FAFSA

Federal Student Aid

All public high school students will be required to submit a FAFSA, or opt-out, to graduate.

FAFSA

Who's the parent on the FAFSA Form?

EducationQuest: How to Pay for College

Families can use the NEW Federal Student Aid Estimator to calculate/estimate a family’s SAI and/or Pell eligibility.

Federal Student Aid Estimator

For more helpful videos about FAFSA, please check out the Federal Student Aid YouTube page.

Federal Student Aid YouTube

Everything You Need to Know About Creating a StudentAid.gov Account and Pro Tips

FAFSA FAQ

FAFSA Pro Tips

FAFSA Demo

EducationQuest will walk you through the FAFSA application and provide helpful tips.

0:00 Intro

0:09 Starting Your Application

0:26 Student Identify Info & Dependency Status

1:31 Parent Identity Information

2:59 Parent Asset Information

4:18 Student Information

5:13 Confirmation Page

What Happens After Submitting the FAFSA?

After you’ve completed your FAFSA form, the U.S. Department of Education’s office of Federal Student Aid will begin processing your form. You’ll receive a confirmation email with important information, so make sure you review it carefully.

Keep an eye out for any additional communications, including your FAFSA Submission Summary, which you’ll receive after your form is processed.

When you submit your completed FAFSA form, you’ll get an email confirming that we received your form with preliminary information related to your eligibility for federal student aid. We’ll provide your FAFSA eligibility information to your school(s) and state in the first half of March.

Pro tip: We strongly recommend that students start and complete their section of the FAFSA form first to save time and prevent errors.

FSA ID

The FSA ID is more important than ever.

To start the FAFSA, a FSA ID is required. Students and parents must have an FSA ID to complete the form including parents without a Social Security Number.

If parents file as married filing jointly – only one parent FSA ID is required.
If parents are unmarried but live together or are married and filing taxes separately, both parents must have an FSA ID.
The Social Security Administration must verify the FSA IDs before a FAFSA can be started (allow 3 days)
FSA IDs will use two-factor authentication.
Those without a Social Security Number will be able to create an account when the FAFSA opens.

Student Aid Index (SAI)

Video 1: What is the SAI?

Video 2: SAI Explained & What Does It Mean To Me?

After submitting the FAFSA, students will receive a Student Aid Index (SAI) instead of an Expected Family Contribution (EFC). College financial aid offices, state agencies, and the federal government will use the SAI to determine eligibility for financial aid. A student with an SAI of 0 or below (it can be as low as -1,500) will be eligible for a full federal Pell Grant. Due to formula changes, the switch to SAI is expected to increase the number of students eligible for the Pell Grant.

SAI better reflects the FAFSA results, not what a family is expected to pay.
The number in college will no longer factor into the SAI calculation.
The SAI or federal poverty tables will determine Pell Grant eligibility.

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