After what seemed like a hundred years the FAFSA form is being simplified! At a White House press conference back in June they said… that making the FAFSA more simple is a way to keep a college education within everyone’s grasp.

Some of the changes are as follows:

· A  After you fill out the FAFSA you will now know immediately what your Pell grant amount is along with any eligible student loans

If you’re 24 years or older or happen to be married you can now skip the 11 questions that determine if your parents information is necessary.

If your mail and older than 26 you do not have to complete selective service information.

If  your student and have a low income they no longer ask about your assets

Information will now be taken directly from the IRS tax forms

This simplified test the form is just one of many steps taken by the OBAMA administration to make college more affordable.

In the past many students were confused when completing the faster form. The government feels by simplifying the pass a form that it will encourage more students to apply for financial aid and lower income families like never before.

If you’re still confused about completing your FAFSA, you can simply go to the government website at fafsa.ed.gov. There is a wealth of information on the best ways to pay for college. You also may want to check out you are guidance counselor’s office at your high school since they will have a lot of experience completing the FAFSA form

Federal regulations now permit virtually all U.S. citizens to receive some form of financial assistance. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid – or FAFSA — is the first step toward paying for college. Colleges and schools require the FAFSA so they can reliably evaluate the financial aid needs and credit-worthiness of a student. Even if you are serving in the military fafsa is a must to apply for college education. The eligibility criterion for filling up fafsa is you should be in high school and also enroll at least half time in college.

If you are an American citizen and eligible for a student loan you have to submit fafsa. This helps the lender/ bank to know about your credit worthiness. If you are a foreign student enrolling for higher education in U.S then your co-signer of the student loan should furnish his/her credit details and how much they are ready to pay for your college education. Apply as early as January 1 to become eligible for financial aid. Do not leave any entry blank in the fafsa form. This may disqualify you for aid. The FAFSA requires you to provide information about your investments and their net worth. If you’ve got a poor performing nvestment, selling it could land you more aid.

College education is so expensive in America that student loan is a must. Even if you are a meritorious student and eligible for scholarships and grants, still you’ll need a loan to complete college education. The department of education has come up with an application form that will assist in getting financial aid. That form is known as FAFSA. FAFSA holds the key to federal, and in some cases state and institutional, financial aid. It is a free application provided by the federal government that can qualify you for federal student aid.

Fafsa form is available nowadays on the internet. It can also be obtained from your school administrative office. It is better to fill up fafsa while you are in high school. The financial aid is given on first come first serve basis. The earlier you submit fafsa the better your chances for obtaining aid. This form has personal particulars about the student and his/her family’s EFC (expected family contribution) that enables the department to know how much aid a student will need. The fafsa only asks for the student’s financial status and not about their religion or race. The only criterion is the student should be an American citizen.

Once you fill out the fafsa form submit it to the admission processor that is mentioned in the form. Some schools also have a supplement form besides fafsa. It is better to fill them up so that you do not miss out on institutional aid. Stick to application deadlines and submit your fafsa on time to be eligible for aid.

Abraham Lincoln once said that “education is the only way for a society to progress and move towards success and prosperity”. Hence the federal government decided to help students with scholarship and financial aid for higher education. There is more than 6 billion dollars available for students in the form of scholarships, grants and student loans, who wish to enroll for college studies in USA. To join college, the most important formality that is required is FAFSA.

Free Application For Student Aid is the first step towards financial assistance from the federal government. Even private lenders ask for FAFSA. Fafsa application form consists of details regarding your family and financial status, personal particulars and your family’s income and income taxes from the previous year, to ascertain how much financial aid will be required by a student for college education.

Fafsa has to be filled out while you are in high school. Since it is on a first come, first serve basis it is better to apply early for aid. Even banks and private lenders look at fafsa before deciding on the eligibility of a student for financial aid. Without aid or assistance it is very difficult to study in a college in America. The financial aid will help cover tuition, boarding, food expenses, books, computer and other expenses which a student incurs during college years. Fafsa helps a student to secure student loan at very low interest rates. These loans can be returned after completion of studies.

When you have applied for FAFSA, the antecedents have to be verified, as it is a government grant and the same cannot be given unless a process of due diligence is incorporated. Quite a lot of information is available about FAFSA on the web. The whole idea of providing detailed information in as diversified forms about FAFSA on the web is to make the process as transparent as possible as also to ensure that the deserving candidates are not left out. The verification is done for the express purpose of ensuring the accuracy of the information that has been submitted. The verification is done either by the US Department of Education, or by the schools who pick up the students to award them FAFSA. Depending upon the system through which loan application has been submitted, there are schools, which choose to do 100% verification while in other cases, a random sampling is done for verification process.

The verification is done based on the information filled up through the FAFSA verification worksheet. The worksheet is available online both in the PDF format as also in the word format. The need for verification arises on account of the fact that your child may have been chosen based on a random selection. The FAFSA verification sheet may not be having the data filled up correctly, there is an apparent contradiction in the data or the information provided in the FAFSA verification sheet has estimated information.

After the verification has been done, you have to check out from the Student Aid Report appearing from the Department of Education to find out the message from the Department. You may have to fill up the FAFSA verification form. The process of filling up the form may entail filling up certain documents including Marriage Certificate, Social Security Card, an Alien Registration Card and any Federal Tax forms. It however is not applicable in all the cases, and there might be variation from student to student in case of FAFSA verification form. Do not be over jealous in providing information through FAFSA verification form. Provide only that information that has been asked for by the authorities. You should not have a feeling of despair that your child has been picked up for verification and it may mean that he may be denied the scholarship. It never is the intention of the authorities. Be vigilant about submitting the required information as soon as possible as the process of verification is a long drawn out process, and delay on your part is of no help.