How to get Free Money for College with FAFSA

One of the first steps to filling out the FAFSA is to create a Federal Student Aid ID.  By creating your own FSA ID, you will be able to gain access to the Federal Student Aid’s online system. This system will allow you to not only apply for aid but will also allow you to use your legal signature for applications. You will be able to use this ID over the next few years as you continue to apply for financial aid as well as a means of looking at student loans and repayment options after you graduate. In the event that you’re a dependent student, you will want to have either your parent or guardian make their own FSA ID.

This should be a quick process. Simply follow the on-screen instructions and you will be ready to complete the form in no time. Create your FSA ID here.

Getting the required documents ready before applying for FAFSA will save you both time and headaches. Here is a list of the items that you will likely need to have in order to complete the FAFSA form.

If you are a U.S. citizen and dependent student:

• Your Social Security Card
• Your driver’s license (if any)
• Your 2017 W-2 forms
• Your 2017 Federal Income Tax Return
• Your 2017 untaxed income records
• Your current bank statements
• Your parents’ Federal Income Tax Return
• Your parents’ 2017 W-2 forms
• Your parents’ bank statements
• Your parents’ untaxed income records
• Your parents’ current business and investment records

If you are a U.S. citizen and independent student:

• Your Social Security Card
• Your driver’s license (if any)
• Your 2017 W-2 forms
• Your 2017 Federal Income Tax Return
• Your 2017 untaxed income records
• Your current bank statements

If you are not a U.S. citizen and dependent student:

• Your driver’s license (if any)
• Your 2017 W-2 forms
• Your 2017 Federal Income Tax Return
• Your 2017 untaxed income records
• Your current bank statements
• Your parents’ Federal Income Tax Return
• Your parents’ 2017 W-2 forms
• Your parents’ bank statements
• Your parents’ untaxed income records
• Your parents’ current business and investment records

If you are not a U.S. citizen and independent student:

• Your driver’s license (if any)
• Your 2017 W-2 forms
• Your 2017 Federal Income Tax Return
• Your 2017 untaxed income records
• Your current bank statements

One of the most important sections to fill out is the section involving your family circumstances. Below we will break down a few of the different options that you can choose from. We understand that each situation is completely different and there is no one size fits all solution for all family situations.

Family Structure (dependent students) For a full breakdown of what this status means, please head over to the FAFSA website.

Dependent Students:

• My parents are married
  • In the event that your parents are married, you will want to submit their financial information to FAFSA for both of them. In the event that your parents refuse to submit FAFSA information or are not willing to pay for college, you will not be able to be considered an independent of your parents. You will also be required to submit their information in order to be considered for FAFSA. Another thing to note is that it is extremely rare to be granted a dependency override. In certain situations such as neglect, abuse, incarceration or other instances this may be granted.

• My parents are divorced
  • Through FAFSA, divorced parents are treated differently than married parents. If you fall into this category, you will want to list the financial information for the person you have lived with for the majority of the last 12 months (1 year). This is typically referred to in the application as the “custodial parent”. In the event that your custodial parent is remarried as of the time you are ready to fill out your application, you will want to include the stepparent’s financial information also.

• My parents were never married
  • Parents who were never married are treated very similarly to parents who are divorced. Again as noted previously, one of the parents is referred to as the “custodial parent”. This is the parent that will be listed on the FAFSA application. You also must have lived with this parent for the past 12 months.
  • Among this, if the custodial parent is receiving any type of compensation for assisted living such as child support or alimony, you will need to include this within the FAFSA application as a source of income.
  • Finally, in the event that your parents were never married but live together, you will need to put information regarding both parents on the application.

• I live with a legal guardian or foster parents
  • For many nontraditional parents, you may find that FAFSA is a really challenging space to navigate. FAFSA does not consider legal guardians or foster parents as ‘parents’ in their system. Since this is the case you will not have to list any income or other financial information regarding them.
  • In the event that your legal guardian or foster parents did not legally adopt you, they will not be considered your parents according to FAFSA. If they did legally adopt you, FAFSA considered them your parents and you will need to include all of their financial information.
  • In very unique situations, you may be able to be considered an independent student. This would include but not be limited to the following:
    • Your parents are deceased
    • You have been emancipated
    • You were a ward of the court after the age of 13
  • FAFSA deems you as an independent student in the event that you live with either foster parents or legal guardians. You will want to include any support that you receive from your guardians as this will be considered when applying for FAFSA. You will generally find this information on the worksheet B when filling out the FAFSA application.

• My parents are same-sex partners
  • In June of 2013, the Defense of Marriage Act, also commonly referred to as the (DOMA) was ruled unconstitutional in June 2013. With this ruling, this gave same-sex couples the opportunity to participate in federal government programs. As an example, this gave them access to programs like Medicaid, financial aid for college and more. Until that time, LGBT families were not previously recognized on the FAFSA application. Students during that time may have been required to fill out the application as divorced, and only listing the income of one of the parents. This was the same situation for parents who were same-sex partners. Up until recently, they were not recognized by the federal government. This has since changed. In the event that your parents are same-sex and married, you will list the contributions and income for both of your parents.

