October 1 is on the horizon and that means the FAFSA will be available for students to complete and file. Believe it or not, many students don’t bother completing it and that’s a decision you and your student might regret.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, Only 65% of high school seniors complete the FAFSA, Why don’t more fill it out? Most either can afford college without financial aid or think they won’t qualify for financial aid. Other reasons include a lack of information — and just planning on skipping college entirely.
Completing the FAFSA is an essential step of the college application.
Why bother completing the FAFSA if you don’t need financial aid?
Even if you and your student can afford to pay for college, why would you pass up free money? Colleges use the FAFSA when distributing merit aid and even some private scholarships require a completed FAFSA.
If you need financial aid, how can completing the FAFSA help?
If you need some form of financial aid to pay for a college education, you MUST complete the FAFSA. In order for students to qualify for federal student loans, state loans, and work-study, they must submit the form. The FAFSA is also required if you plan to take out a Parent PLUS loan to help your student pay for college.
In addition, many students are eligible for federal Pell Grants. High school graduates who didn’t complete a federal financial aid application missed their opportunity for part of $2.6 billion in free money for college, according to NerdWallet’s annual analysis of federal financial aid data.
The money went unclaimed by 661,000 members of the Class of 2018 who were eligible for a federal Pell Grant but didn’t complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA.
How much time does it take to complete the FAFSA?
The FAFSA has over 100 questions, which can take anywhere from a half hour to an hour to complete. According to data compiled by Finder.com, new applications less than an hour, averaging 35 minutes. Renewing your application takes even less time — 23 minutes on average. Filling out the FAFSA for the first time takes the longest since you need to fill in answers for each required question.
The bottom line: complete the FAFSA. It doesn’t take that long and most students qualify for some form of financial aid. That doesn’t mean you have to accept it, but why not have that option? And you certainly don’t want to miss out on some of that FREE money!