Key Takeaways
The FAFSA is the only way to gain eligibility for federal financial aid such as grants, scholarships, work-study programs, and loans for college.
To fill out the FAFSA, you'll need income and tax documents and identification like a Social Security Number.
Even though the FAFSA is open for almost a year, it's important to apply as soon as you can, since funding is given on a first-come, first-served basis.
The FAFSA can take as little as 15 minutes for some students to complete.
The only way to get federal financial aid for college is through the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which gives you eligibility for grants, scholarships, work-study programs, and loans. It can be used to apply for state aid, as well as financial aid from most colleges and universities. Note that online students can also access this aid.
And, depending on your financial need and the college or trade school you enroll in, some students could also have most, if not all, of their tuition costs paid for.
The Office of Student Aid distributes nearly $120 billion in aid for college students annually, according to their own data – and a lot of that goes unused. The National College Attainment Network found that the high school class of 2024 left $4.4 billion in unclaimed FAFSA grants.
In our guide, we'll walk you through what you'll need, how to apply for the FAFSA, and the different types of aid you may qualify for.
FAFSA Deadlines You Should Know
The FAFSA opens on October 1 each year and closes on June 30 of the following year. Even though you have plenty of time to complete it, it's best to submit the FAFSA as soon as you can to take advantage of the limited funding.
While almost $4.4 billion of federal financial aid went unclaimed in 2024, state and institutional grants and scholarships are much more limited.
When Do You Need to File the FAFSA for the 2026-2027 School Year?
Each state has their own deadline to make sure you qualify for certain state grants and scholarships that will help you lower your education costs. For example, Arizona requires that you submit the FAFSA by April to be eligible for the Arizona Promise Scholarship — a free tuition scholarship for in-state students at its public universities. You can find all state deadlines here.
Most colleges also require you to submit the FAFSA before a certain deadline to be considered for aid, which is often sooner than the federal deadline depending on which term you enroll in. You can find these deadlines within your school's financial aid office.
What You'll Need to Apply for Federal Student Aid
To begin, you'll need to gather a few income and identification documents so that you can answer questions on the FAFSA. Secondly, you must be enrolled in, accepted into, or applying to an eligible college or trade program.
Here are the documents you'll need to fill out the FAFSA:
Social Security Number (SSN)
Tax Returns
Income records W2s and 1099s
Bank statements
Records of any nontaxable income
Driver's license (if applicable)
You can qualify for the FAFSA if you are a U.S. citizen, permanent resident, or eligible noncitizen. If you fall into one of these categories, you or your parents may not need to provide an SSN.
5-Step Process to Fill Out the FAFSA
Come prepared to complete the FAFSA using your financial information if you're independent, or your parents' financial information if you're a dependent, to make the process as smooth and accurate as possible. Ensuring all your information is correct is essential to receiving accurate financial aid, including scholarships, grants, and loans.
1. Set Up Your FAFSA Account
If this is your first time filling out the FAFSA, you'll need to make an FSA ID by creating a username and password on the StudentAid.gov website. If you have an SSN, use it to set up your account so that you can enter your personal information more quickly and accurately. However, you don't need an SSN to make an FSA ID.
Anyone who is a contributor to your FAFSA, like your parents or spouse, also needs to create an FSA ID.
2. Fill Out The FAFSA With Your Prepared Documents
The FAFSA mostly consists of financial and demographic questions you fill out that count toward your Student Aid Index (SAI), formerly known as the Expected Family Contribution (EFC).
The FAFSA has 36 total questions, though you may only need to answer as few as 18 depending on your financial and demographic documentation, meaning it might take as little as 15 minutes for some students to fill out.
Most of the questions will ask you to fill out financial information from W-2s, 1099s, bank statements, investment information, and untaxed income, as well as demographic information, to determine your dependency status. You also have the option to link your FAFSA to the IRS through the IRS Data Retrieval Tool to input your tax information automatically.
If you're a dependent student, you'll use your parents' financial information to fill out the FAFSA.
3. Choose Your Schools
The FAFSA allows you to choose up to 20 schools to which you can send your student aid information in hopes of receiving a financial aid package. You'll need to enter each school's federal school code, which you can find through the application's lookup feature or on the Federal Student Aid website.
