Michelle answers:

Even if you have not completed your 2012 taxes… You would use your 2012 income & put estimates in

then you will go back in & correct your FAFSA when you have completed your 2012 taxes

Michelle answers:

If you can afford it then you can pay for it yourself. It is not required that you complete the FAFSA. Some schools will not consider you for certain scholarships unless you have completed a FAFSA and most students that earn scholarships get them through the university they are attending.
Fastweb lists a lot of scholarships but you will find that you are eligible for very few of them and most of them are for small amounts. This does add up but unless you already have a lot of money saved up it’s unlikely you’ll be able to fund your entire education on scholarships found through fastweb.

Michelle answers:

FAFSA. Free application for federal student aid.http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/

What is federal student aid: It includes grants, work study and loans. Filling out the FAFSA you are applying for all the federal aid listed on this page, plus others certain states and colleges have individually: http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/what010.htm

When FAFSA? Jan 1 of the year you will need it.You have the option on the FAFSA to do an estimate FAFSA using the previous years taxes and send it through. Then ASAP when you can you do the taxes for that year and go on the FAFSA home page under #3 where it says make corrections and put in the actual tax information. For example, my daughter was attending Fall 2010. On Jan 1 we did the FAFSA as an estimate using our 2008 taxes, then as soon as we got or W2s and did our taxes for 2009 we made the corrections on the FAFSA. Why file an estimate: Because colleges are all given so much grant/work study money and its given to students first come, first serve, even if you qualify if you file later, it may be gone. So file early!

How much do you get: Federal aid is offered given to students based on their financial need. Your financial need is determined based on the questions you are asked on the FAFSA which will be about income, amount in banks, property owned, stocks and the like, as well as questions about your current home situation, how many, how many in college at the same time etc. These questions will determine your financial need. They use all the info to determine your EFC, estimated family contribution which is the amount of money your family is expected to pay for your college because they can afford that based on your financial picture. This EFC amount is subtracted from the cost of the attendance (also called school budget) and the result of this is your financial need. COA/student budget is tuition, books, travel personal expenses, housing, fees. You can get an estimate here: http://www.fafsa4caster.ed.gov/F4CApp/index/index.jsf Even if you do not qualify for federal grants or work study you may qualify for federal loans which most all students have. This EFC and recap of your FAFSA will be put in a report called SAR, student aid report. You get an email this is ready in a week or two if you did it online and it can be viewed on the FAFSA home page #3.

The only way you will know what federal aid you qualify for is the colleges you listed on the FAFSA will be sent your SAR and a financial aid award created for you based on your financial need. Each college award will be different, as the cost of attendance is different, colleges have their own aid to offer, and when you apply makes a difference in what aid they have available to offer. You need to look at all the offers. If your federal aid grants, work study and federal loans do not cover your cost of attendance you will need to get a private loan to cover the rest like from a bank, so it may be smarter to pick a cheaper college where you need the least loans

How do you get your aid once you accept it: It gets deposited into your college account, usually by semester not all at once on certain disbursement dates your school has where everyone will get their money disbursed on a certain day. We applied Jan 1 2010, school started 9-1, our semester federal aid was disbursed 8-25. The colleges takes out their charges for housing, meals, tuition, and fees. We did have money left over and if you do you get a refund either a check or card system depending on the school, and we got that a week after school started by card system. Use that refund if any for books, materials etc.

Helpful sites:
All questions FAFSA, financial aid: http://www.finaid.org/
http://www.gocollege.com/financial-aid/student-loans/benefits-of-loans.html
Click BEGIN THE PRESENTATION: http://www.nextstudent.com/financial-aid-tutorial/financial-aid-tutorial.asp#
http://www.knowhow2go.org/
Does your state/program participate in out of state tuition for instate cost: http://www.sreb.org/page/1304/academic_common_market.html
http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/timeline.jsp?tab=applying
http://studentaid.ed.gov/students/publications/student_guide/2009-2010/english/typesofFSA_grants.htm

Michelle answers:

The fafsa is the beginning process for all federal and state grants, as well as federal student loans, parent loans and work study.

Yes, you can still fill out a fafsa. To apply, you go to http://fafsa.ed.gov and answer the questions. If Your parents live and work in another country, that is okay!!!

Your parents will have some sort of an income tax turn in THAT country as well. (No country in the world doesn’t require taxes of it’s citizens!!!). Have the folks get you their tax returns for 2009 and then you will report that income on your fafsa, it will also ask how much tax liability they had. Have them sign it and send a copy of it to you (you will likely have to turn it into your schools fin aid office).

If they can’t get a PIN number (due to not having a valid SSN) then they can physically SIGN your fafsa signature page (with a pen) and mail it into fafsa.