How to Complete the 2023-2024 FAFSA

The FAFSA, or Free Application for Federal Student Aid, is the single most important part of the financial aid process. This single application is the key for unlocking need-based financial aid at colleges and universities in the United States. Through the FAFSA, students can be eligible for a wide variety of need-based financial aid including:

• Grants like Pell Grants and Federal SEOG Grants
• Student Loans including Subsidized and Unsubsidized Federal Direct Loans and PLUS Loans
• Work study

This FAFSA 101 Guide will make the process of completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid simple and stress-free. Let’s dive in with the help of our financial aid expert Annie Trout!

FAFSA dates to remember

It is important to follow all of the FAFSA deadlines! We recommend putting them on your calendar as soon as possible:

• 🗓 FAFSA Opens: October 1st
• ⏱ State Specific Deadlines: Varies by State
• ⏱Federal Deadline: June 30th, 2024

Notice about FAFSA deadline for the coming 2024-2025 school year

For the 2024-2025 academic year, a newly revised FAFSA application will be introduced. This simplified FAFSA form will not be available until December of 2023.

Keep in mind that the FAFSA is expected to return to an October 1st start date for the 2025-2026 school year.

Filling out the FAFSA step-by-step

Ok, once these dates are on your calendar, you can get started on the actual application! We have broken the entire FAFSA application into a step-by-step process:

1. Create Your FSA ID
2. Gather the necessary materials
3. Answer the FAFSA Questions
4. Add your schools to the FAFSA
5. Submit the FAFSA by the necessary deadline

We also have a number of Frequently Asked Questions for you to check out!

Keep on reading to complete your FAFSA and ensure that you will qualify for the maximum amount of need-based financial aid that you are eligible for!

 

Step One: Create your FSA ID

Your Federal Student Aid ID is a unique username and password that will allow you to access the FSA online platform and is your legal signature for filling out forms. Create your FSA ID here.

If you are a dependent student, your parents will also need to create their own FSA ID. 

Step Two: Gather the necessary materials

Once you have created your FSA ID, you will need to gather the necessary materials to actually fill out the actual application. Our list of the necessary materials for both dependent and independent students can help you prepare.

Step Three: Answer the FAFSA questions

The questions online won’t appear in this exact order. The FAFSA also incorporates skip-logic online, so how a student answers a question will affect the questions they must answer. Students should never answer more questions than needed to submit the FAFSA. If asked if they’d like to skip, they should answer “YES.” If the college needs the info, the college will follow up with the student after receiving the FAFSA information and the student can then provide the individual college with the information.

Now you are ready to answer the actual questions. We have broken down the FAFSA questions into a few sections to assist you as you work your way through the application:

• Questions 1-31 (All Applicants Must Complete)
• Questions 32-45 (All Applicants Must Complete)
• Questions 46–58 (All Applicants Must Complete) 
• Questions 59-94 (Dependent Applicants Only)
• Questions 95–102 (Independent Applicants Only)

Note that students and parents do not need to complete all of these sections. Questions 59 through 94 are only for dependent applicants, while questions 95 through 102 are only for independent applicants.

Questions 1-31 (All Applicants Must Complete)

The first section of the Free Application for Student Aid or FAFSA asks you some basic questions such as your first name, last name, your address, and contact information. You will also have to record your Social Security number as well as your driver’s license number in this section. This is why it is important to have both your Social Security Card and your driver’s license on-hand as you work your way through the FAFSA.

A few questions we wanted to highlight for clarification are:

Question 26: What will your college grade level be when you begin the 2023–2024 school year?

This question is referring to your grade-level and not the number of years you have been in college. If you are a high school senior, you should select “Never attended college / 1st yr.”  Students should also select this even if they have taken college level courses while in high school. Most colleges don’t begin “counting” until the student takes a class after their high school graduation date.

Question 28: Are you interested in being considered for work- study?

If you are awarded work-study, you are entitled to a part-time job opportunity on-campus. This will require you to find a job on-campus and put in enough hours per week. We recommend that all students select “yes” to this question so you can be considered for work-study. Remember, you can always decline any part of your financial aid package, so if you don’t want a job in college, you can simply say no. 

Questions 32-45 (All Applicants Must Complete)

The second section of the FAFSA is focused on your personal financial situation as a student. For the 2023-2024 FAFSA, you will complete this section with your 2021 tax forms (remember, the FAFSA uses financial data from the prior, prior year and not the prior year). 

