<p>I tried the FAFSA website but I didn't understand what they meant. </p>
<p>I'm applying to colleges for the 2011-2012 academic year. So I understand that the application for FAFSA becomes available at the beginning of the year, but when do i need to have it completed by in order to have the money when i need it? And when do they stop accepting it for that academic year? Please and thank you
Shannan</p>
<p>Check your college webiste for deadlines and requirements. You will need to complete and submit your FAFSA and any other requirements based on your college’s deadlines.</p>
<p>Submit as soon as you can after January 1st. Schools have deadlines, but DON’T wait until the deadlines…those who submit early often get the best packages.</p>
<p>FAFSA itself does not really have a deadline. Well it does sort if but not one that is meaningful for the regular school year. The final time to file this year’s FAFSA, the 2010-2011 FAFSA, for instance is around June 30th 2011. This is because there are students who will be starting school at different times during the year and they can file FAFSA at any time. For instance if a student is starting school in summer 2011 (which is part of the 2010-2011 school year for many schools) then they can file FAFSA up to June of 2011 to be considered for FA for the 2010-2011 school year.</p>
<p>So the deadlines you need to be concerned with are the deadlines your school will have posted on their website. Some federal FA such as the Pell and Stafford loans will be the same whether you file early or late. Some federal aid is what they call campus based aid where each school is given a limited amount of dollars and once they have awarded those dollars they can get no more. Schools determine their own criteria for awarding campus based aid but there are usually more people who qualify than they have money to award and they run out of funding. SEOG grants, Work Study, and Perkins loans are campus based aid.</p>
<p>Also some state based aid may have deadlines (our state has a small need based grant with an April deadline, California’s very generous calgrants have a firm march 2 deadline). And school’s own funds have deadlines also. </p>
<p>So check your school’s deadlines and make sure you meet them.</p>