This is the application to receive federal aid based on your family’s adjusted gross income (AGI). The application determines an Expected Family Contribution (EFC) value which is the amount of money that the federal government thinks your family can contribute to your education that year (whether accurate or not). It's important to fill it out every year because schools use it to determine your financial aid packages and other scholarships use it to determine your financial need. I received aid from this sometimes, but as my family's financial situation changed, I didn't receive as much aid anymore.
Is there a trick to getting more financial aid from FAFSA? If you are a student and already have some income from a part-time job etc, consider filing your taxes as an independent. This means that your AGI on your FAFSA application will be much lower, and subsequently so will your EFC. The lower your EFC, the more financial aid you can expect. More on need-based scholarships later.
Free Application for Federal Student Aid: http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/
To see the entire "Scholarship Advice" series, click here.
No comments:
Post a Comment