Topic: Breaking down the FAFSA application process.
WHAT: Free Application for Federal Student Aid. FAFSA is a free application intended to determine the financial eligibility (how much $$$... In loans) each student may be entitled to receive based on a series of questions (income, assets, not including 401K or retirement. Savings various depending on the amount in the account), dependency, etc.) These numbers are crunched into what is called the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) which ultimately determines how much you qualify. Grad students are entitled to apply for the 4 loans:
1) Perkins Loans
2) Stafford Loans
2a) Subsidized
2b) Unsubsidized
3) Federal Work-Study Program
4) GradPlus Loan
Each application is good for 18-months. Student Aid Report (SAR) is a summary of the FAFSA and forwarded to the student. Be sure to look it over and check for any mistakes.
WHEN: ASAP. Applications begin acceptance at the beginning of the year (January 1) for the upcoming academic period. The amount of loan you qualify for is based on...
FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED!
HOW: Applying through the online application is easy peasy -- Like Turbo Tax easy. You will, however, need your tax information so although acceptance begins on January 1 -- You might have to wait until you get your W2s.
Once you submit, the information is forwarded to the intended schools you listed. (*These do not have the be the schools you are 100% sure applying to -- but the ones you're seriously interested in. You don't even need to be apply to these schools in the end but it's def worth listing all the schools you're interested in, particularly if money is a major deciding factor.)
The schools then will contact you with an estimate of how much you qualify... For that particular school. Yeah, it varies.
WHY: Even if you don't plan on taking any loans, it doesn't do you any harm to apply for FAFSA since it's FREE!
There is NO commitment... It just an estimate.
It's like checking out the merchandise before plopping down the AMEX. In the case anything should happen, you will have a solid back-up Plan B. If you don't apply, then find out you may have to take out a loan -- You're screwed because there may not be enough money.
What I Did...
1) Visited the financial adviser at the schools.
2) Major search - online, books, magazines, etc.
3) Asked the current students (during my visit) how much they received - Particularly out-of-state students. This gave me a great idea of how much I may qualify for and which loans students are taking.
4) Applied for FAFSA immediately after I was done with my taxes which was late-January or early February. By the first week of February my FAFSA was completed.
5) Emailed to schools just to make sure they received my FAFSA application.
Now... I wait.
The REAL decisions begin AFTER FAFSA:
When you decide which loans you want (if any) & how much you want to take out.