Here are few tips for completing this section:

If you did not file taxes in 2021, you can enter all zeros:

• Question 36: What was your adjusted gross income for 2021? 
• Question 37: What was your income tax for 2021?
• Question 38: How many exemptions did you claim?

FAFSA Tip: If you did file taxes in 2021, you can use the FAFSA IRS Data Retrieval Tool. This is a really great tool that will save you time while completing your FAFSA. Once you retrieve the data, it will auto populate the following questions in this section with the necessary details:

• Question 36: What was your adjusted gross income for 2021? 
• Question 37: What was your income tax for 2021?
• Question 38: How many exemptions did you claim?
• Question 44a: What were your total education credits?
• Question 45b: How much did you pay to your IRA or Keogh? 
• Question 45d: What was your total tax-exempt interest income?
• Question 45e: What were your total untaxed portions of IRA distributions? 
• Question 45f: What were your total untaxed portions of pensions?

Question 41: What is the total current balance of your cash, savings, and checking accounts? 

This is the total balance of cash, savings, and checking accounts as of the day you submit your FAFSA. If the total is 0 or negative, you should enter 0 as the current balance.

Questions 46–58 (All Applicants Must Complete) 

The next section of the FAFSA will assess whether you are an independent or dependent student for the purposes of financial aid. 

The big distinction between applying as a dependent student is that your parents’ financial information is considered. If you are an independent student, the only financial information considered will be your own (unless you are married, in which case your spouse’s financial information will be considered). 

These questions will determine whether you meet any of the criteria for being an independent student which includes: 

• At least 24 years old
• Married
• A graduate or professional student
• A veteran or current member of the armed services
• An orphan or ward of the court
• Someone with legal dependents other than a spouse
• An emancipated minor
• Someone who is homeless or at risk of becoming homeless

So, if you answer YES to any of the questions 46 through 58, you are considered an independent student. If you answered NO to all of the questions, you will be considered a dependent student. 

Questions 59-94 (Dependent Applicants Only)

If you are a dependent student, the next section of the FAFSA aims to understand your parents’ financial situation. This will help determine the portion of your parents’ assets or income that should be available to contribute to the cost of your college education.  

• Pro Tip: Your parents can use the IRS Data Retrieval tool in order to link their tax return to the FAFSA (this is highly recommended).

FAFSA Question 59 asks about your parents’ marital status. There are five options that you can select:

• Never Married
• Unmarried and both parents living together
• Married or remarried
• Divorced or separated
• Widowed

If your parents are divorced, you will need to determine which parent’s financial information should be reported on the FAFSA. 

Here are a few scenarios and how they impact the FAFSA:

Family Situation	Whose financial information should be included
My parents are divorced, but still living together.	Both parents
I have lived with one parent more than the other in the past 12 months.	The parent who you have lived with for the most time
I have lived with both parents equally over the past 12 months.	The parent who has provided more financial support over the past 12 months

Questions 95–102 (Independent Applicants Only)

If you are an independent student, this next section of the FAFSA aims to understand whether you qualify for any supplemental government assistance for living expenses including:

• Medicaid
• Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
• Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
• Free or Reduced Price School Lunch
• Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
• Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children

Participation in these programs may qualify you for financial aid from the federal government. Remember, you only need to complete this section if you responded “yes” to any of the questions in the FAFSA dependency section.

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Step Four: Add schools to the FAFSA

Once you have completed the questions, you will need to actually send it off to the colleges! Question 103 on the FAFSA will ask you to report the specific colleges that you want to send the FAFSA to. Every college has a unique code that you will need to enter on the FAFSA (you can find those codes here). You should prioritize any colleges with earlier application deadlines, as well as public colleges and universities in your state.

• It may look like you can only list 10 colleges, but you can add more with these instructions!

Step Five: Submit the FAFSA by the necessary deadline

The final questions, questions 104-108, will ask you the date the FAFSA was completed, your signature, and if you are a dependent student, your parent’s signature. Also, if you paid for assistance when completing the FAFSA, then the person you paid for assistance must provide some information. 

While the Federal FAFSA deadline is June 30th, different states have different deadlines. You will want to make sure that you are minding the specific deadlines. This is why we recommend that you submit your application as soon as possible. Remember, it is a free application and there is no downside to applying early.

Frequently asked questions about completing the FAFSA