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Senior Families: Complete FAFSA or WASFA, and then...

 

College Financial Aid

  • Both the FAFSA and the WASFA financial aid applications opened October 1, 2021. We recommend that senior families with students who will start college in the fall of 2022 fill out the form between October 1 and mid-December.
  • Families with a student who anticipates starting college in 2022 should fill out the 2022-2023 FAFSA or WASFA.
  • For the full list of Financial Aid Steps, make a copy of Steps for College Financial Aid which you can customize. The following covers only preparation for the FAFSA or WASFA, not completion of the forms themselves or follow up steps.

Prepare for Financial Aid

As you proceed, you may wish to record details on your College Application Tracker

All of the following resources are included in the Financial Info & Resources Folder 2021-2022 which is in the College Application Packet 2021-2022

  1. Figure out if you will fill out the FAFSA or WASFA
  2. Figure out your FAFSA Parent
  3. FAFSA filers:  learn about Creating a Federal Student Aid Account for the student on studentaid.gov/fsa-id/create-account/launch
  4. The FAFSA parent will also need to Create an FSA ID at the same site unless the parent has an older student who went to college in the last five years. Parents must use the same FSA ID for all of their children.
  5. Research FAFSA/ WASFA Priority Dates of the colleges in your list. Record the dates on your College Application Tracker so you don't forget. 
  6. Forecast your costs at each college by using tools on the College Fit page. (optional but strongly encouraged!)
  7. Gather documents listed here, including 2020 tax forms and W-2s
  8. Research any additional financial aid requirements of colleges in your list; some colleges require the CSS Profile in addition to the FAFSA
  9. Refine your college list so that you can list them on your FAFSA/ WASFA. If you decide to add more schools later, you can log back in to your FAFSA and list the additional colleges.

 

After the FAFSA or WASFA

Please continue to refer to the Steps for College Financial Aid checklist which carries you through the process. Also see these additional resources: 

 

Resources/ Sites for Financial Aid Process

FAFSA Process