The Insider: College Admissions Advice from the Experts

Once you submit the FAFSA, you can breathe a sigh of relief as you check this off the to-do list.  Your FAFSA will be processed within three to five days.  After that time, you will receive an email with a link to your Student Aid Report (SAR), which will include a summary of your application and let you know if there were any issues that still need to be resolved.  If your application is complete, then the SAR will display your Expected Family Contribution (EFC), which is then used to calculate your financial aid eligibility at each institution

Now that we’ve covered the first steps to filing the FAFSA, you should have all your documentation handy and you are ready to tackle the FAFSA. The recommended method is to complete it online. You can also fill out a paper FAFSA, but online submission is easier and much faster for both you and colleges to process. The FAFSA consists of seven sections and about 100 questions total:

January 1^st is right around the corner, which means it is almost time to file the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, more commonly referred to as the FAFSA.  While the FAFSA can be intimidating, it does not have to be.  If you are prepared with the appropriate documentation right in front of you, the process can be painless.