Seniors and parents, January 1st has finally come. Yes, the holidays were great, and celebrating the New Year is always a blast…but the biggest event to celebrate is that the FAFSA is finally live. OK, so completing the FAFSA isn’t the most fun activity in the world, but it is important helping to pay for college.

In order to receive any financial aid for college, students and their parents must complete the FAFSA online. The website is www.fafsa.ed.gov and the very first letter in the FAFSA acronym stands for “free.” (Avoid imposters such as FAFSA.com that will charge you without offering more than what is available at the official FAFSA site. The FAFSA (or Free Application for Federal Student Aid) will use the family’s previous tax returns to estimate how much a family can afford to pay for college and how much aid they can receive. Aid in the form of grants, loans, and scholarships can potentially come from completing the FAFSA.

In the simplest of terms, a family will complete the FAFSA, and the system will eventually generate an expected family contribution (EFC). This is what FAFSA believes the family can afford out of pocket for the student’s education. The EFC is sent to colleges who will subtract it from their cost of attendance. The difference is called the student's "need." Some colleges will meet this need completely, others may not meet it at all, and others still will fall somewhere in the middle.

The FAFSA is available online right now, and really should be completed soon. There is no need to wait until the new tax returns are available, as last year’s are accepted and often some schools will have deadlines that are pretty soon. You can estimate what the numbers will be for this year, using last year's figures. Then, once the current year figures are in, you can send the updated ones into the FAFSA. Though some families may not want to spend the time filling out cumbersome FAFSA forms, I encourage all families to complete the FAFSA at least prior to freshmen year. You never know if you may qualify for financial aid, including grants or scholarships! So enough reading, get your paperwork together and go tackle the FAFSA!!

-Joseph D. Korfmacher, MA