The Free Application for Federal Student Aid is a free online application you fill out to qualify for federal financial aid. Many states and colleges also use the FAFSA to grant state and institutional financial aid.

You submit the FAFSA online on the Federal Student Aid website. You’ll need to create an FSA ID, as well as your parents if you’re a dependent student. The application only takes 20-30 minutes to fill out and submit.

After you submit the FAFSA, the government will look at your information and use it to calculate your Expected Family Contribution (EFC). Your EFC is how much you and your family are expected to pay for your education.

Once your EFC is determined, it’s up to your college to put together your financial aid package. Your college’s financial aid office determines need-based aid by subtracting your EFC from its total cost of attendance. This aid could be in the form of federal grants, direct subsidized loans or work-study opportunities.

You always complete the FAFSA for the year you will be in college. This means that students in the Class of 2022 will complete the 2022-2023 FAFSA.

You will need to submit the FAFSA every year to remain eligible for federal student aid. After filling it out the first time, you can submit a renewal FAFSA in subsequent years. The website will automatically fill in most of your information from the previous year.

In short: completing the FAFSA means paying less for college! The FAFSA is the door to financial aid, both from the government and from the college/university. Most scholarships require FAFSA completion, and many schools do not award financial aid packages until the FAFSA is submitted.

The FAFSA application opens on October 1 and closes more than a year and a half later on June 30. For the 2020-2021 school year, for example, you can apply for the FAFSA between Oct. 1, 2020 and June 30, 2022.

Some colleges and states, however, set earlier deadlines for financial aid. Check with your college to see if it sets its own FAFSA deadline. Since some financial aid is distributed on a first-come, first-served basis, it’s a good idea to submit the FAFSA as close to October 1 as possible.

Plus, many regular decision colleges want to hear your attendance decision by May 1. By filling out the FAFSA early, you’ll be able to compare financial aid packages from multiple colleges. Then, you’ll be able to better decide on a school.

Once your application is processed, you will receive a copy of your Student Aid Report (SAR), which summarizes the information you provided on your FAFSA. Review your SAR and make sure all of the information is complete and accurate.

If there is any missing or incorrect information, then you should complete or correct your FAFSA as soon as possible.

Your SAR will include your Expected Family Contribution (EFC). The EFC determines your eligibility for a Federal Pell Grant, and the college uses the EFC to assess your eligibility for other federal and nonfederal student aid.

Once your FAFSA is processed by Federal Student Aid, your SAR is sent to the colleges that you listed on your FAFSA. Each college will use the information on your SAR to determine your eligibility for federal and nonfederal student aid. The colleges you listed are responsible for creating your award package and disbursing your financial aid.

You should contact the financial aid office at the college you plan to attend to find out if there are additional requirements for receiving financial aid and to learn more about the process of applying for aid at that college.

• FAFSA = Free Application for Federal Student Aid

  • Free and secure form completed by current and prospective college students in the United States to determine their eligibility for student financial aid.

• SAR = Student Aid Report

  • Paper or electronic document that gives you some basic information about your eligibility for federal student aid and lists your answers to the questions on your FAFSA.

  • You can view your SAR 1-3 days after completing your FAFSA by logging into your FAFSA account

• EFC = Expected Family Contribution

  • A number that college financial aid staff use to determine how much financial aid you would receive if you were to attend their school. The information you report on your FAFSA, including specific tax information and family income, is used to calculate your EFC.

  • In other words - the lower your EFC, the more amount of financial aid you are eligible to receive.

• Dependent vs. Independent

  • If you're a dependent student, you will report your and your parents' information on the FAFSA. If you're an independent student, you will only report your own information.

  • Common situations that classify students as independent:

    • legal adoption by someone other than a biological parent (ex: Grandparent, Aunt, non-relative, etc.)

    • You have (or will have) a child in the next year

    • You have been in foster care at some point before turning 18

    • You have been or are currently homeless

• Pell Grant

  • Federal Pell Grants, the largest source of federally funded grants, are awarded solely based on your financial need (academic grades and extra-curricular activities aren’t a factor). The pell grant, like all grants, does NOT NEED to be paid back. It is free money.

  • You must meet general federal student aid eligibility requirements to be eligible to receive a Pell Grant.

  • The maximum Pell Grant award for the 2019-2020 academic year is $6,195. The amount usually rises by $100-$200 every year.

  • You must complete the FAFSA to receive the pell grant. You can apply the pell grant to the cost of tuition at any school you attend. It fully covers the cost of tuition at Columbus State.

  • The majority of Beechcroft students are eligible are receive the pell grant.

The FSA ID is the username and password that is used to create and submit the FAFSA. Both the student and a parent will need to create an FSA ID, unless the parent already has one from their own FAFSA or an older sibling.

STUDENTS: We strongly recommend using the following FSA ID...

Username: [your student number]

Password: Beechcroft123

Whatever your choose, make sure you write it down! Once created you cannot make another FSA ID, and the process to retrieve a forgotten username or password can be time-consuming.

The FAFSA Verification process may occur after you submit your FAFSA.

Verification is the process your school uses to confirm that the data reported on your FAFSA form is accurate. If you're selected for verification, your school will request additional documentation that supports the information you reported.

If selected for verification, each school where you have been accepted will send you their own instructions to complete verification. YOU WILL NOT RECEIVE FINANCIAL AID FROM THAT SCHOOL IF YOU DO NOT COMPLETE THE VERIFICATION PROCESS!

There are two main ways to tell if you've been selected for FAFSA verification:

1. Finding the * on your Student Aid Report (SAR). At the top of your student aid report you may see a * next to your EFC. This indicates that you have been selected and schools may contact you to request more information. See the picture below.

2. Check your email! This is the #1 schools will contact you. Make sure you are reading every email from a school carefully, especially after you've been accepted.