Welcome to Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)!

The FAFSA, or Free Application for Federal Student Aid, is the source for all federal financial assistance. FAFSA is, therefore, a key to varied federal student loans such as Federal Stafford and Federal Parent PLUS Loans, grants, work-study loans, etc.

The FAFSA scrutinizes the financial status of your family and weighs your credibility and worthiness for acquiring the financial aid given to the students under the U.S. Department of Education guidelines. There is a wide array of factors that they take into consideration while determining the eligibility of the candidate for the financial aid. These factors include number of family members, consolidated parent and student income, total assets and expenditures of the family.

There is a huge multitude of families, which are little aware about the financial assistance options available to them and think that their net income exceeds the limit set for the financial aid. But aids such as unsubsidized Stafford and PLUS loans are available to help them, irrespective of the requirements. However if the family is in need of financial aid, filling FAFSA is a prerequisite.

If you wish to acquire financial aid, submit FAFSA form after January 1 at the earliest. Date of submission is too significant as the funds are limited and the loans are granted on first-come, first-served basis. The date on which you submit the FAFSA form determines your chances of obtaining the financial aid. The sooner the submissions, brighter are the chances of gaining the financial aid!

It is to be clearly etched in mind that FAFSA form should be deposited each academic year to get access to financial help. All you need to do is log in to www.FAFSA.ed.gov and fill the form there or else you can submit it through the Financial Aid Office of your high school or college.

The application normally takes 14 to 42 days. You can make good use of this time period for inquiring about various scholarships via NextStudent Search Engine.