FAFSA
Free Application for Federal Student Aid
When applying for college you are required to fill out the FAFSA. Click to find out more information and deadlines for completion.
5 Things To Do After Filing the FAFSA, as recommended by the Department of Education
Watch for your Student Aid Report (SAR) - You should receive an email stating that it is ready to be reviewed. If you did not give an email address on the application, watch for SAR in your mail box. Everyone who completes the FAFSA will receive a SAR. This document will give the student their basic eligibility. If you receive the SAR electronically, use the PIN you created to complete your FAFSA to view the report on the FAFSA.gov website.
Locate the Expected Family Contribution (EFC). It can be found at the top on the first page under your Social Security Number. This is the number schools used to calculate your financial aid.
Make corrections if needed. Log in to the FAFSA.gov website, use your PIN and look for “Make FAFSA Corrections”. If your circumstances have changed (i.e. loss of parent, change in income, medical and dental expenses not covered by insurance, etc) report these to your financial aid office.
Double check with the school to make sure they do not need additional paperwork to process your aid. If so, provide it promptly.
Watch for an award letter from schools where you have been admitted. Compare award letters to determine the school you will attend.
Watch for your Student Aid Report (SAR) - You should receive an email stating that it is ready to be reviewed. If you did not give an email address on the application, watch for SAR in your mail box. Everyone who completes the FAFSA will receive a SAR. This document will give the student their basic eligibility. If you receive the SAR electronically, use the PIN you created to complete your FAFSA to view the report on the FAFSA.gov website.
Locate the Expected Family Contribution (EFC). It can be found at the top on the first page under your Social Security Number. This is the number schools used to calculate your financial aid.
Make corrections if needed. Log in to the FAFSA.gov website, use your PIN and look for “Make FAFSA Corrections”. If your circumstances have changed (i.e. loss of parent, change in income, medical and dental expenses not covered by insurance, etc) report these to your financial aid office.
Double check with the school to make sure they do not need additional paperwork to process your aid. If so, provide it promptly.
Watch for an award letter from schools where you have been admitted. Compare award letters to determine the school you will attend.
FAFSA tips, questions, and answers
**The student is a “battered immigrant” and has received the I-797 Notice of Action form from the U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS). Is the student eligible for federal financial aid? The answer is “Yes”, if the student has the I-797 Notice of Action, and it has been approved and is still valid. In looking at the document the “Notice Type” should read “Approval” and the “Valid From…. To.…” should not be expired.
Generally a “battered immigrant-qualified alien” will be granted an A-number when entering the U.S. When completing the FAFSA, the student should indicate that they are an “eligible non-citizen” and provide their A-number. Note: There will not be a match between the Department of Education and Department of Homeland Security; however, that student should be prepared to provide documentation (I-797A) for the financial aid office at the school they plan to attend.
**Question:
The student lives with their mother and stepfather. The stepfather is refusing to provide financial information for the FAFSA. What should we do?
Answer:
The stepfather must include his financial information for the student to be able to complete the FAFSA. If the stepfather cannot be persuaded to provide his information, the student cannot just file on mother. If the student completes the FAFSA without parental information, the student will receive an ISIR without an EFC. The school then would have the option to allow the student to file his/her FAFSA this way and award only an unsubsidized loan, or refuse to allow the student to file this way, and he/she would be ineligible for any aid at all. In order for the school to allow this filing status, the school would have to have proof that the parents no longer supported the student and the date that support stopped.
**QUESTION: The student’s mother is on disability(parents divorced, student lives with mother) and does not work, so there is no other income. The FAFSA is asking for the Adjusted Gross Income. Since her only income was disability income what should be shown for AGI?
ANSWER:
If there was no other income, enter "0" for the AGI. The disability income should be reported in the "Parents' untaxed income” section.
**Question:The mother did not have a Social Security number so when the student completed the FAFSA she used the mother’s identification number in the box for the Social Security number. She received a confirmation at the conclusion of the application. A few days later she received an email stating there was a problem with her parent’s Social Security number. Can the student log back in and correct the application?
Answer:
No, the student cannot log in and correct this error. She has two options:
Complete a new FAFSA using “0’s” for the mother’s social security number
or
Contact the financial aid office at the school she plans to attend about correcting the information.
