FAFSA

The financial aid you receive after filling out a FAFSA will go straight to your school first to cover your tuition, fees, and room and board if applicable. If there is an overage, then your school will either send you a check or they will direct deposit the money into your bank account.

EFC stands for Expected Family Contribution. The is an index number that college financial aid staff use to figure out how much financial aid you are eligible to receive if you go to their school. Your EFC is figured out after you report information about your specific situation on the FAFSA. It is based on a formula established by law. This formula considers your family's taxed and untaxed income, assets, benefits, family size, and number of family members attending college.

Your college figures out how much need-based aid you will receive by subtracting your EFC from your Cost of Attendance.

Your EFC is not how much financial aid you will receive, nor is it how much money you will have to pay for college.

The deadline to have applications for Federal Student Aid in the 2012-2013 school year is June 30, 2013. For the 2013-2014 school year, applications are due June 30, 2014.

People can check their FAFSA application online by going to the FAFSA website and entering their ID information. This will take them to their application status.

The best time to complete the FAFSA is in January-March of the year that you plan to start college. For the 2013-2014 school year, the best time to fill out the FAFSA would be before March 15. The FAFSA becomes available on January 1st of every year. Individual schools and states will have their own deadlines, but a good rule of thumb is to have it completed by March 15 in order to get the most benefits. You can still fill it out during the school year though.

After you complete your FAFSA you begin your TAP application by clicking on the link on your FAFSA Confirmation Page. When you start, you will be prompted to get a HescPIN. You will use your HescPIN to make changes, or check its status.

It usually takes about three to five days to process a FAFSA that was submitted online using FAFSA on the Web. A paper FAFSA is processed within about seven to ten days from the date it was mailed. If you provided an e-mail address on your FAFSA, you will receive an e-mail that includes a link to your Student Aid Report (SAR). If you did not provide an e-mail address, then you will receive a paper SAR through the mail. You can go online to FAFSA on the Web to see if your application was processed, even if you did not submit the application online. Colleges have access to your information one day after it is processed, but each college has its own process and timeframes for accessing FAFSA information. Check with your college's financial aid office to see if there are extra requirements for receiving financial aid.

A child can fill out their own FAFSA using their parents' information if they are still a dependent. They can fill out a FAFSA using their own information once they are an independent student. FAFSA dependency depends on several factors which are outlined in the document linked below.

The W-2 is a tax document that is used to report income. This helps FAFSA to figure out how much financial aid you are eligible to receive.

You can fill out the FAFSA for the Fall 2013 to Spring 2014 school year starting January 1, 2013. You can fill out the FAFSA for the Fall 2014 to Spring 2015 school year starting January 1, 2014.

EFC stands for Expected Family Contribution.

The is an index number that college financial aid staff use to figure out how much financial aid you are eligible to receive if you go to their school.

Your EFC is figured out after you report information about your specific situation on the FAFSA.

It is based on a formula established by law.

This formula considers your family’s taxed and untaxed income, assets, benefits, family size, and number of family members attending college.

Your college figures out how much need-based aid you will receive by subtracting your EFC from your Cost of Attendance.

Your EFC is not how much financial aid you will receive, nor is it how much money you will have to pay for college.

There are different deadlines for different programs. You can fill out the FAFSA until June 2014, but it is recommended to fill it out much sooner than that, preferably by March 2013 for the 2013-2014 school year. You will want to check school and state deadlines as well.

EFC stands for Expected Family Contribution. The is an index number that college financial aid staff use to figure out how much financial aid you are eligible to receive if you go to their school. Your EFC is figured out after you report information about your specific situation on the FAFSA. It is based on a formula established by law. This formula considers your family's taxed and untaxed income, assets, benefits, family size, and number of family members attending college.

Your college figures out how much need-based aid you will receive by subtracting your EFC from your Cost of Attendance.

Your EFC is not how much financial aid you will receive, nor is it how much money you will have to pay for college.

Yes, a FAFSA must be filled out for each individual student in a family.

EFC stands for Expected Family Contribution. The is an index number that college financial aid staff use to figure out how much financial aid you are eligible to receive if you go to their school. Your EFC is figured out after you report information about your specific situation on the FAFSA. It is based on a formula established by law. This formula considers your family's taxed and untaxed income, assets, benefits, family size, and number of family members attending college.

Your college figures out how much need-based aid you will receive by subtracting your EFC from your Cost of Attendance.

Your EFC is not how much financial aid you will receive, nor is it how much money you will have to pay for college.

EFC stands for Expected Family Contribution. The is an index number that college financial aid staff use to figure out how much financial aid you are eligible to receive if you go to their school. Your EFC is figured out after you report information about your specific situation on the FAFSA. It is based on a formula established by law. This formula considers your family's taxed and untaxed income, assets, benefits, family size, and number of family members attending college.

Your college figures out how much need-based aid you will receive by subtracting your EFC from your Cost of Attendance.

Your EFC is not how much financial aid you will receive, nor is it how much money you will have to pay for college.

