Filing Your FAFSA Application: Conquering The FAFSA Application

You should file your Free Application For Student Aid application as early as possible: Conquering the FAFSA applicationYour FAFSA application is the best and only way for you to get federal money for college expenses. This application will qualify you for five different types offederal programs. You will need to file your FAFSA application as early as possible after the first of January. I havealways stressed to my students to file their FAFSA application no later than the 15th of February of their senior year. Before you file your FAFSA, you and your parents will need to create a FSA ID. Both you and your parents will also need to file your income taxes prior to completing your FAFSA application. If you have to file your FAFSA application before you have your taxes done, you can use your last paycheck stub of the year with last year's taxes to file an estimated FAFSA application. You can update your income information on the application once your taxes have been done.Once you have filed your completed FAFSA application, it will be processed and you will receive a Student Aid Report (SAR), which will have your potential Expected Family Contribution (EFC). Your EFC is what the institutions will expect you and your parents to come up with to pay for your education.Whether you think you qualify for financial aid or not, you should file the application because in most cases the institutions will need your financial information before they will give you their money. All colleges and universities will require the FAFSA application if you are looking for financial aid.Do you have to file the CSS Profile financial aid application?Most of the students will not have to file the CSS Profile application because only a small group of colleges and universities require the CSS Profile. These schools that require the CSS Profile are a small group of private colleges and universities that want more information on you and your parents before they will give you institutional money. These institutions that require the CSS Profile application tend to be more generous with their financial aid packages. Even though, these institutions will dig deeper into your financial status, they will for the most part lower your Expected Family Contribution (EFC) that you will receive from the FAFSA application. You will not receive an EFC from the CSS Profile. You can file your CSS Profile application after the first of October of your senior year. This application is fornon-federal financial aid.Remember to file any other financial aid applications that are required by the institutions that you have applied to: conquering financial aid applicationsEvery institution will have their financial aid formsthat you will need to file. These applications tend to be short and generic but you have to fill them out. This financial aid application is usually part of the admissions application package.The schools with the best financial aid packages in the country can be found at the US NEWS/Education website and some of these schools are very selective. There are schools out there for everyone who wants to pursue an education.For more information, visit my website for information that will save you time and money.http://www.collegeadmissionsandfinancialaid.comcopy and paste if the link is not alive.Leonel DaRosa, M. Ed.Guidance CounselorArticle Source:http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Leo_DaRosa/1732261