10 Preparation Tips for Completing a FAFSA

It is that time of year again when initial financial planning for college next year starts now. College is a time of learning, having fun, experiencing new adventures and unfortunately trying to figure how to pay for it all.

If you are not one of the lucky few who receives a trust fund set up by Grandma then you may be starting to consider where the money for college is going to come from and how you are going to pay it back.

Many students choose to utilize student aid and take out student loans, the type of student loans and amount of student loans you will receive will be determined by the information you have given on your FAFSA.

FAFSA is not difficult to fill out but it does take some successful planning and time, here you will find 10 preparation tips for completing a FAFSA. Following these 10 FAFSA preparation tips will help you to cut back on the amount of time spent on the FAFSA form and will help to simplify the process.

1. Determine Your Dependency Status

You will need to know ahead of time if you will need to include your parent's financial information or not. You are either considered dependent or independent depending on the results of multiple questions asked by FAFSA. The FAFSA website offers a dependency status worksheet that can be done before you fill out the FAFSA so you are aware of your status. The link to the worksheet can be found here: http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/before015.htm

2. Gather W-2's and Income Taxes

You will need to input information from your W-2's and income taxes, so make sure you have the information in front of you. If you are considered a dependent, you will also need to have your parent's financial documents and information as well as yours.

3. Honesty Is The Best Policy

Fill out your FAFSA form honestly, nothing good will come out of your student loan experience if you are not telling the full truth or out right lying. Share the truth of your finances and personal situation, there should be some type of loan available that you can qualify for.

4. Complete FAFSA On the Web Worksheet

FAFSA offers a worksheet that allows you to read and complete the questions on hard copy before you enter the information on the web. It does take a bit more time to complete the worksheet but knowing you have the correct answers on the worksheet may save you time in the long run. If you feel like you do not have enough time to fill out the FAFSA worksheet, I would suggest to at least take a look at the worksheet so that you have an idea of what to expect when you go enter your FAFSA information online. The link to the worksheet can be found here: http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/before012.htm

5. No Blanks Or Omissions

One of the biggest mistakes that people make when filling out the FAFSA is leaving blanks or omitting information. Your FAFSA will not be processed if any information is left out so be sure to double check that all fields of the form are filled in properly.

6. Know Your Federal School Codes

Each college has their own school code that represents the particular school, the schools in which you are interested in attending need to be listed by their relevant code on the FAFSA form. Knowing the code of each school you are interested in will help you to complete the FAFSA in a shorter amount of time. The link to the Federal school codes can be found here: http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/FOTWWebApp/FSLookupServlet

7. Apply for a PIN

A PIN is a type of identification number that is given to each person who applies on the FAFSA website. The PIN is a 4 digit number that is used in combination with your name, social security number and date of birth to identify you as the legal person whom the FAFSA account is assigned to. You will need to remember your PIN number once it is assigned so that you are able to log in to your account, enter information, make changes and use as an electronic signature. The link to the PIN website is here: http://www.pin.ed.gov/PINWebApp/pinindex.jsp

8. Check Application Deadline Dates

Make sure you get your FAFSA information in on a timely manner, the last thing you want to happen is to miss the submission deadlines and possibly miss out on student aid that you could have received had you got your information in on time. Know the deadlines a head of time so that you can plan accordingly. The link to the deadline dates is here: http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/before003a.htm

9. Sign FAFSA

If you do not sign your FAFSA, it cannot be processed. It is a little step but one that many people forget to do and your FAFSA can not and will not be processed unless there is a signature. Forgetting to sign will delay your student loan process.

10. Update FAFSA

Always update your FAFSA form when any changes occur in your life, you want to make sure you keep an accurate record on your FAFSA form so there are no future surprises.

Following these 10 FAFSA preparation tips will help you to complete your FAFSA form more efficiently and quickly so that you can focus on the most important point of all and that is attending college!

Sources:

http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/