What You Need to Know About the FAFSA & WASFA
- They both open on October 1st. Apply as early as possible, because schools only have a certain amount of money to offer and the schools need to see your financial package before they can offer you money.
- Juniors can start gathering documents and information during the summer. It is never too early.
- If you fill out the FAFSA, you will automatically be considered for state aid as well.
- You do NOT need to be accepted into a school to submit your FAFSA. Just add every school that you are interested in to your application.
- Be sure to use an email that you can check and use after graduation, because you will not have access to your school email then.
After You Apply
Once you have submitted your FAFSA or WASFA application, the website will send your financial aid package to each of the schools you have listed. Those schools will then create an award letter (Each college has their own notification process, so you may need to ask).
In order to understand the award letters you receive and what aid you should receive first, please watch this short video!- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoTV0eVM6bM