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FAFSA News

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If you are a current senior or a parent of a current senior you may be anxiously waiting to fill out the FAFSA, as the usual release date is October 1st. However, with the changes that are occurring the release date has been postponed to sometime in December of 2023.

For those of you who are not familiar with what the FAFSA is, it stands for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). This is the way that students qualify for need-based aid as well as various scholarships, grants, work study and loans. Here is a quick summary of who should apply for it:

  • Anybody who believes they might qualify for need-based financial aid.

  • Anybody who believes they might qualify for need-based financial aid at any point of their undergraduate career. Some colleges may not consider a request for aid if the student didn’t submit the required paperwork when they first applied as a freshman.

  • Anybody who expects to have two or more children in college at the same time. Even though the FAFSA no longer uses the number of children in college as a factor in federal aid, many colleges will use this in calculating institutional aid.

  • Anybody applying for merit aid at institutions that require the FAFSA. Not all institutions will require the FAFSA for merit aid, but some do.

  • It is important to remember the deadline to submit these forms varies by institution. Be sure to check each college’s website or with the financial aid office to verify their deadline.


Since the FAFSA doesn’t open until December you might be wondering what you can do now in order to be ready when it does open. Here are a couple things you can start preparing:


  • Be sure to have your 2022 federal tax returns submitted and processed.

  • The FAFSA will ask detailed questions about your 2022 income, current assets, and demographic information. Have you 2022 federal tax returns, current bank statements, and records of any other assets and investments on hand.

It is important to be aware of some common mistakes that occur when filling out the FAFSA. Here are some things to keep in mind:

  • A parent-owned 529 college savings plan for which the student is the beneficiary should be reported as a parent asset, not a student asset. Parent assets are assessed at 5.64 percent per year by FAFSA; student assets are assessed at 20 percent.

  • It may be confusing to figure out where to list a particular asset, but the important thing is not to list it twice. Doing so will reduce your child’s eligibility for need-based aid.

Stay tuned for more information regarding the FAFSA and what happens after it is submitted.


If you have any questions on this or about the post-secondary planning process in general feel free to reach out to me at info@atozeducationalconsulting.com or 612.735.1261


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