<p>Should I begin now or is there a certain date that I can only begin filling the forms out?</p>
<p>thanks!</p>
<p>If you are starting college in Fall 2010 the FAFSA you will need to fill out will be the 2010-2011 FAFSA. This will not be available until january 1st 2010.</p>
<p>In the meantime, go to FAFSA4caster</a> - U.S. Department of Education & do the FAFSA forecaster. It will give you & your parents an idea of what your expected family contribution will be. This is important info as you consider colleges. In addition, the non-income/asset info will roll over to the real FAFSA next year when you go to fill it out.</p>
<p>The FAFSA is available on January 1 of the year you will be starting college that fall. In other words...for most students...this is Jan 1 of their SENIOR (or last) year in high school.</p>
<p>I thought you fill it out for 2009-2010.</p>
<p>The dates on the FAFSA refer to the *Academic year *you are requesting aid, not the calendar year. So current seniors are filling out the 2009-2010 FAFSA because they will start their freshman year in Aug or Sept of 2009, and finish it in May-June of 2010.</p>
<p>You are a junior and will start your college freshman year in Aug or Sept of 2010 and finish in May or June 2011. So your first FAFSA will be the 2010-2011 FAFSA, which will be available January 1, 2010 (your senior year).</p>
<p>It is GREAT that you are looking in to this well in advance! Follow kelsmom's link to start getting an idea of what you may be eligible for.</p>
<p>Thanks all for the information...it wasn't very clear to me when I was supposed to initiate the process when I was browsing the website. </p>
<p>Oh yeah thanks kelsmom for that website...i remember hearing about it but couldnt remember the name of it.</p>