<p>Daughter will be completing all apps in a few weeks. Do I have to wait till January 1 to start to fill out the online FAFSA from or can i start now?</p>
<p>No. The one available now is for the 2009-2010 school year. That will not count as having applied for aid for the 2010-2011 school year. Quite a few students miss their schools and state priority aid deadlines because they think they have submitted FAFSA on time but have done the wrong years which does not count. The 2010-2011 one is available January 1st 2010.</p>
<p>You can get started by applying for PIN numbers (a parent needs one and the student needs one). Also I believe if you do the FAFSA4caster now it can give you an EFC estimate (only as accurate as your input of course, and the rules will probably change between now and then) the information can be used to populate the actual FAFSA came January.</p>