Take These Three Easy Steps to Receive Student Aid for College

If you're planning for college, completing and submitting your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (or FAFSA) is the initial in funding your post high school education. Still the top starting place for college funding, the Federal government pays out more than 80 billion dollars of student aid per annum in the form of grants, work-study programs or loans. To get your piece of the pie, you'll want to submit your FAFSA application as early as possible.

The FAFSA application process has an undeserved reputation as a being difficult to understand and hard to complete. This impression may have been fostered in part by third-party fee-for-service providers that have made a business of helping applicants complete the necessary forms. However, the application process is much easier than its reputation and the Federal government has extensive online help to guide you through the three-step process. Also, the government charges no fees of any kind. The FAFSA application is free to all.

You'll want to kick off Step One of the FAFSA application process by applying for and receiving your own personal identification number, or PIN. Your PIN makes it possible to apply for student aid online, a process the government has streamlined and made as easy as possible. Your PIN also makes it possible to sign your FAFSA application online and access and correct your Student Aid Report. The SAR is the report you'll receive once your FAFSA application has been processed. It contains important information about you financial need, which ultimately determines the amount of aid you may receive.

Get your PIN at pin.ed.gov before you move on to Step Two of the application process. In this step, you'll actually complete and file your FAFSA application at FAFSA on the Web, the popular name for the website maintained at fafsa.ed.gov. Filling out your application online at FAFSA on the Web is a good idea because there are detailed instructions for answering each question in the application. The online process also catches any potential mistakes you make and prompts you to correct them. Filing at FAFSA on the Web is also the fastest way to get into and through the Federal application process. Most FAFSA applications are processed within just a few days of their filing date.

Once you've filed your FAFSA application, expect to start Step Three, the final phase in the application process, in about three to five days if you filed your FAFSA application online, or in seven to ten days if you filed by mail. That's when you'll receive your SAR, or Student Air Report. The SAR contains your Expected Family Contribution, or EFC, which is the amount your family is estimated to be able to contribute to your college education. Your financial need is determined by subtracting the EFC from the cost of attendance at a particular college or university. Once you receive your SAR, review it for any errors and once it's complete, contact the financial aid office at the college or colleges you're considering. The financial aid office will let you know the type and amount of financial aid a particular college is willing to offer.

While not difficult to understand or complete, this three-step application process has more details than can be covered in a short article such as this. But the information provided here should pave the way for reviewing an easy-to-read, comprehensive government document that will shepherd you through the application process. Download the 60-page PDF document, entitled "Funding Education Beyond High School", from studentaid.ed.gov.