FAFSA

Most students will fill out the FAFSA, which is for U.S. Citizens and Permanent Residents.

The WASFA is for students with alternate citizenship/ immigration status. Use this WASFA Questionnaire if you are not sure.

Students will fill out one, not both, forms. Which one depends on student status. 

Determine your FAFSA Parent Contributor, the parent whose income and information will be required on the form.

Since families have many configurations, pay careful attention to the Q&A on the page about different situations. 

Here is the general schematic, which is new for the 2024 FAFSA:

The FAFSA will be the student's, with a parent portion that the parent will fill out via their own account. Both the student and parent need Federal Student Aid Accounts/ FSA IDs in order to fill out the FAFSA. 

If the parent has an older student who filled out the FAFSA, then they may already have a Federal Student Aid account/ FSA ID, and must use the account they have already established. 

Start your FAFSA account using this Create Account Worksheet as a guide. Students, use a personal email address, not your Shorewood email, since you will file every year in college.  Keep your login and password information in a secure location. 

The student and parent must allow at least a week between setting up their accounts and filling out the FAFSA in order to allow for account verification. 

Colleges set their own deadlines for FAFSA completion. These are usually different than the applications for admission. 

Look up the Financial Aid Priority Deadline for each college you are applying to and keep track. Fill out the FAFSA in advance of the first deadline. 

On the FAFSA, you will list the colleges you are applying to. There is no preference order; you can list the colleges in whatever order you like. 

Also, see if any of your colleges require another financial aid form. Some colleges require the the CSS Profile in addition to the FAFSA, and others have their own financial aid form. 

To complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) form, you will need

• your Social Security number or Alien Registration number (if you’re an eligible noncitizen);
• your federal income tax returns, W-2s, and other records of money earned;
  • Tax forms & information will be from the "prior prior" year. If you will start college in Fall 2025, you will use 2023 tax forms. If you will start college in Fall 2026, you will use 2024 tax forms. 

Note: You may be able to transfer your federal tax return information into your FAFSA form using the IRS Data Retrieval Tool. Using the tool is strongly recommended. 

• bank statements and records of investments (if applicable);
• records of untaxed income (if applicable); and 
• an account username and password (FSA ID) so you can electronically sign the FAFSA form.

If you’re a dependent student, then you’ll also need most of the above information for your parent(s). 

Go to fafsa.gov on the Federal Student Aid website and Start Here. You will need your FSA ID (your login) in order to start a new form.

Be sure you select the correct year, the first school year you will be in college, NOT the current school year. If you will be starting college in Fall 2025, fill out the 2025-2026 FAFSA. 

The parent will be able to log in separately with their FSA ID and complete the parent portion. 

You will be able to save and come back to the form if needed. 

If you have trouble with the FAFSA, call the FAFSA Help Line 1-800-433-3243.

After you submit: 

• You should receive a confirmation email from studentaid.gov. Save it.
• Your SAI, Student Aid Index, will be in the email. This is an important number. 
• If the email says that there are errors, go into your form and try to correct them. 

Once your form is processed: 

• You should receive another email from studentaid.gov saying that your FAFSA has been processed. 
• The email will have a link to your Student Aid Report/ SAR. Look this over carefully to make sure that all looks correct. 
• Watch for messages from the financial aid offices of your colleges. Be sure you have set up your application portals, since notifications may come that way instead of via email. Provide any additional information they request.

When your colleges send you financial aid award letters, check them carefully and ask the financial aid office if you do not know what the terms mean. Be sure that you know which items are free money (grants and scholarships) and which items are self-help money (loans and work-study). 

Consider using a tool like TuitionFit to evaluate the generosity of your offer. 

If you wish to appeal, see the resources on our Financial Aid Awards page. Colleges are most receptive if you have had a definite change to your circumstances like a job loss, medical situation, or other concrete family circumstance. 

Once you have evaluated your offer and decided on a college, accept or reject each part of the financial award:  say yes to free money, realistic about your own money, and cautious about their money.