A guide to help you complete your fafsa
Step 1:
If you are a dependent, you will need to gather this information for yourself, and your parents too.
Step 2:
Steps to Complete Your
FAFSA
Gather Information:
FSA ID:
You need a Federal Student Aid ID (which replaced the FAFSA PIN in May 2015) to sign and submit the FAFSA.
And if you’re a dependent student, your parent also needs a separate, unique FSA ID. Follow the instructions on the Federal Student Aid website to create a new FSA ID or to transfer the information from your FAFSA PIN to your new ID.
As an independent, you only need to report your own.
Step 3:
Sign in as New or Returning User:
If this is your first time completing the FAFSA, click the "start a new FAFSA" option.
If you’re a returning user, click the "login" button.
From here, you two options when signing in:
Enter your FSA ID:
Enter your Information:
or
1. Verified email address
2. FSA ID Password
1. Full name
2. Social Security Number
3. Birthday
I personally find this option better, because it is personal information and easier to remember (as opposed to another password to keep track of)
Step 4:
Fill in the Information:
This is the bulk of the process: complete the form!
If you are a new user: How you fill out the FAFSA will depend on your family situation. Married parents, non-traditional family, immigration status, and non-dependence on parent can be common situations that would change the way you fill out the FAFSA. For a comprehensive understanding on how to fill out your FAFSA based on your own circumstances, check out website
If you are a returning user: you have two options to complete this year's FAFSA.
or
1.
2.
Renewal:
Start New:
Will input information based on your previous FAFSA. Just be sure to check that the info is still accurate.
Manually input
your info.
My personal preference! So easy!
Regardless of how you complete the form..
1.You will be prompted, at some point, to create a save key. This will allow you to share the form with a parent, who will then use this save key to input their own information (because you are not allowed to share FSA ID information with one another!
2. Whether you are manually inputting information or reviewing renewed information automatically put in, continue to hit the "next" arrow to proceed to the next page.
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3. Remember: you can "save" and "exit" and come back again anytime.
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4. During the tax section: you may be able to use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool. If so, you will be prompted to log into their database to automatically retrieve financial information. If this option does not work for you, simply use your 2015 tax information to complete this section.
Step 5:
Sign & Submit!
You need to sign the FAFSA before it can be processed. Your FSA ID serves as your legal signature. You and your parent, if applicable, will need to type this here. Once completed, simply hit "submit".
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You will then be told that your FAFSA is being processed. Log out of the website, and expect a notification email alerting you of the processing.
Use the menu below to navigate the information on this page.
