Tips for filling out the FAFSA as a first-generation college student

Being a first-generation college student is a big deal and a huge opportunity. You’ll be the first person in your family to get a degree. But first, there's the FAFSA to navigate. Don't be afraid to ask for help along the way.

Being a first-generation college student is a big deal and a huge opportunity. You’ll be the first person in your family to experience the lighter side of college — like experimenting with ill-advised late-night dining options — as well as the more serious ultimate goal: getting a degree.

Navigating the college experience is hard enough as it is, but many first-gen students face an even steeper uphill battle: English may not be spoken at home, parents may be working long hours, or affordable tutoring programs may not have been available. Those who do attend college may face higher dropout rates and take longer to graduate. According to the Pell Institute, about 11% of low-income, first-generation students who entered college in 2003 received a bachelor’s degree within six years, compared with 54% of non-low-income, non-first generation students who did.

But before students can even register for classes, they need to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, which gives access to federal grants, scholarships, loans and work-study. The FAFSA can be challenging for all families filling it out for the first time, but for first-gen students it may be even more overwhelming and intimidating — and that can have a major impact on their financial aid. In fact, in the 2007-08 school year, dependent students whose parents had a high school diploma or below received an average of $2,000 less in total aid than students whose parents had earned a bachelor’s degree or higher, according to a study by the National Center for Education Statistics.

Going into the FAFSA without any background knowledge can put you at a disadvantage, but filling it out is not an impossible task — and you don’t have to go it alone.

Here are our top FAFSA tips for first-generation college students and, for that matter, everyone filling it out for the first time:

Use the IRS data retrieval tool

With 108 questions on the FAFSA, the hardest part will probably be figuring out what each question is asking for, especially when it comes to questions related to taxes.

“It was incredibly intimidating, because at that point nobody had ever covered taxes with me,” says Rhina Lara, a first-generation student at the University of Florida and director of H1G, a mentoring program for first-generation honors students.

However, if you’re eligible to use the IRS data retrieval tool, the FAFSA gets a lot less complicated. It pulls information from your tax returns directly to your application. The FAFSA opens on Oct. 1, 2016, for the 2017-18 school year, so you’ll be using tax information from the year before to fill it out initially. This will result in just an estimate of your aid, but you can update it after you file your tax return. Your updated information will be available within three weeks if you filed electronically or within 11 weeks if you filed on paper. Ask your parents to file electronically to speed up the process.

Another tip: Get your FSA ID before you start filling out the FAFSA.

Your FSA ID is the username and password you’ll be using if you complete the FAFSA online, and it follows you from the Federal Student Aid site and National Student Loan Data System to StudentLoans.gov. You’ll need your Social Security number, and it takes the Social Security Administration one to three days to process your info if you’re new to the system, so creating an ID before you start your application will help cut down on processing time.

Start your FAFSA ASAP

Since many first-generation college students don’t have access to the same resources as other students, it’s vital to give yourself enough time to complete the FAFSA. Sarah Place, National Access Program director at Bottom Line, a nonprofit company that focuses on helping first-generation and low-income students get into and succeed in college, says: “There’s a knowledge gap. … [They] just don’t know what the college application process is like.”

That means it can take first-gen students longer to complete the FAFSA than those with more experience with it, as Khalil Johnson, a junior at Pitzer College and blogger at I’m First, an online community for first-gen students, found when he filled out his first FAFSA.

“It was about a month-and-a-half-long process to fill it out; it did not go quickly at all,” says Johnson, who noted that he spent most of that time clarifying what each question asked for.

The FAFSA also has varying state and school deadlines. For example, your state deadline might fall after an institution’s deadline.

“Make sure that you’re keeping track of each school and each deadline,” Place says, “because when it comes to financial aid and missing a deadline, there can be major consequences, even missing the deadline by one day.”

