Help with the FAFSA

The FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) is absolutely necessary if you are in need of aid for your or your student’s college education.

The FAFSA form jump-starts the financial aid process. Aid is awarded on a first come first served basis so you want to make sure you follow the advice contained here to make the process as easy as possible (but it will still require a lot of work on your part).

Where to Get the FAFSA

You can get the FAFSA form from a number of places including:

• High School
• Your Local Library
• Download from their website at http:www.fafsa.ed.gov

In the days before the internet, you had to worry about submitting the form and hoping that everything was done up to their requirements. If it was done incorrectly, you had to re-submit it and that put you in the back of the line in terms of getting aid. It wasn’t a good thing. Now that you can submit everything online, life is much better.

But you still should print out a form from their website or get a hard copy from the library and look it over ahead of time to make sure that you have all the information ahead of time so when you sit at your computer you can get through it in a relatively short period of time.

What About the CSS/Financial Aid Profile?

When it comes to getting the money from the government for your college education, the FAFSA is usually the only form needed. The other form that you may need (besides the school’s own financial aid forms) is the CSS / Financial Aid Profile. The profile is similar to the FAFSA but it is more specific regarding assets such as home equity, retirement accounts and insurance policy values.

Most of the time you only have to worry about filing the FAFSA form as a small percentage of colleges require the Profile. If the school does require it, they will notify you. You can also get onto their website at www.collegeboard.com to see if your school requires it. If they do require it, get out your wallet and be prepared to pay to access the information – they do NOT give it to you for free, you must pay to register and access it.

The current cost is $5.00 to register for the Profile and $18.00 per college you want to apply for. You can access the current guide (in .PDF format) on their website.

When to File FAFSA

There is a very fine window that you can file the FAFSA forms. It can be filed only after January 2 but before end of February of the high school senior year. Remember that money is awarded on first come first served basis so you want to make sure that the form is filled out and ready to submit as close to the January 2 date of the students senior year in high school.

After filing, you will receive a SAR (Student Aid Report) which is the results including your Expected Family Contribution (EFC). The information on this form is what will determine, in large part what you will be expected to pay for college.

The EFC (Expected Family Contribution)

The EFC is what the government says you should be able to pay for college education – per year. Often times, it is possible to pay significantly less than the EFC but you must follow the instructions on our website, as well as the advice of qualified financial aid professionals. Talking to a professional is worth the weight in gold, even if you have to pay $1,000 or $2,000 for their help. That may seem like a lot of money, but considering that they could save you $5,000 or more per year, it is well worth it.

What many people do not understand is that there is a difference between what the cost of education is and the EFC. Do not get too concerned about the cost of a particular school because what they publish as the cost of education is not what you will pay to attend. In fact, if you have a better chance of paying less to go to a private ivy league school then a local state school because of this fact. That is a different topic for a different day.

Timeline for FAFSA:

Here is a timeline to help you prepare for and properly submit the FAFSA:

December of Senior Year

Prepare a practice FAFSA to make sure you have all the information needed to fill it out. Use a sample calculator (there are plenty online like the one at www.finaid.org/calculators/). One of the benefits of using a calculator is that you can try different scenarios with your assets to see how low you can get your EFC.

January of Senior Year

Mail original FAFSA or submit it online as close to January 2 as possible as aid is awarded on a first come, first served basis. You will be asked about tax return information. You can estimate your tax return info and send corrected information in later. Wait 4 to 6 weeks for the results

February of Senior Year

You will receive the SAR (Student Aid Report) which includes all the information that is processed from the FAFSA form. Review it and make any changes that are necessary. You should have your tax return done as soon as possible as you will need to submit corrected information at this point. You will need to send copy of students and parents Federal Tax Return along with W2 forms to each of your selected colleges.

March of Senior Year

Receive completed SAR form and review it. Even though the form should have been sent to the college’s financial aid office already, you should send a copy to each college’s financial aid office just in case the form didn’t get to them correctly.

Helpful Tips When Filing the FAFSA:

When you fill out the FAFSA, they are very particular about the way you go about doing it. Here are a few helpful hints that you need to pay special attention to:

• Use zero’s on questions where no response is needed – do not leave anything blank
• Do staple anything to FAFSA
• Round up numbers to nearest dollar
• Keep copies of everything you mail – one for student and one for parents
• File on or as soon after January 2 as possible
• Use estimated tax information – can be corrected in February
• Base year is 12 month period ending on Dec 31 of the preceding year in which students will enroll in college – Student seeking to enter for 2009-2010 school year will use 2008 as base year
• Parent who student lives with (if parent is separated or divorced) the majority of the time files the FAFSA and that parents financial information is used

Checking the status of FAFSA

Remember that the processing of the FAFSA can take up to 8 weeks. Don’t stress out too much if it has been 4-6 weeks and you haven’t received the SAR. However, it is wise to begin checking on the status at about the 5 week mark to make sure that they received it and are working on it and haven’t sent it back for corrections. To check status during this time, call (319) 337-5665.

Also, you can call the college financial aid office and see if the received the SAR. If they have, mention that you will send updated SAR when you receive it.

Get More Information

For more helpful tips about the FAFSA and getting the most money that you deserve for your college education, download our College Funding Guide.

Final Thoughts

If you have not see our free videos on what you can do to get the most money possible for yours or your childs education, please visit the video page at http://www.myschoolplans.com/tips.