Dear editor:
I must say (Molly Sargent’s article), College Corner: Filing the FAFSA, is, as always, a very well-written and thorough article. Having been through the college application process, I can say that it is extremely helpful to know all of this information before you need to actually go through the steps.
I work in the financial aid office at Fresno Pacific University (and graduated from Fresno Christian in 2009), and the FAFSA is by far one of the things that causes the most stress to incoming students. As was mentioned in the article, though the FAFSA is technically due by March 2, it is advisable that students prepare and, ideally, complete it at least a couple weeks in advance, as this will alleviate any potential issues wherein the FAFSA reflects incorrect or incomplete information.
Likewise, it takes a minimum of three business days for the parent and student PINs to become active, which can cause immense frustration if a student is completing the FAFSA close to the deadline.
On the bright side, once students complete the FAFSA, the remaining financial aid paperwork is usually pretty easy, as everything provided on the FAFSA is sent electronically to the colleges/universities the student specified.
The FAFSA does need to be submitted again once per year for each subsequent year of college, however the majority of the information will already be pre-populated from the previous year’s record.
