Understanding the FAFSA

My name is Jonathan Rhodes, outreach Manager for South Carolina Student Loans. And I'm just here to help you understand the concept of the FAFSA. The FAFSA is simply the free application for Federal Student Aid.

It's very, very important, because this is the step where you will find out if you are eligible for any student aid. In previous years, you would have your EFC, which is your estimated family contribution. Based on that score, it will determine exactly how much you're going to be eligible for in Pell.

Most students have to be able to apply for that FAFSA to be eligible for any type of aid. So especially if you're looking for grants and scholarships, any need-based help, that's something that you'll have to complete your FAFSA to have those things become available for you.

If you are a junior filling out your FAFSA, it doesn't really make a lot of sense because you'll still have to complete it again for your senior year, because you have to apply for your FAFSA every single year. Okay? So it is important for seniors to be able to get that done as soon as possible, as it is contingent on a lot of things. You have to use your tax forms to be able to apply for your FAFSA, so that's where the parent comes in. So that's why it's important to have that information available when you do actually apply for your FAFSA. In previous years, we had a FAFSA PIN, which you just had to have a PIN number to be able to log into your FAFSA.