by Helen Richardson

Created on: April 06, 2007   Last Updated: January 07, 2008

The FAFSA is the starting point of almost every kind of student financial aid in the United States. To get the most aid possible and to minimize mistakes, it's important to do the following.

1. Fill it out as soon as you can. The FAFSA for the next school year usually comes out in January. So if you're applying for school in Fall of '08, you need to get your hands on the FAFSA or apply on-line in January of '08. The deadline at most schools is March 1st, but it can't hurt to get in early. A lot of financial aid at colleges is distributed on a first come, first served basis to those who are eligible.

2. You don't need to have your taxes done before you fill out the FAFSA. You can estimate using the tax forms or figuring your taxes on-line, and then file an updated FAFSA later when you get your W-2s and other documents such as mortgage interest statements. Just be sure that you are very accurate in your estimation, or you could end up believing you're going to get aid that you turn out not to be eligible for later on.

3. Be as accurate as you can. Follow the directions exactly if you're doing the paper application. Many times FAFSAs are rejected because the person missed an important field or they entered their social security number incorrectly. Your college's student financial aid advisers can't give you aid until your FAFSA goes through the federal system. The more mistakes you have, the longer it will take for your aid to get what they call "packaged", meaning you could lose out on some "first come first served" aid.

4. If you're a male, be sure that you have registered for Selective Service. If you're over the age of 18, male and you have not registered for Selective Service, your FAFSA will be rejected.

5. If your family's income has changed dramatically since the year before, you can file an amended FAFSA. If your family's income has decreased since the previous tax year, talk to your financial aid adviser about either filing and amended FAFSA or doing a professional judgment. That way your eligibility for aid will be based on your current income instead of that for the previous tax year.
The same thing is true if your parents have added a dependent since the previous tax year.

6.Don't lie on your FAFSA. The government randomly flags a certain percentage of FAFSAs for the school to verify. That means that a certain percentage of students will be required to prove things like income, number of family members, or student status of other family members. If they

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