**Question:
If a student’s parent is incapacitated to the point that they (the parent) have a legal guardian, how should the student complete the FAFSA? The student’s parent is incapacitated due to health issues and is currently residing in a medical facility. The parent recently became able to speak and feed and dress herself. The mother’s only resources are Medicaid and state assistance.
Answer:
There are several options available in such a situation.
When the student has a parent, the FAFSA should be completed with parental information. Another individual may need to complete the FAFSA on behalf of the parent. If the parent is physically unable to provide a signature, another may sign in place of the parent.
As an alternative, the financial aid administrator could consider the student for a dependency override. A disabled parent who is "able to feed and speak and dress herself" still might not have the ability to care for her dependents.
You should encourage this student to contact the financial aid office at the school they plan to attend after the FAFSA has been completed and explain the situation. Documentation will be required to make an override decision is one if appropriate.
**If the parent has two students who will be in college, they will have to complete two FAFSA applications, one for each student. Near the end of the application it will ask if they want to complete an application for a second student. They will indicate that they wish to complete a second application.
If the parent has already exited the application and then the other sibling decides they want to go to college, the parent will have to re-enter all of their information again.
Students need to complete a FAFSA every year they are in school. When they go in the second year they will be “renewing” their application and some information will populate for that student.
**For your sophomore and junior parents who may be starting to worry about college cost, encourage them to complete the FAFSA4caster. The FAFSA4csater will provide an estimate of eligibility for federal student aid.
Here is the link: https://fafsa.ed.gov/FAFSA/app/f4cForm?execution=e1s1
**Question:
This student just got married and is now in the process of completing the FAFSA. Since she was not married last year and her tax information reflects only her, does she have to include her spouse’s financial information or her parent’s financial information?
Answer:
Yes, if the student is married at the time she completes the FAFSA she will need to include her and her spouse’s tax information, assets and any exemptions. Because the couple was not married last year, they filed individual tax returns. Therefore, the student will not be able to use the IRS Data Retrieval tool. The IRS Data Retrieval tool is only available to those that file jointly. ( Parental tax information will not be needed since being married automatically makes this student independent.)
If the student had completed the FAFSA and then gotten married, she would have had to use the parent’s information for the current year.
**Question:
The father of this student passed away several years ago. The student lives with the mother and the mother’s boyfriend. Mother does not file taxes because she does not work. Will the student have to provide the boyfriend's information or just the mother’s information?
Answer:
The student will use her mother’s information. The boyfriend does not qualify as a parent. Since she does not work and does not file taxes, the application will probably be tagged for verification. office. In many cases, the student will be asked to provide information that documents how she and her mother lived without any income prior to financial aid being awarded.
**Question:
The parents do not file taxes. The mother does not work and the father is contract labor, but never files taxes. How do they complete the FAFSA?
Answer:
The first question they will encounter pertaining to their taxes is:
Have you completed a tax return? The answer will be “Will not file or I am not going to file”
It will then skip to the questions about income earned from work. They will need to report any income earned from work and then proceed answering any questions that apply.
**Question:
I was born in the U.S., however neither of my parents are legal residents/citizens. How do I complete the FAFSA?
Answer:
If you are a U.S. citizen, but your parents are not, you are eligible for federal financial aid. On the FAFSA you should enter 000-00-0000 in the parent Social Security number section. Including a fake, stolen, or SSN/TIN that is for work purposes only may cause your application to be rejected.
**Question:
If a student’s parents are not divorced but are living in separate homes and/or separate states, which parent’s income should be used to complete the FAFSA?
Answer:
Since the parents are not divorced but living separately, the student should report the income of the parent with whom they live with. However, there are times when parents consider themselves separated but continue to live in the same household due to finances. If that were the case, the student would report the income of both parents.
**Question:
If a student wants to go to cosmetology school, can she receive a Pell Grant and a federal student loan?
Answer:
A cosmetology school would be a postsecondary vocational institution and would be eligible for participating in the Title IV programs. There are a number of cosmetology schools in Arkansas that participate in the Title IV aid programs. Contact the school the student wishes to attend to see if they participate. In order to be Title IV eligible the school has to fall into one of these three categories:
Institution of higher education
Proprietary institution of higher education
Postsecondary vocational institution
**Question: What should be reported as wages earned on the FAFSA, if a student has only one parent who does not work and will not file an income tax return, but does receive Social Security benefits?
