Apply for Financial Aid – Complete the FAFSA

The first step in applying for financial aid is to complete the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid), which collects information about you and your family’s financial situation.

Normally, you should complete the FAFSA as soon as possible after October 1 in the year before you are requesting aid. Due to changes mandated by Congress and implemented by the Department of Education, the 2024-25 FAFSA was released on December 31, 2023. Students planning to attend college in the 2024-25 academic year should complete it as soon as possible. For those students who plan to attend college next year, the 2025-26 FAFSA will be released on or before December 1, 2024.

Check with the schools you’re interested in attending and your state department of higher education for specific FAFSA completion deadlines (some state deadlines are online).

Create an account at StudentAid.gov. This is sometime called creating an FSA ID, which is the user name and password for your account. Do this before you plan to complete the FAFSA. The Department of Education will verify your account which may take a week or so.
Complete the FAFSA at StudentAid.gov as soon as possible after the FAFSA is available the year before you are requesting aid.
Check with the school you are attending and your state department of higher education for specific deadlines.
For most applicants, federal tax information (FTI) is retrieved automatically from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), eliminating the need for manual entry of income data. However, for some applicants FTI is not available. In addition, you may be required to answer other income or asset questions. Have the following items for you and your parent(s), if applicable, on hand when you prepare to complete the FAFSA:
- Income tax return
- Other records of money earned, including untaxed income
- Current bank statements
- Business and farm records
- Records of investments
- Drivers’ licenses
- Social Security cards
- Dates of birth
Answer all questions.
Watch for notification that your FAFSA Submission Summary is available, usually within two weeks after submitting your completed and signed FAFSA.
Review the financial aid offer/award letter you receive from each college listed on your FAFSA. The colleges you list on the FAFSA automatically receive your results and use them to prepare your financial aid package. The financial aid offer lists the financial aid you are eligible to receive at that college.

Keep in Mind:

If you filed a FAFSA in the previous academic year and provided your e-mail address, you will receive a renewal FAFSA notification from the U.S. Department of Education. When you file your renewal FAFSA, the majority of your data will be pre-filled – all you’ll need to do is make the necessary corrections/revisions before electronically signing and submitting.

If you do not receive your FAFSA Submission Summary within two weeks after the date you submit your FAFSA, check the status of your application by logging back in to StudentAid.gov or calling the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 1-800-4-FED-AID.