Remember to include all your prospective schools, even if you haven't applied or heard back from them yet, so that you can see your financial aid package if you receive an acceptance letter.
4. Submit Your FAFSA
Before you take the final step of submitting your FAFSA, double-check all your information to ensure that it's correct. Any incorrect information could negatively impact your financial aid offers.
After double checking everything, it's time to sign your application electronically (if you need to correct anything, you can after submission). If you're an independent student, you won't need your parents' signatures – but if you're registered as a dependent and are using their financial information, your parents will need to sign as well.
The last chance to submit the FAFSA each year is in June, but it's important to submit it as soon as you can to receive the maximum amount of funding available to you.
5. Get Your FAFSA Submission Summary
As soon as you finish the FAFSA, you'll be able to see your SAI, Pell Grant eligibility, and any error and comment codes in your FAFSA Submission Summary. You'll also receive your Data Release Number, which schools need to update any of your information on the FAFSA.
If you notice anything wrong with your FAFSA Submission Summary, you can submit up to four corrections to have them fixed immediately. After the fifth, you'll need to wait at least 24 hours before seeing corrections.
What Types of Financial Aid Can You Get with the FAFSA?
You can receive four types of financial aid through the FAFSA: grants, scholarships, work-study programs, and loans.
Grants, scholarships, and work-study programs are all free aid, whereas loans have to be repaid with interest.
1. Federal Grants
Federal grant programs provide money to students without requiring repayment. Both undergraduates and graduate students qualify for federal grants, with the the Pell Grant as the most common grant for undergraduates and the most common types of grants for graduate students being research grants, assistantships, and fellowships.
The Pell Grant can give eligible students with financial need up to $7,395 per academic year. Generally, the lower your SAI, the more funding you're eligible for.
Another common undergraduate grant is the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG, which gives additional funding to eligible students with exceptional financial need. Recipients get between $100 and $4,000 per year if they attend a school participating in the grant program.
Finally, the Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant is for students pursuing education degrees who agree to teach a high-need subject in a school serving low-income students for at least 4 years after graduation. If you don't complete the teaching requirement, you'll need to pay back the grant as an unsubsidized federal loan.
2. Work-Study
If you're eligible for the federal work-study program, you can be connected to a part-time job through your college, either within the college or through a partnering institution. If you're an online student, you still qualify for work-study, although options may be limited depending on where you go to college.
On your financial aid package, you may see a section on work-study with a dollar amount. Note that that number is the maximum amount of money you can earn through work-study and not a guarantee. As a work-study student, you can earn up to (but not past) your maximum award through an hourly wage.
If you receive work-study eligibility on your financial aid package, you do not have to accept it.
3. Federal Loans
The federal government offers three types of federal loans with fixed interest rates between 6.5% and about 9%.
Here's a basic rundown of each:
Direct Subsidized: This type, offered only to students with financial need, waives all interest during your education and for six months after. Once that period ends, interest on your loan will start building at a 6.52% rate.
Direct Unsubsidized: These are offered to students without financial need and have a higher interest rate of 8.07%. If you choose this option, you'll need to start paying interest immediately.
Parent PLUS: Parents can borrow these loans at a 9.07% interest rate for their children if their undergraduate student needs additional loans beyond what they can receive through Direct Loans.
Benefits of Federal Loans over Private Loans
Federal loans are generally considered your best loan option because they have fixed (and lower) interest rates, grace periods for subsidized loans, interest deferment periods for hardship, and many repayment options.
Private loans are offered by credit unions, banks, and other financial institutions and may have higher interest rates and fewer repayment options. Unlike federal loans, your borrowing depends on your credit score (as well as income). If you plan on using private loans, do so after all federal loans have been exhausted.
If you have more questions about loans or how the One Big Beautiful Bill Act affects financial aid, check out this page.
Frequently Asked Questions About Applying for Financial Aid
You can use financial aid to cover direct education costs, such as tuition and fees, housing, and meals, as well as indirect expenses, such as textbooks and transportation. Depending on your type of financial aid, you may be given a stipend by your college to cover daily life expenses as you study.