Answer: Enter “0” for wages earned. Social Security benefits are not reported on the FAFSA.
**When you begin the 2014-2015 school year what will be your grade level?
Answer: Even though the student may have attended college prior to graduation from high school and earned college credit the student should select “Never attended college and 1st year undergraduate”. For purposes of the FAFSA, the student is a first year college student
**Question: A student and her child live with the student’s grandmother, who claims her on her taxes. The student’s mother does not work and does not provide any support for the student. Does the student use her mother’s information on the FAFSA?
Answer: Yes. The student’s mother is the biological parent of the student and her information is needed on the application. If the student is married, then she would be independent; however in this case the student does not appear to be married. If the student provides more than ½ of the support for her child and will continue to do so throughout the award year, she would be considered an independent student. The financial aid office would require additional information to support her independent status.
**This question appears in the Student Demographic section on the FAFSA.
directly on the text and add your own words. Use this text
to go into more detail about your company. Make sure to include
information about how your company came to be.
Generally a “battered immigrant-qualified alien” will be granted an A-number when entering the U.S. When completing the FAFSA, the student should indicate that they are an “eligible non-citizen” and provide their A-number. Note: There will not be a match between the Department of Education and Department of Homeland Security; however, that student should be prepared to provide documentation (I-797A) for the financial aid office at the school they plan to attend.
**Question:
The student lives with their mother and stepfather. The stepfather is refusing to provide financial information for the FAFSA. What should we do?
Answer:
The stepfather must include his financial information for the student to be able to complete the FAFSA. If the stepfather cannot be persuaded to provide his information, the student cannot just file on mother. If the student completes the FAFSA without parental information, the student will receive an ISIR without an EFC. The school then would have the option to allow the student to file his/her FAFSA this way and award only an unsubsidized loan, or refuse to allow the student to file this way, and he/she would be ineligible for any aid at all. In order for the school to allow this filing status, the school would have to have proof that the parents no longer supported the student and the date that support stopped.
**QUESTION: The student’s mother is on disability(parents divorced, student lives with mother) and does not work, so there is no other income. The FAFSA is asking for the Adjusted Gross Income. Since her only income was disability income what should be shown for AGI?
ANSWER:
If there was no other income, enter "0" for the AGI. The disability income should be reported in the "Parents' untaxed income” section.
**Question:The mother did not have a Social Security number so when the student completed the FAFSA she used the mother’s identification number in the box for the Social Security number. She received a confirmation at the conclusion of the application. A few days later she received an email stating there was a problem with her parent’s Social Security number. Can the student log back in and correct the application?
Answer:
No, the student cannot log in and correct this error. She has two options:
Complete a new FAFSA using “0’s” for the mother’s social security number
or
Contact the financial aid office at the school she plans to attend about correcting the information.
**Question:
If a student’s parent is incapacitated to the point that they (the parent) have a legal guardian, how should the student complete the FAFSA? The student’s parent is incapacitated due to health issues and is currently residing in a medical facility. The parent recently became able to speak and feed and dress herself. The mother’s only resources are Medicaid and state assistance.
Answer:
There are several options available in such a situation.
When the student has a parent, the FAFSA should be completed with parental information. Another individual may need to complete the FAFSA on behalf of the parent. If the parent is physically unable to provide a signature, another may sign in place of the parent.
As an alternative, the financial aid administrator could consider the student for a dependency override. A disabled parent who is "able to feed and speak and dress herself" still might not have the ability to care for her dependents.
You should encourage this student to contact the financial aid office at the school they plan to attend after the FAFSA has been completed and explain the situation. Documentation will be required to make an override decision is one if appropriate.
**If the parent has two students who will be in college, they will have to complete two FAFSA applications, one for each student. Near the end of the application it will ask if they want to complete an application for a second student. They will indicate that they wish to complete a second application.
If the parent has already exited the application and then the other sibling decides they want to go to college, the parent will have to re-enter all of their information again.
Students need to complete a FAFSA every year they are in school. When they go in the second year they will be “renewing” their application and some information will populate for that student.
**For your sophomore and junior parents who may be starting to worry about college cost, encourage them to complete the FAFSA4caster. The FAFSA4csater will provide an estimate of eligibility for federal student aid.
