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FAFSA is short for Free Application for Student Aid and is a form that students need to fill out to receive any financial aid or assistance from the United States Federal Government. FAFSA comes under the purview of the U. S. Department of Education’s Office of Federal Student Aid, which provides more than $120billion in financial aid to students each year to help fund their college or career school.
FAFSA collects personal and financial information from students and parents and, based on the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) and other criteria, awards financial aid to the applicant-student. Typically, the FAFSA form for the following academic year is made available every October and is required to be submitted before the stipulated deadline, which is determined based on the applicant’s state of residence.
A Student applying at a FAFSA graduate school seeking financial assistance from the Federal Government should use FAFSA to determine their eligibility to secure student loans, grants, scholarships, and federal work-study programs.
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Southern New Hampshire University is a private, nonprofit, accredited institution with more than 3,000 on-campus students and over 60,000 online students, making us one of the fastest-growing universities in the country. Founded in 1932, we’ve been relentlessly reinventing higher education ever since and have gained national recognition for our dedication to helping students transform their lives and the lives of those around them.
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FAFSA for Graduate School is for those students applying for financial aid to fund their graduate studies. Aspiring students need to apply for FAFSA to be eligible for federal student loans, grants, or scholarships. In most cases, a student applying for FAFSA for Graduate School will be applying as an independent and are typically eligible for Federal Direct Stafford Loans and Federal Direct Graduate PLUS Loans, in addition to Work-Study Programs.
One must note that the FAFSA by itself is not a loan application but a system to determine what sort of financial aid a student qualifies and is eligible for, such as scholarships, grants, or loans.
While essentially the same, there are two large differences between FAFSA for Undergraduate School and FAFSA for Graduate School. The foremost dissimilarity is that a student applying for FAFSA Graduate School is likely to be considered independent (from parents) and is therefore required to submit his or her financial information at the time of making an application. FAFSA Undergraduate applicants are usually dependent on their parents and must consequently disclose their parents’ financial information in addition to their own.
The second dissimilarity is that FAFSA Graduate School applicants are not eligible for subsidized loans. A subsidized loan starts accumulating interest only after the beneficiary of such a loan has ceased to be a full-time student, a benefit that FAFSA Undergraduate applicants enjoy.
In addition to these two broader differences, FAFSA Graduate School applicants can take out more loans than Undergrad applicants, but at the cost of usually higher interest rates over what Undergrads have to pay.
It must also be noted that Grants for Graduate School do not include the Pell Grant and the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity, Grant.
Both Undergraduate Students and Graduate Students have to follow the same process while applying for FAFSA, and the eligibility criteria and other requirements are almost the same.
To qualify for federal student aid that may include grants, work-study, or loans, an applicant must meet some basic eligibility criteria. To fulfill these criteria, the student must:
Additional eligibility criteria may apply to non-citizens and students who fall outside of the ‘general’ category.
In addition to U.S. Citizens who are eligible to apply for financial aid, the following types of applicants may also apply but will have to fulfill additional criteria to do so:
For specific or more information, visit the Eligibility Requirements page of studentaid.gov to understand each type of application and associated eligibility criteria.
One of the most common queries students have is “how much does FAFSA cover graduate school?”.
Suppose the student applying for FAFSA has first of all met all basic eligibility criteria, in that case, the application is processed by the financial aid office at the applicant’s college or career school. It is this office that will determine how much aid the student is eligible to receive, generally based on:
Students who wish to apply for financial aid to help pay for college must complete and submit the Free Application for Student Aid (FAFSA) form. This form is available online at studentaid.gov and must be filled up on the same portal. Alternatively, a printed form is also available and can usually be picked up from a FAFSA graduate school’s financial aid office or downloaded from studentaid.gov (for the school year 2021-2022). If one gathers all the required information well before one starts the application process, it will be easier to complete the FAFSA form in no time. To fill it out completely, here are a few things that are needed:
Note: The FAFSA form for 2020-2021 has been available since October 1, 2019. Depending on the state of legal residence, the submission deadline varies, but for students of most states, the submission deadline is June 30, 2023. It is advisable to apply early as many awards are given on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Once the required information is made available and ready, the application in itself is pretty much straightforward, broken down into a few steps/sections:
Once the form is submitted, FAFSA will start processing it, and the applicant can monitor its progress by logging into studentaid.gov with their FSA ID. Schools selected by the applicant will automatically receive information from FAFSA, and if selected for admission, will tailor a financial aid package for the applicant.
Important: FAFSA application must be done every year, not only at the time of seeking admission.
While the FAFSA Graduate School form is quite simple, there is always a chance of overlooking important and complicated things in the bargain. There are thousands of FAFSA applications made each year, and it is essential to keep the finger on the ball, focus, and assiduously enter information on the FAFSA form. These few tips should help in staying on top:
Completing and submitting the FAFSA Graduate School form is only the beginning. There are a few more steps to take before a student receives the aid in their hands.
Yes, FAFSA covers graduate schools. The student applying for FAFSA has to enter a list of preferred schools in the FAFSA form, even if they have not yet applied to those schools or have not yet been admitted to those schools.
A student (and parents of dependent students) has to visit studentaid.gov, create an account (FSA ID) and proceed to fill in the FAFSA form. The process is fairly straightforward, but more information and help can be sought from this page (in the sections above).
The quantum of financial aid largely depends on several formulae and is decided by the college’s financial aid office.
An FSA ID is the username that has been used to create an account on the studentaid.gov website. This is the ID that is required to log into, fill and sign the FAFSA form. Dependent students must have their parents sign up and create their own FSA IDs.
The FAFSA form is available at studentaid.gov, and this is the only official site on which it is available. The form must be filled and submitted online by creating an FSA ID. Avoid any third-party or unofficial sites that claim to offer the FAFSA form.
The FAFSA form on the official FAFSA site administered by the U.S. Department of Education is free. There is no application fee or other fees for filling out the form or applying for FAFSA.
Through the FAFSA process, a student may be eligible to receive a variety of aid types, such as (a) Federal Grants, (b) Scholarships, (c) Work-Study Programs, or (d) Federal Student Loans.
According to studentaid.gov, digital applications typically take between 3 and 5 days to process, whereas paper applications may require 7 to 10 days.
The standard practice with most Colleges is to send financial aid award letters, along with admission acceptance letters, or shortly after. Upon receipt of the aid award letter, the student must accept or deny the offer before the financial aid deadline. It is only after this entire process that the student will receive the aid money.
Yes, it is possible in some instances to lose financial aid awarded through FAFSA. This could happen if the student’s:
A student could also lose financial aid if he or she:
Seeking financial aid can be a tricky business. There are more than a few options to explore and hundreds of sites that claim to offer scholarships and awards, most of which eventually turn out to be fake. Here are some genuinely good resources for students to use and find information on a FAFSA Graduate School, as well as other funding options for graduate studies:
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