Do You Need to Complete the FAFSA?

Families often ask questions about the FAFSA and other financial aid forms. One question they often don’t know they CAN ask is whether or not they even need to complete the FAFSA. Let’s take a look at whether or not it makes sense for you to complete the FAFSA.

Check out our free FAFSA Guide >>

Is Completing the FAFSA Required?

A lot of general financial aid advice calls for incoming families to complete the FAFSA. I believe this comes from good intentions, as it’s not a bad idea for you to complete the FAFSA as an incoming family. There’s little downside as it’s unlikely to hurt you.

However, if given the choice, plenty of families would prefer not to take the time to complete another financial form or share the personal information required of the FAFSA, especially if there was no benefit for them in doing so.

Reasons to Complete the FAFSA

Let’s take a look at some of the reasons you would complete the FAFSA.

1) To Quality for Need-Based Financial Aid

This is the most common reason families complete the FAFSA. In order to be considered for need-based federal, state, and institutional grants, schools require the FAFSA to be completed.

2) To Quality for Merit-Based Financial Aid

I know it may sound strange, but there are plenty of schools that require families to submit the FAFSA in order to be considered for not only need-based grants but also merit-based scholarships.

3) To Qualify for Direct Student Loans

Yes, student loans are a form of financial aid. However, families would prefer financial aid that doesn’t need to be paid back (grants or scholarships) versus a loan that does require repayment. Still, if you are planning to take out student loans to cover the cost of college, the Direct Student Loans are often a good starting point. You need to complete the FAFSA in order to be eligible for the loans. There is no income that disqualifies your eligibility for these loans. Anyone that applies for the FAFSA and is a full-time student in good academic standing can receive these loans (as long as you haven’t already taken out the maximum amount of loans).

How to Determine if You Don’t Need to Complete the FAFSA

Given families are often applying to 5, 10, or even more schools, the easiest path is often simply completing the FAFSA in order to cover your bases. Again, there is no harm in doing so. Then, once you have committed to a school, you can then ask them if you will need to complete the FAFSA in order to receive the financial aid that was offered in future years. If not, you can be finished with the FAFSA!

However, there is a way you can determine if the FAFSA will benefit you or not.

If you are in the following situation, you may not benefit from completing the FAFSA:

• You have determined you will not qualify for need-based aid.

• You are not interested in Direct Student Loans.

• You have determined that the schools you are applying to don’t require the FAFSA for merit-based aid consideration.

The first two are pretty straightforward. You can use an EFC calculator like this to see if you are likely to qualify for need-based financial aid. You know if you want loans or not.

The third can get tricky and time-consuming. Schools can make this information available on their website (usually the financial aid section), but it’s not always obvious. In those cases, you would need to contact (call or email) the school to confirm whether or not they require the FAFSA for merit-based aid consideration.

There is a lot to be gained from our free general financial aid advice, but it’s also a very individual process. If you have remaining financial aid questions, email us to discuss more or book an individual session.