FAFSA Guide

• Only include your custodial parent’s information
• If both share custody, list the one that financially supports you the most
• If both support you equally, list the one you've lived with more in the last 12 months

• Fill out using only your information
• List a family size of one if you don’t have dependents
• You don’t need your foster parent or guardian’s signature

• You need to include your parents’ information
• If they don’t have a Social Security number, write “000-00-0000”
• If they didn’t file a tax return, check “Not going to file”

• You’ll need a Social Security number to fill out the form
• You’ll have to provide your parents’ information
• If your parents don’t have a Social Security number, write “000-00-0000”

If your parents are missing or incarcerated, you left home due to an abusive family environment or you're between the ages of 21 and 24 and experiencing homelessness, you can request a dependency override. By doing this, you won’t have to include your parents’ financial information — just yours — and you could be eligible for additional aid.

• You’ll fill out the form as usual, skipping Step Four and Five
• Contact your school after submitting the form to request the override
• You’ll need to provide proof of your situation (police reports, incarceration records, etc.)

If you’re an emancipated minor at the time you fill out the FAFSA, you don’t have to put your parents’ financial information, as you’ll be considered an independent student.

• Answer “yes” to the question on whether you’re emancipated
• You’ll skip Step Four and Five and provide only your financial information
• If your income is limited, you may be eligible for additional aid

If one of your parents has died — even if it was recently — you can’t include their financial information in the FAFSA. If both of your parents have died, you’ll automatically be considered an independent student, even if you’re under the age of 24.

• You’ll put only the financial information of your surviving parent
• If both parents have died, answer “yes” to that question in Step Three, skipping Step Four
• If either of your parents die after filling out the FAFSA, contact your financial aid office

If your parents never got married, how you fill out the form will depend on whether they still live together or not.

• If they live together, check “never married” in Step Four and include information for both of them
• If they live separately, list only the income of your custodial parent
• If they live separately but share equal custody, list the income of the one that supports you the most financially

As a student, you have equal access to aid as any of your peers, regardless of your parents’ identities — whether they’re married or not.

• If your parents are married, fill out the form with information from both of them
• If your parents are unmarried and living separately, you’ll include only the information of your custodial parent
• If your parents are unmarried and living together, you’ll include information from both of them

The Student Aid Report (SAR) is an electronic copy of your completed FAFSA form, which you can reference to view your answers and the schools that will be receiving your information. It also gives you some basic insight about your eligibility to receive federal financial aid.

When you first fill out the FAFSA, you'll have the opportunity to list up to 20 schools that will receive the results of your application (or up to 10 schools if you're filling out a paper form). You will need to provide the following information for each:

• The school’s federal code.
• The school's name.
• The school's address and city.
• The school's state.
• Whether you’ll be living on campus, with parents or off campus.

If you need to add schools after submitting the FAFSA, you can do so online, over the phone or by mail. To do so online, you'll log into your FAFSA portal and click the “Add/Update Schools” option. You can also add schools by contacting the Federal Student Aid Information Center over the phone or by printing your SAR, listing the colleges on the report and mailing it back to the Federal Student Aid address listed.

Formerly known as the FAFSA4caster, the Federal Student Aid Estimator is a free tool powered by the Office of Federal Student Aid that allows you to see how much aid you may be eligible for based on your expected family contribution (EFC). To use this tool, you’ll need provide:

• Basic personal information.
• Information about the number of people in your household.
• Total household income and value of assets from the previous tax year.