Around this time of year, Seniors have to begin filling out the “FAFSA” form. What is FAFSA? FAFSA stands for Free Application for Federal Student Aid. This form has to be filled out at the beginning of the year in order to receive cash for college. In order to have a chance to be able to qualify for FAFSA, here’s some information from the FAFSA website https://studentaid.ed.gov/fafsa that you will need in order to fill out this form correctly.

You’ll start by providing basic information about yourself. Information such as your name and social security number. The password that you create at the beginning of the application will not be the same as your federal student aid PIN; they are two completely different things. The PIN is to make sure all the information you provided is secured, so make sure to remember it and not tell the password to anyone, only your parent or guardian.

You’ll also need your Social Security number from you and your parent or parent(s) if you are a dependent student. Your parents or guardians must have filled out their federal tax information or tax returns which includes IRS W-2 information. Also, you must include records of your untaxed income, such as child support received, interest income, and veterans non education benefits, for you, and your parents if you are and dependent student. Information on cash; saving and checking account balances; investments, including stocks and bonds and real estate but not including the home in which you live; and business and farm assists for you, and also for your parents if you’re a dependent student.

Once your’re done with the roughly 30-minute application process online, be sure when you finish to sign with your Federal Student Aid PIN so that your FAFSA will be processed as quickly as possible. Once you see the confirmation page, then you have been successful in completing your FAFSA application. Within 24-hours, you should receive an email confirmation that your FAFSA is being processed and how long it will take for it to process.

Take extra precautions by printing out the confirmation page or saving it on to your desktop. After that, you should receive a confirmation email that your FAFSA has been processed and all you can do after that is wait patiently and hope for the best.