Michelle answers:

Each FAFSA is for an entire academic year, running August through July. The FAFSA that is currently available at the fafsa site is for the 2008-2009 school year, which will end at the conclusion of this year’s summer semesters.

The new FAFSA (for 2009-2010) will be posted on or immediately after January 1st. It gets a little a confusing when that 2nd FAFSA goes up, because the current FAFSA will still be available for those students who are looking for spring and summer aid for this year.

As others have suggested, your goal should be to submit your FAFSA as early as possible. Though the applications are accepted pretty much any time during the year, every state has a FAFSA deadline, and so does every school. State aid and school aid is generally awarded from a limited pool of funds, and the funds are divided up amongst all qualified applicants who beat the deadline. Usually you’ll see this called a “priority aid deadline”. There will be some money available to students who miss the deadlines, but you’ll be throwing away your chance to earn the largest possible amount of funding.

Keep in mind that completing the FAFSA requires that you and your parents have 2008 Federal and State Income Tax returns available. You’ll be asked to enter information that appears on the tax returns that you and your parents have filed. The goal is to get your tax returns completed as quickly as possible, but you may need to wait for W-2s to arrive, before you can complete the forms accurately.

As you look through the websites for schools that interest you, be sure to keep an eye out for each school’s aid deadlines. You’ll almost always find that information somewhere in the financial aid section of the site. Remember – if you want to be considered for all possible forms of aid, you’re going to want to get your FAFSA in before those deadlines. Don’t forget it takes the Department of Education at least a week or two to analyze your FAFSA submission and get it out to your school, so you don’t want to wait until the very last minute.

Good luck!

Michelle answers:

FAFSA.ED.GOV is where you’ll start.

It’s pretty simple. I assume your doing it for 2010-2011, so…

Go to the left-hand side on the FAFSA homepage.
Go to 2. Filling Out a FAFSA.
Go to Fill Out Your FAFSA.
Select 2010-2011 FAFSA.

You’ll then sign up with your names, SSN, Date of Birth, and so forth.
You’ll need a PIN (from PIN.ED.GOV) if you want to sign electronically. (Also get one for your parent, for them to sign too).
You’ll need your and your parents tax info, SSNs, DOBs, etc.
For a complete list of what you’ll need, go here: http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/before003.htm

Since my parents don’t have much money, don’t have any real estate, etc. It’s very simple for me. Plus I’ve very computer-savvy and have been through it multiple times. It takes me about a half hour. The first time, though, I was very confused and such so it took me about an hour.

Michelle answers:

FAFSA is the name of the application. You don’t owe anything to fafsa and you don’t borrow anything from fafsa. It is simply the name of the application you fill out to see what kinds of financial aid you qualify for. It is up to you to determine if you want to take out loans.

If you get grants only by filling out the fafsa, then your credit report will not be effected in any way. If you choose to take out student loans, your student loans WILL show up on your credit report. Your debt to income ratio will be taken into consideration when applying for a mortgage.

It is ALWAYS better to avoid debt esp if you can pay for your courses outright. Loans are meant for people who don’t have the cash to pay for their expenses… Why would you want to pay interest on a loan when you don’t need to?

Michelle answers:

FAFSA is the application that allows you to qualify for any type of governmental grants or school loans such as the Pell grant. The amount of money you will receive depends on you and your parents income (if you are under 25?).

I can tell you that Pell grant will not cover all of your medical school bills since the maximum per year is only around $4500. But by filling out the FAFSA, you will be offered LOANS to make up the rest of your college expenses. You will have to start making minimum payments on these loans 6 months after you graduate from med school.

So the bottom line is, FAFSA will help you pay for med school but you will have to pay them back if you decide to take out loans. If you THINK you want to go to college say Fall of 2009, you must fill out a FAFSA before March 2, 2009 to get first priority or else you will receive less financial aid. Hope this helps.