<p>this year im becoming a senior in HS, so i have to start thinking what colleges i am going to and i know i have to apply for scholarships and stuff but my question is, do i apply to fl bright future and fafsa before i get accepted into colleges or after? if after, lets say i get accepted into 3 i applied to, then do i have to pick one before filling out bright future and fafsa?</p>
<p>You must file FAFSA in January of your Senior year to find out what your expected family contribution will be and to determine if you are eligible for financial aid. You should apply to schools in the fall and send SAT or ACT scores to the schools you are applying to. You get 4 free schools when you register for the SAT. I believe Bright Future applications are in the fall of your senior year too.</p>
<p>anyone else have another answer?</p>
<p>FAFSA will be available on January 1st, 2011 for the 2011-2012 academic year.
Colleges have a deadline to receive the FAFSA which usually is before you know if you were accepted or not. You should send your FAFSA to all colleges that require it as soon as possible after the 1st of January and do not miss the deadline. Check the college website for their deadline.
Bright Scholarship can only be submitted after December 1st, 2010 and before you graduate.
[OSFA</a> Home](<a href=“http://www.floridastudentfinancialaid.org%5DOSFA”>http://www.floridastudentfinancialaid.org)</p>
<p>now im confused, you are saying colleges have a deadline to receive the fafsa and usually is before i know wheter i was accepter or not, does that mean i have to fill out the FAFSA before i know im going to be accepted? what if i applied to more than 1 school.
And you said bright future can be submitted after december but before i graduate, that still doesn’t answer if i should fill it out before or after i know i got accepted to the colleges i applied to.</p>
<p>You apply to FAFSA before the college deadline (for financial information) regardless of their decision to accept you or not.</p>
<p>On the last page of FAFSA you list all colleges that you want send it to. You can send to all colleges at once.It’s free. The information on FAFSA is the same for all colleges public or private.
I’ll give you an example: this year UF release its decision in mid-February and FAFSA was due Mar 15 so you could wait to submit after decision date. However University of Miami decision comes in April and FAFSA is due Feb1. If you were applying for both universities you could just submit by Feb 1 and be done with it regardless of being accepted or not. </p>
<p>Bright Scholarship
Students must apply during their last year in high school (after December 1 and prior to graduation) or forfeit all future eligibility for a Bright Futures Scholarship.
To Be Considered for a Florida Bright Futures Scholarship a Student Must:</p>
<ol>
<li>Apply for a Florida Bright Futures Scholarship by completing the Initial Student Florida Financial Aid Application (FFAA)* during his/her last year in high school prior to graduation. A student may apply online at [OSFA</a> Home](<a href=“http://www.FloridaStudentFinancialAid.org%5DOSFA”>http://www.FloridaStudentFinancialAid.org) beginning December 1st of his/her last year in high school. This application gives the Florida Department of Education (FDOE) permission to evaluate his/her high school transcripts for eligibility for a Florida Bright Futures Scholarship.</li>
</ol>
<p>All information is on [OSFA</a> Home](<a href=“http://www.floridastudentfinancialaid.org%5DOSFA”>http://www.floridastudentfinancialaid.org).</p>
<p>Fill out the FAFSA as soon as possible after January and by the deadlines required by your colleges. You and your parents can fill it out with estimated numbers or if they can actually fill out their tax forms in January you can fill it out using those numbers. The FAFSA has room to list 10 collleges so you simply put all the colleges where you will apply onto the FAFSA. If you use estimated numbers you and your parents will have to go back and update the FAFSA using the actual numbers from the income tax forms that were filed as soon as your parents taxes are filed. What you can do right now is get a FAFSA pin number for yourself and your parents can get their pin, too, Only one parent pin is required if your parents are married. You can tell your parents that this is one year where it is a good idea to try and complete their taxes before April.</p>
<p>There are FAFSA estimators (links are all over the place on these forums) if you (and your parents) want to get an estimate of what the EFC might be. This is also a good thing to do now. It will give all of you an idea of your own situation relative to federal aid and it also helps everyone understand what kind of information is needed to complete the actual form. </p>
<p>Also send your ACT (or SAT) scores to the colleges when you send your application. If you know where you will apply you can fill that in when you take the tests. If you want to wait and see what your scores are or you take it multiple times you can go online and order the test scores at any time.</p>
<p>FAFSA ONLY relates to federal aid so look at the college websites to see what scholarships are available and what the due dates are for any additional information might be needed.</p>
<p>So: 1) apply for a student PIN and a parent PIN for FAFSA. 2) Use an on-line calculator to estimate your EFC 3) Fill out the FAFSA as soon as possible in January and by your college deadlines. 4) Look at the college websites and take notes about the due dates for FAFSA, and any college related scholarships</p>
<p>Forgot to say… Bright Future apply within the time frame posted and if you don’t know which college you will attend you can update/change the college name later.</p>