The "Free Application for Federal Student Aid" is a form completed by coming in and current college students used to determine their eligibility for student financial aid. To find out your year's deadline, check this link (The sooner you apply, the more money you can potentially get!)
What do I need before I apply?
Some people will need more information than others but you will need:
Your Social Security Card/Number
You and/or your Parents W2's and any tax documents (Most people will only need their parents W2)
When going through the application process, you will most likely be able to directly transfer you and or your parent's tax documents directly from the IRS into your application.
Your Alien Registration Card (If Applicable)
Bank Statements/Investment Record (Most likely not Applicable)
Records of Untaxed Income (Most likely not Applicable)
A FASFA ID (Which we'll get to)
To put it simply, you will need your Social number and any tax documents you or your parents will have from 2 years prior (if you were filing for the 2020-21 FASFA, you would need your 2018 income and tax documents). While going through your application, it will ask you which colleges to send your FASFA form to. If there are any colleges you thinking about attending, do add them (it will make your life easier).
Creating a FASFA ID
To create an account, you'll want to go to this link and click "Get Started". From here you will enter in all the info that it asks and you will create a FASFA ID. Your parent(s) will also need to make a FASFA ID (If your parents are together and filed taxes together then either of the two can make an ID, if your parents are separated with joint custody then you will want the parent you have spent the most time living with in the past 12 months to create an ID). Once you and your parent(s) have an ID, you can log in to your account here.
Useful Videos
Actually filing your FASFA will differ for everyone, but this should give you a good idea of what to expect, what you'll need, and where to go to apply for FASFA! Once you've filed, you should get an email and or text message saying when your application is complete. To get an idea of what you'll be getting back, you are looking for your EFC number (you can find this by logging into your account and clicking on the link that says "View or Print your Student Aid Report (SAR)". It should be at the top of the page): the closer this number is to 0, the more money you will receive (anything higher than 5273 will receive no financial aid).
A "College Scholarship Service" Profile is an online application that allows college students to apply for non-federal financial aid. This is something that very few colleges ask for but is required by some.
What schools require a CSS Profile?
The North Carolina universities that require a CSS Profile are:
Davidson College
Duke University
Elon University
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Wake Forest
Creating a CSS Profile
To create a CSS you will need a CollegeBoard Account. If you've signed up for any AP classes, you most likely already have one; if you have not here is a link to create one. Once you have an account, you go to the CSS profile page on the CollegeBoard website and sign in. After that, you will begin a new profile for the academic year you are pursuing. This page is somewhat outdated but this page should help you with any issue you might have with creating a profile.
You should be all set! You've applied for the FASFA and have created your CSS profile if you needed one. The next big step in getting prepared in college is to look into some scholarships, many are easy to apply and aren't based on academics!