FAFSA is a U.S. government initiative to provide financial aid to students for their education. Each year the U.S. Department of Education gives out financial assistance to thousands of applicants through the FAFSA program. FAFSA is short for Free Application for Federal Student Aid and is used by colleges across the U.S. to determine whether an applicant is eligible for financial help.

If you could use financial assistance, the FAFSA is a great way to secure funds. There is a common misconception amongst students that FAFSA is only meant for undergrad education. This is not the case. FAFSA can be submitted by both undergrad and grad students. However, you need to resubmit the form each year, even if you previously received aid for your undergrad.

In this article, I will go over some of the eligibility criteria and the process of filling out the FAFSA form.

Am I Eligible for FAFSA?

U.S. Government’s Federal Student Aid website has done an excellent job of providing all the relevant information you need to determine your eligibility. The good news is that the eligibility criteria are not overly strict, and most students would quickly meet the requirements. I would list the essential eligibility criteria before. However, I would advise that you visit the web page yourself and click on the text’s embedded links to know more.

Basic Eligibility Criteria

FAFSA’s basic eligibility requirements are that you must:

• demonstrate financial need (for most programs);
• be a U.S. citizen or an eligible noncitizen;
• have a valid Social Security number (except students from the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, or the Republic of Palau);
• be registered with Selective Service, if you’re a male (you must register between the ages of 18 and 25);
• be enrolled or accepted for enrollment as a regular student in an eligible degree or certificate program;
• be enrolled at least half-time to be eligible for Direct Loan Program funds;
• maintain satisfactory academic progress in college or career school;

• sign the certification statement on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid(FAFSA®) form stating that: 
  • you are not in default on a federal student loan,
  • you do not owe money on a federal student grant, and
  • you will use federal student aid only for educational purposes; and

• show you’re qualified to obtain a college or career school education by:
• having a high school diploma or a recognized equivalent such as a General Educational Development (GED) certificate;
• completing a high school education in a homeschool setting approved under state law (or—if state law does not require a homeschooled student to obtain a completion credential—completing a high school education in a homeschool setting that qualifies as an exemption from compulsory attendance requirements under state law); or
• enrolling in an eligible career pathway program and meeting one of the “ability-to-benefit” alternatives described below.

What Determines How Much Aid I’ll Receive?

The aid you receive via FAFSA will depend on several things and your Expected Family Contribution or EFC and Cost of Attendance or COA.

Your EFC is calculated by putting the information you provided on the form into a formula. The formula takes into account the following data to calculate the financial aid you will receive.

• Your family’s taxed and untaxed income
• Assets and benefits
• Family size
• The number of family members who will attend college or career school during the year.

Once the college has calculated your EFC, they will calculate your COA, which stands for Cost of Attendance. Your COA depends on the college your attending and takes the following into account:

• tuition and fees;
• the cost of room and board (or living expenses for students who do not contract with the school for room and board);
• the cost of books, supplies, transportation, loan fees, and miscellaneous expenses (including a reasonable amount for the documented cost of a personal computer);
• an allowance for child care or other dependent care;
• expenses related to a disability; and
• reasonable costs for eligible study-abroad programs.

Now that the college has your EFC and COA, they will put both the numbers into the following formula to calculate your financial need.

Cost of Attendance (COA) – Expected Family Contribution (EFC) = Financial Need

For example, if your EFC is 12000 and your COA is $16,000, your financial need is $4,000

How Can I Apply for Financial Aid Using FAFSA?

Step # 1 Create FSA ID

The very first step is to create an FSA ID. IF you haven’t already made one, then go here and start making your ID. It only takes a few minutes and will make the whole process a lot easier.

Step # 2 Required Documents

Once you have created an ID, you will then gather all the required documents needed for FAFSA. You will need the following documents to fill out your FAFSA form:

• Your Social Security number (you must enter it correctly on the FAFSA form!)
• Your parents’ Social Security numbers if you are a dependent student
• Your driver’s license number if you have one
• Your Alien Registration number if you are not a U.S. citizen
• Federal tax information or tax returns, including IRS W-2 information, for you (and your spouse, if you are married), and for your parents, if you are a dependent student:
• IRS 1040
• Foreign tax return, IRS 1040NR, or IRS 1040NR-EZ
• Tax return for Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, or Palau 

• Records of your untaxed income, such as child support received, interest income, and veterans noneducation benefits, for you and your parents, if you are a dependent student
• Information on cash; savings 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 assets for you and your parents if you are a dependent student

Keep in mind that at no point should you mail any of the documents to FAFSA. This whole process is web-based. You only need to put the relevant information in the form using the documents mentioned above.

Step # 3 Filling Out the Form

Now that you have all the documents at hand, you need to go here and start filling out the form. Click on the “Start here” button on the homepage and follow the instructions. The process is pretty easy to figure out, and if you have any questions, you can go here to get clarity.

However, be patient as the form can take several hours to complete. You will need to enter a lot of important information such as demographic information, which schools you applied/will apply to, financial information, such as information about your tax returns, income, and other assets.

Step # 4 Submit the Form 

Once you have completed the form and rechecked all the fields, you will log in to your FSA ID to submit it. FAFSA applications can take between three to seven days to get processed. Once your application has been processed, you will receive a Student Aid Report or SAR.