- Learn How to Apply for Scholarships
U.S. Department of Education distributes $150 billion in deserving students through grants, scholarships, and loans. FAFSA is the requirement for all government and many private scholarship programs. Students should start completing the FAFSA from October 1 because most of the scholarships are distributed on a first come first serve basis. In 2019 only 57% of students fill out the FAFSA. Those who skipped it automatically became ineligible for federal financial aid and many scholarships offered by their institute. Learn how to complete the form;
- First of all, students need to make a list of schools where they want to get enrolled. Enter the school codes so that student’s information can be forwarded to respective institutes.
- FAFSA requires financial information of you or your parents depending upon you are an independent or dependent student. Financial information includes savings, assets, current account balance, shares, and bonds. Collect all the information necessary to complete FAFSA before starting to fill out the form. These include social security number, driving license number (if applicable), alien registration number, federal income tax returns, and bank statements.
- After making the school’s list and collecting all the required documents, make Federal Student Aid (FSA) ID to start filling the application. You can fill out the application in different shifts.
- Students can fill FAFSA for both the future and the current year. Carefully select the year for which you want to apply for scholarships.
- FAFSA requires information related to student and parents’ demographics which includes personal information of student including name, date of birth, gender, address, email, citizenship status, marital status, education, and work history. Information related to school selection, financial status, and the dependency status of the student is also required.
- After filling the form, create your electronic signal b using FSA ID. Submit the form and confirm submission. You did it!
- The U.S. Department of Education will review your application and generate Student Aid Report (SAR) for you. You will receive an email describing how can you check your SAR.
- SAR contains Expected Family Contribution (EFC) according to the financial status of your family. If you don’t receive SAR or you find any mistake in SAR, contact the financial aid officer of your college to resolve the problem.