Ask: Financial aid officeReading your aid offer
Course 2 · 6 lessons · 18 min to read
FreeStart lesson 1
The FAFSA, start to finish
Set up your account, fill in every screen of the form and read what comes back, in the order you meet each step.
- 6 lessons, about 18 minutesRead them in order, or jump to the one you need
- Steps to try after every lessonShort actions for the week ahead
- Who to ask: Financial aid officeDecides your aid package and reads your FAFSA.
- Free, with no sign-inNothing to buy and no account to make
About this course
The FAFSA is the form that opens the door to federal grants, work-study and loans, and most states and colleges read it too. This course takes it one stage at a time: why it matters, the account each person needs, who the form treats as your family, the questions screen by screen, and the summary that arrives afterwards.
It finishes with verification and corrections, because a request for documents is a normal part of the process and is easier to answer when you know it might come.
Syllabus
- 6 lessons3 to 3 min each
- 24 steps to trySpread across the lessons
- About 18 min in allAt an easy reading pace
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- One form read by many offices
- The calendar behind the form
- Why last year's taxes are enough
- A new form every year
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- One login for each person
- What to have ready
- Keeping the account yours
- Inviting your contributors
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- A handful of questions set your status
- Which parent the form means
- When parent information is out of reach
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- Your part comes first
- Tax data and the money questions
- Choosing schools and handing off
- Saving and coming back
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- When the summary arrives
- The Student Aid Index
- Reading your answers back
- Comments and flags
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- If your form is selected for verification
- Correcting your own answers
- Changes the form cannot capture
- What to do next
What the course covers
By the end you can
- Create the accounts the form needs before you start
- Work out whose information the form asks for
- Answer each section without guessing
- Read your Student Aid Index and fix a mistake
Not part of it
- Filling in the form for you
- A prediction of the aid you will be offered
- Advice about your own tax return
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