With the FAFSA out, it’s time for families to start sitting down and filling out their applications! When you do, we want you to be as prepared as possible so there’s nothing slowing you down from completing the FAFSA and getting the aid you need for your student’s education.
With that in mind, we suggest gathering up some of your documentation to have on hand when you’re working on the FAFSA. These documents will help speed up the process and make sure you’re filling out the form as accurately as possible. The documents you’ll need are:
- StudentAid.gov Account, and the account of anyone contributing information for the FAFSA. We suggest using our StudentAid.gov Account Worksheet when creating your ID, so you’ll have your account information readily available whenever you need it.
- Social Security Number. Have a copy of your Social Security Card in front of you. You’ll want to make sure you enter your number and your name as accurately as possible, to make sure there’s no mistakes on your form.
- Alien Registration Number. If you’re not a citizen, you can use your Alien Registration Number in place of a Social Security Number.
- Parent(s)’ date of birth, current address, Social Security Number and email address. These are important to match up on both the student and parent sides of the FAFSA, so make sure you use the exact same information for both!
- 2023 Federal income tax returns, W-2s, and other records of money earned. For the financial portions of the FAFSA, you’ll want to have these financial documents with you.
- Current total of cash, savings, and checking accounts.
- Records of investment (if applicable).
- Records of untaxed income (if applicable).
- Net worth of farm(s) or small business(es) (if applicable).
For a handy reference, you can down load our Items Needed to Compete a FAFSA flyer from UCanGo2.org, as well as many other helpful FAFSA related publications.
Good luck!