Applying for Aid

In all probability you will need to fill out two forms in order to apply for financial aid. The first is the FAFSA, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Your guidance office will have copies of this form in December. The application booklet itself is very informative.

The FAFSA should be completed in January and sent in by the deadline date, even if you have to use estimated figures. If you are electronically inclined, you can submit the FAFSA electronically by downloading the FAFSA software. FAFSA has a toll free number, 800-433-3243.

Alternatively, you can complete the FAFSA online. Completion of FAFSA online requires that you use only those browsers supported for that purpose. The FAFSA site includes detailed information on browser requirements for completing the form online.

A few weeks after you have submitted the FAFSA, you will receive the SAR, Student Aid Report, in the mail. It will summarize the information you have submitted and give you an EFC, the estimated amount that you and your family will have to pay for college. The SAR will also tell you whether you are eligible for a Pell grant from the federal government. (The Pell program has recently been expanded.)

The second form you and your family may need to complete is the Profile, short for the Financial Aid Profile. This form is required by many of the private colleges and universities. It is longer and more complex than the FAFSA, so you have to start earlier. You need to apply for the Profile as you do the SAT, picking up your application at your high school guidance office, coding it for the colleges and universities and programs from which you seek financial assistance, enclosing the fee, and sending it in. The Profile requires information from both the previous tax year and the current tax year.

You should receive a response to your Profile in two to three weeks. The Profile is then sent to a clearing house called CSS, the College Scholarship Service, where formulas for parental and student income, assets, and unusual expenses are applied to your information. CSS also makes adjustments for taxes and living expenses and arrives at an EFC, estimated family contribution, that is sent to you and to the various colleges which you designated on your application form.

A useful web site with interesting information about financial aid is the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators web site.

What types of financial aid are there?