Let’s take a minute to talk about the FAFSA. You’re going to deal with it from undergraduate to your doctorate. It is one of the first, most fundamental things you have to do when you go to school. Many people don’t fill it out, either because they don’t need to, don’t know they need to, or don’t know how to. However, it is absolutely necessary to get nearly any financial aid, from the schools you’re attending or the government (your school probably relies on your government aid to determine what you need/get).
The FAFSA really can only help you. It is never going to say you get negative financial aid, and it is never going to make the school charge you more tuition. The worst it can do is tell you that you get nothing. And that is where the problem lies. The FAFSA might not actually help you, and there is little to nothing you can do about it if you’re in one of those categories that the FAFSA annually screws over.
For the record, no matter if you think you’re getting aid, ALWAYS fill out the form. It really can only help you even if it doesn’t help you. But you can only apply for a short period each year, and if you need it later in the year for any point, which you often do if you’re filling out forms for private scholarships, you cant do it until the next year. Also, there is a VERY small percentage of people that the FAFSA doesn’t help at all. It is unlikely you’ll even be in that category, but I’m here to let you know the possibilities and what recourse you have. Finally, financial aid changes constantly. Each president has their own ideas on how college aid should be determined and it often gets (if only minutely) changed.
So, without further ado, here are the basics of the FAFSA:
1. It is now available to start filing in fall/winter
The form used to only be available to file in January and it was due March 15th. The deadline has not changed, but you can now start filling out the form in November. Just get it off your plate over winter break.
2. You need tax documents to fill out the form
If you work, you will need to have your tax forms/tax returns for the past year handy to fill out the FAFSA. However, because the application is now available in the Fall, it allows you to either wait to put in your tax documents (important if your income has significantly changed from one year to the next) or it estimates your income using the previous year’s returns. It uses your income to estimate the amount of aid you need.
3. You need your parents’ information to fill out the form
This is because, until your 24, you are considered dependent on the FAFSA and they assume your parents will be helping with either the cost of living expenses, tuition, or both. Therefore if your parents make over the threshold that they have designated, you may not get any aid. There are some important exceptions and non-exception to this rule.
Exception: If you are orphaned, were emancipated before you were 18, or in extreme cases of abuse and subsequent estrangement from your parents (I believe you have to have not been in any contact with your parents for 2 years following extreme abuse), you are considered an independent on the FAFSA and your parents income does not matter. It also counts if you are married and, I believe (correct me if I am wrong) having your own dependents as two other exceptions if you are under 24 years of age. In these cases, it may use your spouses income or any child support as income, although I am not certain.
Non-Exception: If you claim yourself as independent on your taxes or live on your own, you are NOT independent if you are under the age of 24. Even if your parents give you no money for anything, you still need their information and your aid is determined off of that. SO if your parents are millionaires that cut you off and you haven’t heard from them in four years, you are unfortunately still bound by their income. Typically the only loans you’ll be eligible for are loans co-signed by a parent (which doesn’t help if you’re estranged or if they aren’t willing to co-sign). If you don’t have your parents information (you need their address, all sources of income, their social security number, date of birth, etc.), you can probably still file, but they will probably manage to find tax returns or contact your parents (again I am not sure, correct me if I’m wrong) and then determine your eligibility.
This is the part that really screws a lot of people over, especially with the increasing number of people whose parents do NOT financially support them while they’re in college. This is presumably to save the government and schools from providing aid to students whose parents are funding their education and providing them residence, so the money is going to students who require it. This may have been a better system when parents let students live at home, paid for food and necessities, and co-signed (or took out loans wholly) for their children which, although still happens, is much less common. I have seen more money go to students living at home than have gone to students estranged from their families, but it is luck of the draw. There are other ways to fund your education that will be gone over in another post, don’t fret.
4. You do not need your parents information when you’re in graduate school
Presumably because at this point you have established yourself as an adult (I would hope that I wouldn’t still be under my parents care in medical school). When you apply for FAFSA while going for your doctorate, you are no longer required to enter your parents’ information as their income has no bearing on the amount of aid you get. I am not entirely sure if this works for a Masters program, although I do not believe it does, or for Ph.D. programs versus health programs. The government wants to churn out doctors, vets, and dentists so they are expecting, regardless of your or your parents’ incomes, for you to need the full amount in loans, since the programs are not cheap and no one is working while in these programs. Essentially no one in these programs has any source of income, and even if parents help, they’re surely not making a dent in $50,000 a year. You also don’t need a cosigner for the loans you’re offered.
5. The FAFSA is extremely easy to fill out
It gets easier every year, especially once you have filled it out once and it auto-completes most of your info. Setting up your account takes a bit of effort, and is the most confusing part, which is why my high school had us do it my senior year with help. I’ll give a basic overview here, but there are always high school counselors, or if you are an older student, college advisors and financial aid counselors that will help you fill it out (yes even if you don’t go there yet). And then there is always the FAFSA website and Google (I’ll link the sites you need below).
You will go to the studentaid.ed.gov link, and under quick links on the page (mid-way) go to The FSA ID. Here you will create your account, with your pin (remember this, you’ll need it every year), email, and other basic information about yourself. You’ll activate the account via your email.
Then you’ll be able to go to the FAFSA page (either by going to the home screen on studentaid.ed.gov by clicking the top left corner, clicking FAFSA: Applying for Aid, or by googling FAFSA). Click fill out your form and you’ll be doing it for the next school year (i.e. if it’s January 2018, fill it out for Fall 2018-Spring 2019, or 2018-2019. This format is how all your school years will be shown in college).
You’ll fill out your basic info (name, age, SS number, address) and your tax information, what school you are or may be going to, and some other information to help determine your aid (some grants you can only get once or under certain conditions). Then you’ll fill out your parents information if you know it. And then you submit! You will typically get information on how much your EFC (estimated family contribution, or how much the government expects your family to help with tuition and living expenses) is, which determines your “need”. Your need determines how much you will get. Some very basic formulas are below, to give you an idea:
Estimated family contribution (EFC) = based on your family’s income , their dependents and how much “extra” income they have to help you [not taking in bills, mortgages, and debt, of course, because the only expenses that people have not qualified as “extra income” are children]
Need= (Tuition and books + Cost of living) – EFC
What you need is not always exactly what you will get, and often it comes in many different forms (1/10 grants, 4/10 subsidized loans. 4/10 unsubsidized loans, and 1/10 not their problem (cash or personal loans), for example). not all of which you will be guaranteed to be able to take out. The cost of living estimation is typically based on the school’s COA calculations based on the immediate area, and is not accurate for non-traditional students, those who don’t live with parents or on campus, or in the immediate area.
Well… there you have it. A very very basic rundown of the FAFSA, and as much as it can be a really messed up process, there is no penalties and fees for filing it (or not) and it takes usually about 30 minutes, but it can only help you, so just file it. Then next year it may only take ten minutes, and your aid can change year to year. Sorry for the long, in no way comprehensive post, but I wanted to cover some issues I have personally experienced that there’s very little information on. Of course, if you have further questions about the process, send a message using the form on the contact page and I will try to help.
Links to Financial Aid websites:
Stumble Through School 