FAFSA in more detail.
Click on your university for more specific information.
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