Articles > Tagged with Fafsa Application

Fafsa Online Application – 200% Shorter On 6-24-2009

June 24th, 2009 by Aaron Blakely 		Aaron Blakely

You read it right, finally the Department of Education is shortening the fafsa online application.

The current fafsa online application is 30 “screens” long, it will now be 10 “screens” long. This is great news for anyone who needs to fill out the fafsa application.

It isn’t just the online fafsa application that is getting shorter.

The fafsa application will also become shorter.

Furthermore, the fafsa application will also be less confusing. For example:

At any time… did your high school or school district homeless liaison determine that you were an unaccompanied youth who was homeless?

Will now become:

Are you homeless?

Part of the difficulty of the Fafsa is the tax information it requests. Unless it is April 16th, you probably can’t remember anything specific about your tax return. So you then have to go and find your tax return and fill out the Fafsa. Then you have to provide information on your parents tax return, so then you have to wait for them and fill that out as well.

However, starting in January, you will be able to automatically download your tax return information from the IRS right into the fafsa application. How amazing would that be?

Basics Of College FAFSA Application

August 12th, 2008 by Aaron Blakely 		Aaron Blakely

FAFSA, or Free Application for Federal Student Aid, is basically the first step every student must take while applying for financial assistance through federal program. Federal program is usually managed by Department of Education and has a deadline of March 1st.

Generally, four main types of financial assistance are available: work-study awards, loans, grants and scholarships. In case of scholarship, a student doesn’t have to pay back the cash awarded. Scholarships are awarded to students on the basis of their talent in academics, art, music, athletics and other fields. Loans must be paid back at a specific rate of interest. Grants are similar to scholarships and students do not have to pay them back either. Work study is payment made to those students who helps to pay for college costs.

How To Apply For FAFSA

Before you begin your fafsa application process, it is recommended to read the fafsa worksheet. The worksheet is an 8 page document that contains some of the same questions as the actual Fafsa application. The benefit of this worksheet is that it gives you an idea of what to expect on the fafsa.

In order to apply for the above mentioned programs, you have to fill out a paper work for the FAFSA.  An easier way to fill out the fafsa application is through their website located at http://www.fafsa.ed.gov. The task can be quite daunting, however, it is not so tough as it seems. Following information are required to complete FAFSA:

  • Social security number of the students.
  • Driving license of the students.
  • W-2 Forms of the students.
  • Student’s Federal Income Tax Return of last year.
  • Parent’s Federal Income Tax Return.
  • Previous years’ untaxed income records – veteran benefits, welfare, assistance to poor families, and social security records.
  • Previous years’ bank statement.
  • Previous years’ farm and business records; bond; stock; investment mortgage and business information and other necessary investment record.
  • Alien registration card.

Department of Education needs a minimum of 4 weeks to complete the FAFSA process. The time to perform the procedure depends on several factors. While processing the FAFSA application form, the Department of Education checks whether the form has been filled out properly, and whether all the necessary documents are attached.

Although FAFSA may appear daunting, it is a crucial step to acquire your student loan. Unless you fill out the FAFSA application, you won’t be able to qualify for the loan.

If you’re interested in finding out more information, here are a handful of unique resources that contain FAFSA information: