What is FAFSA? FAFSA stands for Free Application for Federal Student Aid. If you are looking forward for financial assistance for your college studies then you will require filling out FAFSA along with college applications. The main objective of this application is to find out and mention the funds that your family is going to spend on your college studies. Majority of the colleges in USA require the students to fill FAFSA when applying for financial aid. FAFSA is also required to be filled if you intend to get loan/scholarships for your studies.
FAFSA is a simple application that can either be filled online or you can get a print on paper and fill it. One may need aid in filling up FAFSA and college applications. You simply need to provide your personal information like, first name, last name, address, SSN etc. You would not find it difficult to fill up this first part of the application. Secondly, you would have to provide the complete academic information and any achieved awards. Your academic records and awards play a big role in getting financial aid and scholarships. If you have excellent academic records and have obtained any awards in high school then there would be high probability of getting your application approved for FAFSA and scholarships. Athletics and Sports awards also play a vital role in getting an application approved. So, you should not miss any awards obtained in the high school.
You also need to provide information the information about your parents when filling out college applications and FAFSA. College applications just need the basic information about parent but FAFSA may need some additional information especially the finance related such as tax records and bank statements. Do not worry; you will be able to gather all this information with the help of your parents. You would only need to provide the financial information of the parents if you have been depending on parents for your study expenses. In the FAFSA, you would also need to mention how much funds your parents can contribute to your study expenses.
Furthermore, you would require completing the FAFSA application in the first month of the year. The deadlines might vary from college to college but your application should be ready. The earlier your application will be ready, the more time you will have to determine how much additional funding or scholarship you require. So, if you are free then do not waste your time. Immediately start filling up your college applications and FAFSA. You can get FAFSA from its official website online.