The financial aid process for college students has changed to allow for earlier filing.
Instead of having to wait until January 1st to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, students planning to attend college in the 2017-18 school year will be able to file beginning on October 1st.
The benefits for allowing early filing of the FAFSA include more time to plan and budget as well as the opportunity to qualify for more aid and less chance of a need to pay late fees.
Other changes are planned to the FAFSA such as the acceptance of older tax data so that the upcoming year’s return does not have to be estimated before it is filed. Also, schools will no longer be able to see a student’s list of prospective college choices which can sometimes affect financial aid offers.
Over 22 million FAFSA applications are processed per year to allow two-thirds of college students to receive some kind of financial aid.
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