Here is the link: https://fafsa.ed.gov/FAFSA/app/f4cForm?execution=e1s1
**Question:
This student just got married and is now in the process of completing the FAFSA. Since she was not married last year and her tax information reflects only her, does she have to include her spouse’s financial information or her parent’s financial information?
Answer:
Yes, if the student is married at the time she completes the FAFSA she will need to include her and her spouse’s tax information, assets and any exemptions. Because the couple was not married last year, they filed individual tax returns. Therefore, the student will not be able to use the IRS Data Retrieval tool. The IRS Data Retrieval tool is only available to those that file jointly. ( Parental tax information will not be needed since being married automatically makes this student independent.)
If the student had completed the FAFSA and then gotten married, she would have had to use the parent’s information for the current year.
**Question:
The father of this student passed away several years ago. The student lives with the mother and the mother’s boyfriend. Mother does not file taxes because she does not work. Will the student have to provide the boyfriend's information or just the mother’s information?
Answer:
The student will use her mother’s information. The boyfriend does not qualify as a parent. Since she does not work and does not file taxes, the application will probably be tagged for verification. office. In many cases, the student will be asked to provide information that documents how she and her mother lived without any income prior to financial aid being awarded.
**Question:
The parents do not file taxes. The mother does not work and the father is contract labor, but never files taxes. How do they complete the FAFSA?
Answer:
The first question they will encounter pertaining to their taxes is:
Have you completed a tax return? The answer will be “Will not file or I am not going to file”
It will then skip to the questions about income earned from work. They will need to report any income earned from work and then proceed answering any questions that apply.
**Question:
I was born in the U.S., however neither of my parents are legal residents/citizens. How do I complete the FAFSA?
Answer:
If you are a U.S. citizen, but your parents are not, you are eligible for federal financial aid. On the FAFSA you should enter 000-00-0000 in the parent Social Security number section. Including a fake, stolen, or SSN/TIN that is for work purposes only may cause your application to be rejected.
**Question:
If a student’s parents are not divorced but are living in separate homes and/or separate states, which parent’s income should be used to complete the FAFSA?
Answer:
Since the parents are not divorced but living separately, the student should report the income of the parent with whom they live with. However, there are times when parents consider themselves separated but continue to live in the same household due to finances. If that were the case, the student would report the income of both parents.
**Question:
If a student wants to go to cosmetology school, can she receive a Pell Grant and a federal student loan?
Answer:
A cosmetology school would be a postsecondary vocational institution and would be eligible for participating in the Title IV programs. There are a number of cosmetology schools in Arkansas that participate in the Title IV aid programs. Contact the school the student wishes to attend to see if they participate. In order to be Title IV eligible the school has to fall into one of these three categories:
Institution of higher education
Proprietary institution of higher education
Postsecondary vocational institution
**Question: What should be reported as wages earned on the FAFSA, if a student has only one parent who does not work and will not file an income tax return, but does receive Social Security benefits?
Answer: Enter “0” for wages earned. Social Security benefits are not reported on the FAFSA.
**When you begin the 2014-2015 school year what will be your grade level?
Answer: Even though the student may have attended college prior to graduation from high school and earned college credit the student should select “Never attended college and 1st year undergraduate”. For purposes of the FAFSA, the student is a first year college student
**Question: A student and her child live with the student’s grandmother, who claims her on her taxes. The student’s mother does not work and does not provide any support for the student. Does the student use her mother’s information on the FAFSA?
Answer: Yes. The student’s mother is the biological parent of the student and her information is needed on the application. If the student is married, then she would be independent; however in this case the student does not appear to be married. If the student provides more than ½ of the support for her child and will continue to do so throughout the award year, she would be considered an independent student. The financial aid office would require additional information to support her independent status.
**This question appears in the Student Demographic section on the FAFSA.
- When you begin the 2014-2015 school year, what degree or certificate program will you be working on?
1st bachelor’s degree
2nd bachelor’s degree
Associate degree (occupational or technical program)
Associate degree (general education or transfer program)
Certificate
Teaching credential (non-degree program)
Graduate or professional
Other/undecided
directly on the text and add your own words. Use this text
to go into more detail about your company. Make sure to include
information about how your company came to be.