EFC stands for Expected Family Contribution. The is an index number that college financial aid staff use to figure out how much financial aid you are eligible to receive if you go to their school. Your EFC is figured out after you report information about your specific situation on the FAFSA. It is based on a formula established by law. This formula considers your family's taxed and untaxed income, assets, benefits, family size, and number of family members attending college.

Your college figures out how much need-based aid you will receive by subtracting your EFC from your Cost of Attendance.

Your EFC is not how much financial aid you will receive, nor is it how much money you will have to pay for college.

Your best course of action would be to speak to a financial aid counselor at your school. They can help you figure out what to do, make any changes, and help you figure out your dependency status for your particular situation.

You are eligible to fill out a FAFSA no matter what is in your bank account. The FAFSA is a free application for aid from the government to be used for higher education. The application asks for various points of financial information about a student (and parents) to determine how high the Estimated Family Contribution (EFC) will be. The government uses a formula to see how this EFC will interact with the coast of attending school and may offer grants or loans to help the student come up with money to pay for school.

EFC stands for Expected Family Contribution. The is an index number that college financial aid staff use to figure out how much financial aid you are eligible to receive if you go to their school. Your EFC is figured out after you report information about your specific situation on the FAFSA. It is based on a formula established by law. This formula considers your family's taxed and untaxed income, assets, benefits, family size, and number of family members attending college.

Your college figures out how much need-based aid you will receive by subtracting your EFC from your Cost of Attendance.

Your EFC is not how much financial aid you will receive, nor is it how much money you will have to pay for college.

EFC stands for Expected Family Contribution. The is an index number that college financial aid staff use to figure out how much financial aid you are eligible to receive if you go to their school. Your EFC is figured out after you report information about your specific situation on the FAFSA. It is based on a formula established by law. This formula considers your family's taxed and untaxed income, assets, benefits, family size, and number of family members attending college.

Your college figures out how much need-based aid you will receive by subtracting your EFC from your Cost of Attendance.

Your EFC is not how much financial aid you will receive, nor is it how much money you will have to pay for college.

If you are a dependent for financial aid purposes and need to report your parents' information, and your parents are separated, you would answer the questions using the information for the parent you have lived with more in the past 12 months.

EFC stands for Expected Family Contribution. The is an index number that college financial aid staff use to figure out how much financial aid you are eligible to receive if you go to their school. Your EFC is figured out after you report information about your specific situation on the FAFSA. It is based on a formula established by law. This formula considers your family's taxed and untaxed income, assets, benefits, family size, and number of family members attending college.

Your college figures out how much need-based aid you will receive by subtracting your EFC from your Cost of Attendance.

Your EFC is not how much financial aid you will receive, nor is it how much money you will have to pay for college.

You only need to pay back a Pell grant if you receive incorrect funding or if you withdraw from school. If you have withdrawn from school because you are fully disabled, your best course of action would be to speak to a financial aid counselor at your school or by calling a federal financial aid counselor.

If the loans you are eligible for after filling out a FAFSA are not enough to cover the entire cost of your college education, there are other ways that you can save on college costs:

1. If your financial aid situation has changed since you filled out the FAFSA, discuss your situation with the financial aid office.

2. Look into scholarships.

3. Take AP classes and/or the AP tests so you have the opportunity to get college credit for beginning college courses.

4. Start at a community college. See if you can take concurrent classes while in high school (you may be able to go to community college instead of taking upper level high school classes), take courses during the summer, or spend your first year there. Just make sure that the credits will transfer into the college you would like to finish at. You can get financial aid for community college too.

5. Go to school in state and close enough so that you can live at home.

6. Start pricing schools now so you can figure out how much you will need to save.

7. Start earning and saving money by working, even if it is just walking dogs or babysitting.

8. Save money on textbooks by buying them used, buying them online used, renting them, or selling them back each semester.

9. Take advantage of the services your college offers. You may get a savings on public transportation, be able to use the computer lab for free or a small fee, use the rec center, get physical and mental health coverage or services for free or low cost, find a meal plan that works for you, and other services. If you will not be using these services though, find out how many of the fees you can opt out of.

10. Talk to your high school guidance counselor or advisor, a school librarian or local librarian, and also a financial aid representative at the school you would like to attend. These people will help you come up with new ways to search for financial aid.

11. Once you know what school you would like to attend, look into their scholarships, work study, and residence programs.

12. Take out private loans as a last resort. If you absolutely need to get loans, get federal subsidized loans so you don't have to pay interest during school, can start paying the loans back after six months after being out of school, and have a low interest rate. Unsubsidized loans mean you need to pay interest while in school (which is still low, but can be a pain). Private loans from banks will usually have much higher interest rates.

13. Plan to take a few semesters off during college.

14. If you do go to school out of state, you may need to pay out of state tuition for the first year or so, but look into residency requirements because you may qualify as a resident after a year or two. Also look into any schools that may offer in state tuition to people in your state. Some states close by may do this if they are tiny enough.