• One of my parents has passed away
  • As we have stated previously, the FAFSA application can be challenging for people who are considered to be non-traditional families. One of these cases will be for deceased parents. In the event that you have a parent who has passed away and you are applying to some universities, they may require that you provide them with a death certificate or other proof that your parent is no longer alive. This application process may be emotionally difficult for students still grieving or going through the grieving process.
  • You will not need to report your deceased parent’s income when applying for FAFSA.

Family Structure (for independent students)

• I am legally emancipated
  • As stated in other sections regarding parental status, for non-traditional families it may be a little harder to navigate FAFSA. In the event that you were emancipated as a minor per the court, you will not have to submit or include your parent’s financial information.
  • Any support received from other friends or relatives will need to be submitted on the application.

• I have no contact with one or either of my parents
  • As we have highlighted throughout these notes, it can be very difficult for students who are in very non-traditional families. In the event that you are not able to find your legal guardians, or in cases where the legal guardian has been abusive, neglectful, absent, incarcerated or other cases, you will need to have a judge look over and grand a dependency. This can be requested by the universities and the judge must determine if you qualify for a dependency override.
  • In this case, you may need to fill out a dependency override. This generally consists of a pretty lengthy process that will vary depending on which university you are looking to attend. As a side note, most of these universities will require written evidence explaining the situation. You will need to provide evidence which can consist of the following; law enforcement documents, explanatory letters via counselors, clergy members, social workers, or other information that is relevant to showcasing your current circumstances.

• I don’t know the whereabouts of both or either of my parents
  • Similar to the section “I have no contact with one or either of my parents”, the same rules apply. As stated initially, it will be more difficult for students who are in a non-traditional family as classified by FAFSA. In this case, you will also need to apply for a dependency override and you must provide evidence such as; law enforcement documents, explanatory letters via counselors, clergy members, social workers, or other information that is relevant to showcasing your current circumstances.

• I have an abusive or neglectful parent(s)
  • Similar to the above two sections, you will have a more difficult time being classified through FAFSA as you fall under the non-traditional family. You will again need to apply for a dependency override. This lengthy process will vary depending on the universities that you are looking at applying at. With this in mind, you will need to provide evidence such as; law enforcement documents, explanatory letters via counselors, clergy members, social workers, or other information that is relevant to showcasing your current circumstances.

• One or both of my legal guardians are incarcerated or institutionalized
  • As we have discussed previously, it may be more difficult to fill out your FAFSA form as you are considered a non-traditional family. With this in mind, you will need to apply for a dependency override. This is done differently across all of the schools so you will want to keep this in mind prior to applying. In general, each university has a different process so you will want to check with the university you are looking at attending to see if they require additional documentation outside the following: law enforcement documents, explanatory letters via counselors, clergy members, social workers, or other information that is relevant to showcasing your current circumstances.

Immigration Status:

• Undocumented immigrant
  • In the case that you are an undocumented immigrant, you are unfortunately ineligible for federal funds. You may be able to get federal aid from your university, however. In some stated, you may be able to obtain in-state tuition, and in some cases, you may be able to qualify for some private scholarships. Some schools do offer aid aimed specifically for undocumented immigrants. A good example of this is Berkeley who offers up to $1 million in a scholarship fund towards undocumented immigrants.
  • One thing to note is that there is typically state restrictions. Some states have specific laws in place to qualify undocumented immigrants: Texas, California, New York, Illinois, Utah, Nebraska, Washington, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Kansas, and Maryland (only for community colleges) have state laws allowing undocumented immigrants who have attended 3+ years of high school in the state to qualify for in-state tuition. There are many additional states that offer similar perks, however, the best thing to do is ask your university to see if you qualify.

• U.S Citizen, but my parents are undocumented immigrants
  • Per U.S. guidelines, all U.S. citizens are eligible for federal financial aid, regardless of your immediate parent’s immigration status. In the event that you are a citizen but your parents are undocumented immigrants, you will want to fill out the FAFSA application and include their financial information and data.
  • You will want to make sure that you use a real social security number otherwise your application will be rejected. Finally, in the event that your parent or legal guardian does not have a social security number, you should use the following number when filling out their application: 000-00-0000.

A great way to speed up the FAFSA application process is to use a tool created by the IRS that allows for you to move the previous year’s tax information into your FAFSA application. With this tool, you can retrieve all prior tax information (for the years of 2016 – 2017) and add it to your FAFSA application to avoid mistakes. In the application process you should see a section that requires financial information, once you are on that page you will want to click on the “Link to IRS” tab. This should prefill out all of the financial information pertaining to your previous year’s taxes.

When filling out the FAFSA form you will be asked to select up to 10 schools that you desire to go to. Each school through this program has a different code associated with it. Luckily, the team at FAFSA has set up a great tool that allows you to find the codes for your desired school. You can look up your school’s code here through the Federal Student Aid website. One thing to note is that if you are applying via the paper application, you are limited to just four total school codes.

Please note that if you did not decide where you wanted to apply by the October 1st deadline, you will want to make a list of all the schools you would like to apply to and submit those to FAFSA as quickly as possible. In the event that you change your mind or want to drop a school, you can easily update your profile within FAFSA to remove or add additional schools. Every school that you list as interested will receive all of your FAFSA information in regards to receiving financial aid.