Category:Money For College

There is over $30 Billion Available from the U.S. Federal Govt. For College!

What You Need to Know About the FAFSA If you have a child who will be attending college, or if you are considering going back to college yourself, there is one document that you must consider filling out - the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA. The FAFSA is the most important document in determining eligibility requirements for public financial aid money and it is used by many colleges and universities in determining eligibility for private scholarship and grant dollars as well.

We've created a video on filling out the FAFSA at http://www.collegeforkatie.com But, before you jump into the video, there are some key pieces of information about the FAFSA you should know before you try to fill it out. This article summarizes many questions and answers you may have about the FAFSA.

The FAFSA is the key to unlocking federal financial aid dollars - over $30 billion in new federal aid in 2005-2006 alone. The FAFSA program is managed by the United States Department of Education, or the Dept. of Ed. The FAFSA is used by the Dept of Ed to determine whether a student, based on the family's income, is eligible for federal grants or federal loans. In addition to being used by the Federal government, most states and many institutions also use the data collected on the FAFSA to determine eligibility for their own grant, loan, and scholarship programs as well.

The FAFSA is a long document that is now completed, almost entirely online at www.fafsa.ed.gov. While paper copies are still available, the online FAFSA is your best option for several reasons. First of all, the online FAFSA allows for the fastest and easiest processing of your information. When you complete the FAFSA online you'll have many opportunities to review your work to make sure it is accurate. If you use the paper document, you have to make sure it's right, mail it in to the Dept of Ed, someone hand enters it into a computer, and then you have to wait until your Student Air Report, or SAR, is returned to check for any errors. With the online FAFSA you receive the SAR electronically within one to five days - about half the time it takes with the mailed FAFSA. And if you complete online and find an error in the SAR, you can quickly and easily correct it online as well. (You can find the complete article at CollegeForKatie.com/articles.html)[1]