Every college-bound person and their parents need to know how the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) process works. Some may dismiss the idea of applying for financial aid for college because they think they make too much money to qualify. But regardless of their family earnings, they may be eligible for some form of financial assistance, including federal, state, and school-based aid as well as merit-based scholarships.

So far it has been a struggle trying to apply to colleges and universities on time while trying to balance my outside and school life as well. I’ve applied to approximately 20 colleges and have gotten into 6/20 so far. The process hasn’t been quite easy. 

FAFSA was originally supposed to be opened on December 1. I made regular decisions for all my applications and knew I still had time to apply for FAFSA. In previous years, multiple graduates have told me how stressful and long the questionnaires are and to immediately get started once it open. Unfortunately, the date was pushed back to the 31st. On the day of 31st, I logged into my account and it still wasn’t open. I saw numerous tiktoks of highschools on my FYP expressing the same issues they were having. Many suggested that it was going to open the first of January. 

Eventually, it ended up opening on the first but there were a lot of bugs. I tried opening it, but It wouldn’t open. A few people were able to get on it. Sometimes, it’ll log you out while doing it. I was able to catch it the next day and successfully filled the form out. That was such a huge burden off my shoulders. Luckily the application process didn’t take that long so I was able to complete it within the first 20 minutes.