FAFSA: The least confusing government application is the most confusing application for normal people. Ever.

I noticed the other topics, and since you guys aren't serious at all, I'd figure this would be the best place to ask since I'd get the most response, and at least one of those would be good.

I took the SAT my sophomore year for the hell of it and got a 1950. Anyhow, I'm graduating high school June 2010, and I thought I should apply for the FAFSA. Yeah, I think I spent an hour looking for the help button.

Has anybody that's applied for this before any advice or help to give?

Also, a thing about college applications: when it asks for the SAT score, should I just give it, and when I take the SAT again later, have my scores sent? I mean, what if they're different?

What exactly is your trouble with the FAFSA? It's actually pretty simple as long as you have all the documents you need on hand.

1950 is a really good score. You ought to take the ACT too. It's really the most popular and most practical now. Some schools don't even care about the SAT anymore.

Unless your dad makes NO money like mine, and you basically get a free ride.

@Vellfire

So if my dad makes money and we say my family is financially secure, I get no money? I have a better chance filling out scholarships then for being a minority.

ACT is slowly gaining steam here on the west coast, but nobody gives a crap about it still. They DO accept ACT scores for most colleges, though. I'm not taking it, since its score is a much smaller number than an SAT score.

@Psyburn, thanks for the infos. I'll probably go down to talk to my advisor person thing Tuesday. Or tomorrow if I can find him/her.

@Vellfire

So if my dad makes money and we say my family is financially secure, I get no money? I have a better chance filling out scholarships then for being a minority.

ACT is slowly gaining steam here on the west coast, but nobody gives a crap about it still. They DO accept ACT scores for most colleges, though.

Psyburn, thanks for the infos. I'll probably go down to talk to my advisor person thing Tuesday. Or tomorrow if I can find him/her.

East Coast is all about the SAT. I only know two or three kids who actually went to take the ACT, though it certainly doesn't hurt. Cover all your bases, if you're applying to the Midwest, I guess.

Give your SAT scores now and update them later. Again, 1950 is good enough to send right now. Then you can send better scores later, if you want. Don't take it too many times, though: it doesn't look all that great, and it's also really annoying to take them over and over again. Remember to take you SAT IIs well before they need to be sent, if the colleges you want to apply to require them.

FAFSA is pretty not-difficult; it just requires a tremendous amount of useless information on the part of your parents. (Is this the one that asks when your parents' wedding day was? Or is that the CSS? Actually, dont' forget to fill that out, too!) If you are financially secure, you can still get money. It just depends on how "secure" you are, and where your parents' income is going. For instance, my parents makes a fair amount of money. Enough to be "secure", I guess. The problem is that they supports five or more dependents at any given time, three of which are in college. Then they fund a small business startup. So, yeah, we get a fair amount of financial aid. It all depends on your situation, really.

(So if you're an only child with rich parents, you're screwed for financial aid. Which really shouldn't matter, seeing as how your parents should be able to pay for tuition, anyway. Random anecdote: I've got this friend in that situation whose parents paid her whole tuition when she enrolled. By whole, I mean all four years. $200,000. I'm assuming she didn't get any financial aid, if they can put that kind of money up front.)

If your school has a college/career center, go there! I made the mistake of not even walking into the doors until the end of my senior year, and missed out on a lot of really great scholarships I could have applied for! Also, sometimes you guidance counselor is awesome, but other times they can be maddeningly unhelpful (mine kept confusing Penn with Penn State, which would have really sucked when sending my transcripts! I had to keep double-checking my stuff). On the subject of transcripts, get those out ASAP when school ends. My school sent the final transcripts out two months after school ended (July, or something equally ridiculous), and the deadline for many colleges was that May. Needless to say, there was a huge line of pissed ex-seniors at the guidance office during the summer.

Good job getting on the FAFSA now. I waited until the last moment, literally. Hell, my college applications were sent the day they were due. (God bless you, Common Application.)

/publicserviceannoucement

back when I was taking the SAT, like the ACT was an option but nobody even like even thought it was useful.  Apparently the ACT is bigger out west and I've since confirmed that since I go to a school in the midwest now, but like on the east coast back home, people had MAYBE heard of the ACT, but everyone took the SAT because nobody gave a shit about the ACT.  Don't know if this is still the case now.

Really? I'm here in CA and the SAT is far bigger here than the ACT. Ironically, I've always thought that the east coast accepts ACTs more.

Alright guy rule number one:

1. Do this as early as possible. It's ridiculous seeing how many people are *still* applying for financial aid for the 2009 year at my school. The year already started, so tuition has to have been paid for already, as well as books, etc. It sucks for a lot of people who decided to wait. They're sitting without books until the next disbursement, which is probably AFTER midterms.

Rule two:

2. When FAFSA asks what schools you are thinking of applying to, SEND FAFSA TO AS MANY OF THEM AS POSSIBLE. (I think there was a 14 school limit, but then again I could be wrong and for all I know there was a button to add more schools). My friend decided to go to community college kinda late, and I was supposed carpool with him to school, so I was sitting there in edumacational limbo until he decided which one to go to. And of course, as the fates would have it, he decided to go to a college where I had not sent my FAFSA. I was thinking about sending it there, of course, but the chances of me going there were slim to none. So I didn't. And it's indeed possible for you to edit your information and resend the FAFSA. The problem is that that school has to VERIFY all of your information, which can take as many as 6-8 weeks AFTER school starts!

Rule three:

3. If your parents are divorced, use the parent that makes the least amount of money. You can ignore your other parent completely, making it look like you have less money. Obviously though, they have to file their taxes separately. And you also need to

Rule four:

4. Get that parent's tax returns. If your parents are married, that's fine, just get the joint tax return. You must force them to file as soon as January 1 rolls around.

That's pretty much all I can think of for now, and as far as I know,  most of the information that you'll need. I just did this last year, and my financial aid counselor mentioned that other people often times get confused and fill out more paperwork. All FAFSA needs to know, verification-wise, is the information on your tax return, nothing else. Well, that, and the usual bureaucratic crap that you fill out in every other place. Name, address, parental education, et al.

Good luck and let me know if you have any questions. I can ferry your questions to my counselor.