The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is a Department of Education managed form required by federal and state governments. Colleges also require FAFSA information from students who wish to qualify for financial aid, federal work-study, and other financial aid programs, such as the TEACH Grant.
In addition to scholarships, financial aid is a helpful way to pay for school. Trade school and college students use the money to pay for tuition and fees and in some cases, educational supplies. Financial aid applications ask questions about a student's personal and family financial circumstances to determine how much they can pay for college.
A mistake on your FAFSA can delay the processing of your application for financial aid. If your FAFSA is verified and contains errors, it can cost you.
A correct FAFSA form can be your best asset in securing financial aid to pay for college, in addition to college scholarships.
Once you've completed your FAFSA, you'll receive a FAFSA Submission Summary within a few days of submitting the form. This summary will list your FAFSA answers and estimate your federal student aid. The FAFSA Summary is NOT a financial aid award package; FAFSA results are sent to your chosen schools and colleges. Those schools and colleges will create a custom financial aid award package based upon the information you included in your FAFSA. Expect these to arrive in the spring of 2025.
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Common FAFSA Mistakes to Avoid
- Leaving Fields Blank If the answer is zero or the question does not apply to you, write in a zero. If you leave a question blank, the processor will assume you forgot to answer.
- Incorrect Income Reporting If you use your W-2 and 1099 forms, compare them with the prior year's income tax return to ensure you did not overlook any source of income. The form will pull and input data from the IRS Data Exchange where possible. 2023 taxes will be used to complete the 2025-26 FAFSA. You should have access to your tax return information for manual input if necessary.
- Failing to Report Untaxed Income Forgetting to report all the required sources of untaxed income can cause FAFSA errors and delay your end. This includes veterans' non-education benefits, child support, and workers' compensation or disability income.
- Not Including Stepparent Income Not reporting total household income if your parent has remarried. Your stepparent, if married to the legal parent whose information you're reporting, must report their financial information in addition to the financial information for your custodial parent.
- Excluding Yourself from Household Size Even if you didn't live there during the previous year, you should always include yourself as part of your parent's household.
- Forgetting to Sign the Application If you're filing as a dependent, you and your parents must sign. If you file online, you and your parents can sign the form electronically using your FSA ID.
- Submitting FAFSA Late Remember to submit your 2025-26 FAFSA on time. The sooner you can submit or renew your FAFSA from the December release date, the better. When it becomes available, students who file their FAFSA first get priority, especially for state or grant programs with limited financial aid funds. To qualify for federal student aid, the 2025-2026 FAFSA deadline is June 30, 2025. This form will be available for students and parents by December 1, 2024.
- Missing State Financial Aid Deadline State deadlines for financial aid and grants vary; some states award their grants on a first-come, first-served basis. To get the most financial aid money you can, submit your FAFSA in the fall—as close to the December FAFSA release date as possible. Doing this will move your FAFSA to the top of your state's FAFSAs-received list!
- Skimming Questions and Ignoring Directions Read the instructions and questions carefully. If you're unclear about a question or are having trouble filling out the FAFSA, check the FAQ section on the FAFSA website. You can also contact your financial aid office.
- Not Creating an FSA ID in Advance You need your FSA ID to complete the federal student aid FAFSA form, make corrections, and electronically sign. Students and parents need separate FSA IDs to complete the FAFSA officially.
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Shawna Newman
Managing Editor, Contributing Writer
Shawna Newman is the Managing Editor and a writer at Fastweb. She has over 10 years of experience in higher education. Her direct work with college admissions teams, financial aid officers, college deans, ...
