When your parents never applied for college aid themselves, the FAFSA can look to them like a stranger's paperwork. This article helps you plan the session, explain each step in plain words and answer the worries parents often raise.
Before you sit down together
Each person who gives information on the form needs a separate StudentAid.gov account, and that includes a parent. Set up your own account first, then help your parent make theirs with their own email address. A parent without a Social Security number can still take part, and studentaid.gov describes the extra step that confirms their identity.
Pick an evening when nobody is rushed. Ask your parent to bring the tax return from two years before the school year the aid is for, along with any W-2 forms from that year. The form uses that earlier year because it can pull tax data straight from the IRS.
Explaining the parts that worry parents
Many parents hesitate at the consent step, where they agree to let the IRS share tax data with the form. Explain that the consent is required, even from a parent who did not file taxes. Without it, the application cannot produce a Student Aid Index.
Some parents fear that the form is a loan agreement or commits them to paying. Filling in the FAFSA signs nobody up for a loan, and the parent's signature confirms only that the information is true. Any loan is offered later and has to be accepted separately.
The form is available in Spanish, and the Federal Student Aid Information Center answers questions by phone in English and Spanish. A parent who reads more easily in Spanish can switch languages on studentaid.gov.
Filling in the FAFSA signs nobody up for a loan, and the parent's signature confirms only that the information is true.
Which parent fills in the form
If your parents live together, both of them go on the form, whether or not they are married. If they are divorced or separated, the parent who gave you more financial support over the last 12 months takes part, and a stepparent married to that parent is included too.
Homes where a grandparent, aunt or other relative raises the student often get stuck at this point. A relative who is not your legal or adoptive parent does not fill in the parent section, even when they support you. Call your school's financial aid office before you submit if this describes your family.
After you submit
Results arrive as the FAFSA Submission Summary. Read it with your parent and check names, birth dates and tax entries for typing mistakes. The schools you listed receive the same information and build their aid offers from it.
A school may select your form for verification and ask for documents. The request is routine, so send what the aid office asks for by its deadline. Nobody should ever charge your family a fee to file the FAFSA or to correct it.
Steps to take
- Make your own StudentAid.gov account
- Help your parent create a separate account
- Find the tax return from two years back
- Set a quiet evening to fill in the form together
Who decides
Your school's financial aid office or the Federal Student Aid Information Center
A parent who did not file taxes still has to give consent on the FAFSA.