FAFSA for Canadian students without SSN

[IceCap]

I am a Canadian student applying to an American school that is asking for the FAFSA to be filled out. However, I do not have a social security number and you need one to fill the form out. What can I do?

[Rachel B]

The FAFSA is used by both the federal government and individual institutions to award financial aid to students. Because you're not an American/don't have a SSN, you won't be receiving any federal aid and your FAFSA will solely be used by the institution.

But first you should check with the school to make sure they didn't just mean that domestic students have to fill out the FAFSA. Some schools have special forms for international students in place of the FAFSA. If they do say all students have to fill out the FAFSA, you might also want to contact them to see if they have specific instructions for international students. I know several international graduate applicants who were required to fill out the pdf/paper version of the FAFSA in place of the electronic version and just send it to their school (but obviously not the federal government).

Here's the pdf version for 2012-2013: http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/fotw1213/pdf/PdfFafsa12-13.pdf

Edited January 2, 2012 by Rachel B

[IceCap]

Thank you! That helps a lot.