<p>Can I request a FAFSA pin before January 1st, when the 2012 FAFSA start?</p>
<p>Yes. It is a good idea to have the PINs (one for student, one for a parent if the student is a dependent) set up before you do FAFSA. That way if there are any snafus with getting a PIN (we had issues with setting up our son’s PIN), you have time to get them sorted out without messing up deadlines. The same PINs will be used for future years FAFSAs and also for accessing online records about loan amounts etc.</p>