by Angela Marie Pringle
(Manning, South Carolina)
FAFSA Tips: A Guide To Securing Your Financial Aid
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by Samson R. Jinks
(Carmel, IN, United States of America)
FAFSA and You: Some Pointers - When completing the FAFSA, it's important to be entirely honest in everything asked of you. This form is going to have an impact on many scholarships you choose to apply to, and having accurate, double checked information on it will only help.
Make sure you have as much of the information (parent’s financial information, school transcripts, etc.) that will be required during filling out on hand; this will simplify the process, and make sure you aren’t in danger of entering the wrong data. And remember, if your parents are divorced to give the information of the parent that you were with most during the last year. If you live with both parents equally, find out which one contributed to you the most.
Having a parent on hand, in this situation, will speed up the process considerably, as the FAFSA, in addition to financial information will ask for the Social Security Number and other various data from your parent. They can also provide you with any documents that you may not have, such as your own Social Security Number, and in the best case scenario, they will enter their financial data themselves.
Make note that, while the FAFSA asks for your tax information, it’s best to estimate your taxes and submit it as early as possible, rather than waiting to file your taxes and risk missing the deadline. And there is the most important thing to remember with the FAFSA: you are on a deadline. During the two and a half months leading up to initiation and deadline, you need to enter it.
Most of all, the FAFSA is an entirely necessary form that you need to fill out. It will prevent delays in the future when applying for scholarships and other types of financial aid. Completing the FAFSA is entirely for your own benefit.
Read more tips on FAFSA Help from other students and parents who have been through the FAFSA process.
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by Leon
(Detroit, MI.)
FAFSA Tips - When I was pressed with completing my FAFSA I was very much in peril like everyone else I knew. I had no idea of what to expect, what to do, and how to do it. I was very naive when it came to the benefits of filing the application in a timely manner.
The first thing I received was a crash course on completing it. The first tip I would stress to anyone is to obtain a paper copy of the FAFSA form and read the entire form. That is one fundamental aspect that we forget to do is read the entire form before we get to filling it out.
Second sit down with your parents and show them exactly what you need from them as it pertains to their filed tax returns. Ask them to file early as you can because the sooner you submit the FAFSA the better. That way there is no estimating on the facts and figures of projected taxes paid.
Before March 1st of every year is the best time to submit the form. Knowing that insures that you have a pretty good chance of receiving the most federal funding that you possibly can. Now having a paper copy actually helps you in more ways then one. Fill in the blanks where your parent’s financial information goes and your financial information goes. This saves all of the hassle of locating that information when you most critically need it, especially due to the fact that most people are submitting the form online.
If you follow this ideology of preparation before completion then you will always be ahead of the game.
Read more tips on FAFSA Tips from other students and parents who have been through the FAFSA process.
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by Maria Paucarcaja
(Memphis, TN, United States)
Starting college is exciting and a little complicated for a new or current college student. During the high school years many students are used to their parents doing all of the school paper work and still expect them to do it in college. That is not such a smart idea because it is important for the student to be informed about all the information that is going to be put in the college registration and the FAFSA application. It is preferable for both the parent and the student to do the paper work together. Especially with the FAFSA application because it is an application that requires information about the parent and the student and it has to be applied every year, if needed.
When you are ready to start the FAFSA application it is important to have all the tax reports ready. The tax reports are the most important information to fill in a FAFSA registration. Also have an agenda or daily planner ready to write in, or something that you know where it’s going to be at, at all times. That is going to be needed for any information that the student is required to remember. For example the user name and password that will be needed and the FAFSA PIN that is going to be required.
Once you start reading the questions it is very important to fill in the answers with patience and attention. Still you have the option to make any FAFSA corrections after submitting the application, but it is better getting it done correctly the first time to make the process faster.
After you are done with the FAFSA application it is important to stay updated with the process of it. There might be a mistake that the college might have done and you want to make sure that it does not happen and that everything is going smoothly in the processing of your FAFSA. It will be worth the time, patience, and responsibility that you put in the application because it will help you have a great start of that college year.
Read more FAFSA hints from other students and parents who have been through the FAFSA process.
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by Crystal Ramirez
(Hobbs, NM, USA)
The most important things about filling out the FASFA - My experience with FAFSA was quite confusing the first time I filled it out. I was not sure what information was needed or what must be provided. Before attempting the process I spoke to a counselor at the university I was interested in and I was provided with the FASFA website. At this point I had received the help I was going to get and I was on my own.
It took about one to two hours to fill out the FASFA because I had to search for my annual taxes, create an account and apply for a FAFSA Application PIN Number . So after this experience I had to come up with a plan so it was not so lengthy.
Well to make this short and sweet, I wrote down the process, my account information and the PIN I would be using each year. The most important things about filling out the FASFA are the deadlines and completing your annual taxes. I realized that completing it right after taxes was the best option to ensure I received funding for that academic year. So my advice to anyone applying for a FASFA should be to first make sure their annual taxes have been filed.
Once you have completed this process have them available and have all the account information in a safe and locatable place. Next, you should log on to http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/ website and use the guide command to fill out the FASFA application. If you come to a box that you are not sure about you can click on it and out to the right side there is an information log that specifies what should go in the box.
If you are unsure about filling out the FASFA application there is also a new feature that lets you transfer your information from the IRS website. One should utilize this source so there are no discrepancies on the FASFA application. This does speed up the process and I realized it only took fifteen to twenty minutes to complete. What a life saver!
~Crystal
Read more Important things about filling out the FASFA from other students and parents who have been through the FAFSA process.
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