Gather your documents

Use this FAFSA checklist to keep track of all the documents and information you’ll need before you start. This includes:

• Your FSA ID.
• Your SSN.
  • If you’re not a U.S. citizen and you don’t have an SSN, be sure to include your alien registration number along with your application.
• Your driver’s license number.
• Federal tax information or returns from the previous year. (Be sure to mark “will file” on your application. You can correct the information once you get your latest tax returns.)
  • For a U.S. tax return, this will be an IRS 1040, 1040A or 1040EZ form (include all W-2s as well).
  • For a foreign tax return (or for a tax return from one of the U.S. territories), include everything.
• Records of your current bank account balances.
• Records of untaxed income (such as child support, interest income and veterans noneducation benefits).

If you’re a dependent student, you’ll need to gather these documents from your parents as well. If a parent doesn’t have an SSN, input 000-00-0000. The FAFSA does not ask about your parents’ citizenship status.

You’ll also have to include at least one targeted school when you first fill out the FAFSA; you can send it to more schools later on. If you go that route, though, you might miss out on first-come-first-served aid, so it’s best to include all schools you’re interested in attending (up to 10). Use the federal school code search tool to add schools to your application.

Talk to your parents about their finances

First-generation students and their parents may lack experience with the financial aid process, but that doesn’t mean you should go it alone if you can help it. Get on the same page with your parents and get a realistic idea of your finances. It can be a touchy subject, but the result (aka your estimated family contribution, the amount the government estimates your family can afford to pay out-of-pocket) affects them too, especially if they end up taking out a Parent PLUS loan to finance your education. Johnson found the support from his mother to be especially comforting.

“My mom was really hands-on. She had no idea what she was doing, but she was not afraid to ask,” he says.

You should ask for basic information you’ll need to fill out the FAFSA such as, “What’s your gross annual income?” and “Do you receive any external income like child support or government assistance?” But you should also ask questions about how you’ll pay for school. For example:

• How much do you think we can afford to pay out-of-pocket per year?
• Who is responsible for financing my education? What is a good ratio of financial responsibility? For some, it’s a 50-50 split between the parent and student. For others, it’s necessary to leave it up to the student to pay for college.
• Do I have a 529 savings account? Do we have other savings that we will be using to finance my education?
• Do you expect our financial situation to change over the next four years? This includes changes such as getting a raise (especially if it pushes your parents into another federal tax bracket), having a child or changing jobs. If your parents’ income isn’t reliable, for example if they freelance or they’re looking to switch careers, you should be aware that your FAFSA results (and, by extension, your financial aid package) may vary greatly from year to year.

Your parents may have no frame of reference for talking about financial aid, the FAFSA or student loans, but involving them in the process will help you take control of your financial future.

Ask for help

The questions on the FAFSA aren’t always clear-cut, so reaching out for guidance and support is extremely important for first-gen students. Where can you go for help? Place suggests calling the Federal Student Aid information center at 800-4FED-AID (800-433-3243).

“They’re actually pretty helpful, and they usually pick up the phone pretty quickly,” she says, adding that students shouldn’t be afraid to ask questions that may seem obvious.

There are other places first-gen students can go for help, too. College Goal Sunday, for example, offers an extensive list of resources for filling out the FAFSA. Your high school guidance counselor can also offer assistance with navigating your financial aid applications. And this FAFSA Guide also has information for filling it out, particularly for students who have nontraditional family circumstances, like students who don’t depend on their parents or who have an unusual immigration status.

Lara, the first-gen student from the University of Florida, suggests leaning on local students and families who’ve already filled out the FAFSA as another source of support.

“Reaching out to other students, especially those who have done it already, that’s really your best bet. Living in Miami, a lot of my friends were also first-gen, but talking to students who’d already done it was really helpful. They were the ones who knew exactly what to tell me,” she says.

Next steps

Once you’ve submitted your FAFSA, you’re in the homestretch, but you’re not over the finish line yet.

Follow up with each school to make sure it has received your documents. If you don’t see confirmation within the first two weeks, send the financial aid office an email.

If you get your Student Aid Report back and your estimated family contribution seems too high, you can submit additional documents to have it adjusted for your circumstances.

Remember, the federal student aid process doesn’t end after you click “submit.” The FAFSA needs to be filled out every year you’re in school.

Devon Delfino is a staff writer at NerdWallet, a personal finance website. Email: ddelfino@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @devondelfino. This article first appeared at NerdWallet.