How To Apply Online For Federal Student Aid

It is now possible to apply for federal student aid online. If you are seeking federal student aid to help pay for the cost of college please read this article to learn the step by step way to apply for financial aid from the United States government.

Your first step is to visit the main website of the United States government: usa.gov. This is a very well laid out “portal” website, meaning that you can access numerous specific federal programs (including federal student aid programs) from this main website.

Next, click on the link that appears very close to the top of the page that says “Apply for Student Aid.” When you click on this link, you will be directed to the main website for all of the various federal student aid programs. You will see several different links on this main page. The link you want to click on is “Funding Your Education.”

Once you are on the web page with the heading “Funding Your Education,” you will want to scroll down to the middle of the page, where you will see yet another link that says “Applying For Financial Aid.” Click on this link.

You will next be taken to a webpage with the heading “Federal Student Aid Forms.” As the initial paragraph on this page indicates, the FAFSA form (or the Free Application for Federal Student Aid) is the form that just about all U.S. college students (and aspiring U.S. college students) fill out in order to obtain financial assistance from the federal government. Near the top of this page, you will see a link to the application itself (fafsa.ed.gov). You can fill out this application form and submit it online. (However, if you prefer to submit your application via snail mail, simply follow the directions indicated on this web page.)

Be sure to proofread and double check all of the information you include on your application form several times before submitting it to be sure that you have not made any errors or left anything out.

As indicated on the webpage, students are strongly encouraged to apply for federal student aid on or as close as possible to the first of January in any given year.