The FAFSA stands at the starting line of your educational financial plan. It is the form you must complete before you can apply for federal (U.S. government) financial aid from almost any two or four-year college in the country and most accredited certification programs. While the FAFSA is specifically intended to determine your eligibility for federal financial aid, most colleges will also use the FAFSA to determine your eligibility for other financial aid awards. In that way, the FAFSA becomes a kind of universal gateway to financial aid.
You and your parents will complete a FAFSA for every year that you attend college if you want to access federal aid. The information you provide will include things like your income, your tax filing status, the number of people in your household, the number of people in your family attending college at that time, and other financial details.
Whether or not your parents are willing or able to pay any part of your postsecondary education, they must still submit a FAFSA if you want to have access to financial aid. The federal financial aid formula considers your parents in your financial aid award until you are 24 years old. This requirement may be waived based under some special circumstances.
