Believe it or not Financial Aid season is mere weeks away.  With the holiday season also upon us, financial aid may not be first and foremost on your mind; but it should be something that you give some thought to as it may mean more access to scholarships and grants, as well as federal self-help programs such as federal work-study and loans.  So what can you do now to prepare to file your FAFSA after January 1, 2012?

1. Determine the FAFSA deadlines for each school the student is sending a college admission application to.  Each college has the option to elect different deadlines, so don’t assume that because one college lists March 1, 2012 that they will all have that same deadline; many are due in January and February.  (Start a chart with due dates and forms required!)

2. Determine the student’s dependency status.  Students can either be listed as dependent (requiring parental information on the FAFSA) or independent (completing the information without parental information).  There are certain criteria that would deem a student eligible for independent status, including: the student is over the age of 24, part of foster care at any point after the age of 13, married, has a child of their own that they support more than 50%, has a legal guardian, etc.  For a complete listing of criteria that would establish the student as independent visit the fafsa.ed.gov website.

3. Gather your tax information (both parents and students) as well as last statements for all investments (beyond designated retirement accounts and equity in a primary property).  You will need all of this information to complete the FAFSA form.

4. Download the FAFSA on the Web Worksheet (found on the fafsa.ed.gov website) if you would like to see what kinds of questions you will need to answer on the actual FAFSA form.

5. Establish a PIN number for both the student and one parent (if the student is considered dependent) in order to electronically sign the FAFSA form.  You can do that now at www.pin.ed.gov or you can create one as part of the FAFSA signature page before you submit it.  Write it down (along with the answer to your challenge question) for use in future years!

If the thought of filing the FAFSA intimidates you, remember the Center for College Planning can help!  If you would like one of our College Counselors help you file the FAFSA, call 888.7.GRADUATE ext. 119 to schedule your 60 minute appointment in our Concord office!

Start preparing today,
Val