The FAFSA Season is Open!

Financial aid made easy

Jason Cohrs, Staff Writer

Want free money for college? On October 1st, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) opened to students attending college in 2017-2018. FAFSA provides students with scholarships based on a system that takes the cost of attendance at your preferred college, subtracts the Expected Family Contribution (EFC), and then subtracts any additional money awarded to an individual, to determine if they qualify for financial assistance. Although the official deadline to complete FAFSA is June 30, 2018, many colleges require the application to be submitted earlier. For example, The University of Minnesota requires the application to be completed by March 1, and Iowa State University has a  December 1st deadline to be considered for priority financial aid. Filling out FAFSA is valuable to students, not only for scholarships, but also because completing the application automatically qualifies you for cheap student loans.fafsa

Previously, to apply for FAFSA you needed to estimate your family’s income for the current year following a complicated and time-consuming process. This year, the application allows you to use your family’s income for the past year in the form of income tax returns, W-2s, and other records of money earned, saving a lot of time and effort to apply. The application itself is somewhat difficult, requiring your Social Security Number (SSN), driver’s license number, your parents’ tax information from last year, and their SSN’s. Once you have all the required information, just go to fafsa.ed.gov, click on “Start A New FAFSA” and start answering questions. After you submit your application, you will receive a Student Aid Report detailing your results, and each college will use your report to determine financial aid on a case by case basis. The entire application is estimated to take about 30 minutes to complete, a small price to pay for the great financial return in going to college.