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The FAFSA Timeline, and the Mistakes That Cost Students Money

Financial aid is largely first come, first served. Filing early and filing accurately are worth more than any single scholarship application.

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid is the gateway to federal grants, federal student loans, work study, most state aid, and a large share of institutional aid. It is free. Filing it late, or filing it wrong, costs students real money every year.

File as early as the form allows

The FAFSA opens for the following academic year in the fall. The federal deadline is generous, but the federal deadline is not the one that matters. States and individual colleges set their own, often much earlier, and several distribute aid until the money runs out. A student who files in October and a student who files in April can qualify for identical need and receive very different packages, purely because of when the file arrived.

Look up two dates before you start: your state's aid deadline, and the priority deadline published by each school on your list. Put the earliest of them on a calendar and work backward.

What the form actually asks

The FAFSA collects identity information, family size, and financial data used to calculate a Student Aid Index. That index, subtracted from a school's cost of attendance, is what determines need-based eligibility. Income data is pulled directly from the IRS through a data exchange, which removes most of the transcription errors that used to plague the form but also means the tax return needs to be filed and processed first.

Assets are reported separately and are treated far more gently than income. Retirement accounts and the family's primary home are excluded. Cash, non-retirement investments, and any second property are counted. A parent's assets are assessed at a much lower rate than a student's, which is why money saved in a student's own name reduces aid more sharply than the same money held by a parent.

The mistakes that come up over and over

Skipping it because the family earns too much. There is no income cutoff for unsubsidized federal loans, and many schools require a FAFSA on file before awarding their own merit aid.
Listing only one school. You can list several, and schools cannot see which others you listed. Add every school you are seriously considering.
Reporting the wrong parent. For dependent students with separated parents, the rule is the parent who provided the most financial support during the last twelve months, not the parent the student lives with and not whoever claims the tax exemption.
Counting retirement savings as an asset. They are excluded. Reporting them inflates the index and shrinks the award.
Ignoring a verification request. A share of applications are selected for verification, and aid is not disbursed until the documents are supplied. This is routine, not an accusation, but it stalls the whole package if it sits in an inbox.
Assuming the first offer is final. If your family's circumstances changed after the tax year the form used, a job loss or a medical event, the financial aid office can perform a professional judgment review. You have to ask, in writing, with documentation.

Read the award letter carefully

Award letters are not standardized, and some of them blur the line between money you are given and money you are borrowing. Sort every line into three buckets: grants and scholarships you do not repay, work study you have to earn by working, and loans you repay with interest. Compare schools on the first bucket against total cost of attendance, not on the size of the headline number.

Also check whether each item renews. A large first-year scholarship that does not repeat produces a painful sophomore year. Ask what the renewal conditions are and what grade point average sustains them.

Refile every year