FAFSA??

[wishiwasbeyonce]

This might be a really dumb question, but I was talking to a friend who has also applied to grad school, and she said she had to fill out the FAFSA. To my understanding, that wasn't something we needed to do, but now I don't know. Is this required? Thanks!

[BioCook]

Hi there! I didn't think to fill out my FAFSA until I went to apply for an optional scholarship at Teachers College. For one of their scholarships, one of the things I had to do before submitting that scholarship application (separate from the program application) was fill out the FAFSA. At that point, I just did it for all my schools (there's a point where you add the schools you're applying to). I don't think it hurts if you're looking to get some financial aid, work-study, etc. I'm new at this stuff too, so let me know if you find additional info!

EDIT: I love the username, @wishiwasbeyonce

Edited February 1, 2019 by BioCook
Additional info

[bibliophile222]

If you're self-funded or your school covers all your tuition and you have no need of loans then you might not need to fill one out at all. If you want financial aid (aka loans, because that's all they give grad students) then you should do it ASAP. Even if you don't know which school you're going to, there's a spot where you can input multiple schools, so you might as well send it to all of them. Even if you don't take out loans for tuition, you'll have to fill it out if you want a grad PLUS loan.

The nice thing about filling it out as a grad student is that you don't need your parents' information, so you might be eligible for a lot more aid, depending on income.

[SpeechOblongota]

Exactly what I was going to say. It doesn't hurt to fill it out just in case. Some grad school scholarships look for financial need and FAFSA is how you'll prove that, especially since you won't have parent income included.

[AlwaysaFalcon]

I agree with both @bibliophile222 and @SpeechOblongota it does not hurt to fill out the FAFSA! I personally rely on the those student loans to attend graduate school while also applying to scholarships. It was funny when I first was accept to grad school I didn't know that they offered work study at the graduate level. But after I interviewed with an on campus job I found I qualified for work study. If not for filling out the FAFSA I wouldn't have gotten the job!