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If you're interested in financial aid for college or career school,
you're going to need to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid
or FAFSA. It takes most people about 30 minutes to complete online
and the best part, it's 100% free.
And, it provides you with access to grants, loans,
and work-study funds from the federal government.
And many colleges and states use FAFSA information
to provide their own college or state financial aid.
Your FAFSA can be completed online at F-A-F-S-A dot gov
and help is provided throughout the online application process.
You'll need to fill out the FAFSA each year you're in school
because your financial situation may change.
Plus, if you've already filed your taxes,
you may be able to automatically retrieve the information from the IRS.
If you haven't filed yet, don't worry,
you can use estimated tax information and correct the information later.
Each state and college or career school sets its own deadline
for the FAFSA so it's best to get it done early.
Since some of the funds are available on a first come,
first served basis, you don't want to miss out.
Now that you know about the FAFSA, you might be asking,
"Well, how much money will I get?"
Your college or career school will do the math.
And there's a simple formula that they use.
First, the college takes your cost of attendance, which is the total amount it will
cost you to go to that school.
Your cost of attendance will vary from school to school.
Then, the college subtracts your Expected Family Contribution, or EFC.
Your EFC is based on information provided in your FAFSA
and will not change based on the school you attend.
However, the EFC is not necessarily the amount of money you will have to pay.
Basically, your Cost of Attendance, minus your EFC, equals your Financial Need.
Your college uses your Financial Need and other information to
determine how much financial aid you can receive.
See, pretty simple.
If you have questions or need more information,
please visit StudentAid dot gov.