For incoming first-years and returning students alike, filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) can feel like an unavoidable irritant. But university financial services experts told the U.S. News & World Report that a new version of the form is a bit less agonizing, and the benefits are worth the effort.
College students need to fill out the FAFSA to be eligible for federal, state, or even institutional financial aid. Christina Pikla, interim executive director of student financial services at Trinity University says for prospective students, the form is a first attempt at seeing what aid might be available.
“They may have a solid idea of where they think they might be enrolling, but their school list likely has numerous schools on it,” Pikla told the U.S. News. “Where returning students, they have the relationship with the institution they’re attending and know they are completing the process to be able to carry forward and persist.”
Pikla encourages first-time and returning applicants alike to “ make sure that they’re looking through the demographic information that has pre-populated, specifically the year in college that’s listed because that carries over from the previous cycle. The year in college is what school systems use in order to allocate federal loan eligibility and certain federal aid. So that would be allocated incorrectly if they’re not updating that they’re no longer a first year, they’re now a second year and so on.”
For more tips on filling out the FAFSA, find the U.S. News article here.