FAFSA and Financial Aid Basics
Understand the forms before you chase the money.
What financial aid actually is
Financial aid is money to help pay for education that comes from several sources: the federal government, state governments, individual colleges, and private organizations. It generally falls into a few buckets — grants and scholarships (money you usually do not repay), work-study (money you earn through a job), and loans (money you repay, often with interest). Knowing which is which helps you accept the best aid first.
The FAFSA: your gateway form
In the United States, the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) is the form that opens the door to most need-based federal aid, and many states and colleges use it too. As the name says, it is free to file — you should never pay to submit it.
File early
Some aid is limited and awarded until it runs out, so filing the FAFSA soon after it opens can mean more aid. Check the official current-year deadlines for federal, state, and each college you are considering.
Key terms you’ll meet
- Student Aid Index (SAI): a number, calculated from your FAFSA information, that colleges use to estimate how much aid you may receive. (It replaced the older "Expected Family Contribution", or EFC.)
- Pell Grant: a federal grant for students with significant financial need that generally does not have to be repaid.
- CSS Profile: an additional aid application some colleges require to award their own institutional aid, separate from the FAFSA.
- Cost of attendance (COA): a school’s estimated total yearly cost, used as the ceiling for how much aid you can receive.
- Award letter: the offer a college sends listing the specific aid — grants, work-study, and loans — it is offering you.
For short definitions of these and more, see the scholarship and financial-aid glossary.
How scholarships fit in
Scholarships are "gift aid" — money you generally do not repay — and they stack on top of the aid the FAFSA unlocks. Winning outside scholarships can reduce how much you need to borrow, which lowers what you repay later. That is why it is worth filing the FAFSA and pursuing scholarships at the same time rather than treating them as either/or.
Verify current details
Financial-aid rules, amounts, and deadlines change year to year and vary by country. Always confirm specifics against official government and school sources for the current year. [TODO: link the official federal student-aid site and current-year deadline page before publishing.]
Put this into practice
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