The FAFSA Race Begins

Last year the government announced big changes to how the Free Application for Federal Student Aid application process will work. If you depend on those sweet taxpayer dollars to attend classes and you haven’t really taken note of what’s new, you could be setting yourself up for failure.

First things first, the deadlines have moved up, way up. Instead of having to wait to apply until Jan. 1 of the aid year, you can now send in your applications on Oct. 1 of the year prior. This means that you can apply for aid for 2017-2018 today.

Before you drop everything to get to work on those forms, make sure you’re submitting the right information, what they are asking for has changed too. To apply for aid for 2017-2018 you’ll need to input 2015’s tax information, rather than 2016. This means you no longer have to do your taxes before you can apply, because you’ll (hopefully) already have them done.

Those are all the changes, but watch out, in the state of Illinois awards are made until funds are depleted so don’t wait around, secure your funds before it’s too late!