FAFSA – which stands for Free Application for Federal Student Aid – has made some important changes recently to both the form as well as to the application process. One of the most important changes is that students can no longer pick up the forms from their high schools, where they used to be distributed in bulk. Students now have to access the form online, they can download and print out the PDF version, or they may call to request up to three (3) paper copies of the form. The reason behind this change is that more students are using the online application. Also, high school juniors can now get an early jump on the FASFA process. Due to recent changes, juniors can now take advantage of the FAFSA4caster Web site, where they can take time to learn about the financial aid process, learn about their eligibility and many other pieces of information. This new site is a great chance for younger students to familiarize themselves with what can be a very overwhelming and scary process. The link to this Website can be found on the left-hand side of the mains fafsa.org Website. For the FAFSA form which is available as of January 1, 2008, there are a number of smaller changes which have been made which do not affect the availability of the forms. All of these changes are already worked into the forms, and the majority of the changes were made to clarify any ambiguous questions for directions. Some of these changes include:

1. The 2008-2009 FAFSA colors are orange for student information and purple for parent information.

2. Question 21 was revised to a more direct question by adding “are you female.” This question was changed in order to determine if a student is required to register with the Selective Service.

3. For Question 16 (on p. 7), specific instructions were added regarding marital status to clarify changing this information after signing the FAFSA.

Tags: FAFSA, Financial Aid