3. FAFSA

Perhaps the most important single determiner of your Financial Need for college financial aid is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, which is always referred to as the FAFSA. The good news about the FAFSA is that it's free; it is also available at http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/, and you file online. That's about all the good news about the FAFSA!

The other news is the FAFSA consists of a form provided by the U.S. federal government's Department of Education to help colleges determine how much a student (and his/her family) can afford to pay per year. A federal formula is used to crunch the numbers you enter. Figures are based on your federal income-tax return for the preceding year.

Section 483 of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, requires the U.S. Secretary of Education to "produce, distribute and process free of charge a common financial form to be used to determine the need and elibibility of a student." The FAFSA is that form.

To fill out the FAFSA, the student and parent will need all of the following:

a. Student Social Security card (Contact http://www.sss.gov/ to get one.);

b. Mother's Social Security card (Contact http://www.sss.gov/ to get one.);

c. Father's Social Security card (Contact http://www.sss.gov/ to get one.);

d. Student Driver's License Number;

e. Student and parents' 2009 Federal Income Tax Return (IRS Form 1040, 1040 EZ, or 1040 A); and

f. Student and parents' records of untaxed income received in 2009, such as social security benefits, welfare, AFDC benefits, worker's compensation benefits, etc.

The FAFSA contains questions divided into four sections:

SECTION 1--STUDENT INFORMATION: Areas include Student Citizenship Status, Marital Status, Selective Service Registration, Student Aid Eligibility Drug Convictions, Highest school your father completed, and Highest school your mother completed. When a student is online, they can add up to 10 colleges on their FAFSA; these colleges will receive the information from their processed FAFSA. A student is generally able to fill out these items.

SECTION 2--STUDENT DEPENDENCY STATUS: 13 questions are asked; if a student checks (i.e., answers "yes" to) any box (question), he/she will not have to provide parental information: they will be considered "independent" by the FAFSA. If a students checks none of the boxes, they will need to provide parental information in the next section--because they are considered "dependent" by the FAFSA. Note: most students are regarded as "dependent."

SECTION 3--PARENT INFORMATION: (Relates to the parents' income and assets.) Areas include parents' 2009 income tax return, adjusted gross income, other income, additional financial information, and untaxed income.

SECTION 4--STUDENT INFORMATION: (Relates to the student's income and assets.) Areas include student's 2009 income tax return, adjusted gross income, other income, additional financial information, and untaxed income.

Among the most important questions dealing with a student's (and, if married, their spouse's) ability to pay for college are the following:

· In addition to grants, are you interested in student loans (which you must pay back)? Answer "Yes," since you can always decline them later.

· In addition to grants, are you interested in "work-study" (which you earn through work)? Again, answer "Yes," since you can always decline to work later.

· What was your (and spouse's) adjusted gross income for 2009?

· Enter the total amount of your (and spouse's) income tax for 2009.

· How much did you (and spouse) earn from working (wages, salaries, tips, etc.) in 2009?

Among the most important questions asked regarding the student's parents' financial ability to pay are the following:

· What was your parents' adjusted gross income for 2009?

· Enter the total amount of your parents' income tax for 2009.

· How much did your parents earn from working (wages, salaries, tips, etc.) in 2009?

The form requires a student to certify that they understand that "the Secretary of Education has the authority to verify information reported on this application with the Internal Revenue Service and other federal agencies." It also states the penalty for not telling the truth: "If you purposely give false or misleading information, you may be fined $20,000, sent to prison, or both." And you just wanted college financial aid!

The FAFSA is made available after January 1 each year; you should try to submit it by February 1 for priority consideration for financial aid. But to do that, you need to have your income-tax return completed for the previous 12-month period. Thus, you are very busy with the FAFSA during the month of January!

As if filling out and filing the FAFSA isn't taxing enough, some colleges and universities also require students to complete a PROFILE, the financial aid application of the College Board, for non-federal aid. Like the FAFSA, you can complete the PROFILE online (http://profileonline.collegeboard.com/index.jsp).