You (the student) should complete your section of the form first.
We strongly recommend that you (the student) start the form and complete your section first to save time and prevent errors.
When you fill out the student section, you’ll answer questions to determine your dependency status and if anyone else, such as your parent(s), must contribute to your form. If you don’t start the form first, or if you and your contributors are working in your form at the same time, your contributors may have more difficulty completing their section or may even spend time providing information that’s not required.
Starting the form first will also prevent data entry mistakes, such as your parent accidentally entering their own information when they should be entering yours. Once you’ve completed your section, be sure to send invitations to all contributors to your form before saving and exiting.
Read questions and definitions carefully.
There’ve been major updates to the FAFSA® form for the 2024–2025 award year, and many questions and definitions have changed. When filling out your form, read each question and definition carefully.
Consult in-form resources if you need help.
Use the help text and help articles (accessible via the question mark icon) embedded in the form if you’re not sure how to answer a question. Changing your answers to questions that impact your eligibility for aid may create errors in the form. If you change your answer to any of the following questions, you may need to delete your form and start over to fix the error.
- Marital Status – Options are single (never married), Married (not separated), Remarried, Separated, Divorced, and Widowed. Select your status as of the day the FAFSA® form is completed.
- Citizenship – Options are U.S. citizen or national; Eligible noncitizen; and Neither U.S. citizen nor eligible noncitizen. Eligible noncitizens include U.S. nationals (such as natives of American Samoa or Swains Island) and permanent residents. If you indicate you are an eligible noncitizen, you will likely have an A-Number assigned to you, and you will need to provide this number on your form.
- State of Legal Residence – This is typically the state where your permanent address is located. However, each state determines legal residency differently, and you may not be considered a resident of the state if you haven’t lived there for at least five years. You should contact your college’s or career/trade school’s financial aid office for assistance with this question.
Don’t forget to review, sign, and submit the form!
Review your answers prior to submission.
Protect against form glitches or typos by reviewing all of your answers prior to submission. You can review all of the answers you provided in your section on the review page, which you’ll see before you provide your signature. You can view all of the responses by selecting “Expand All” or expand each section individually. To edit a response, select the question’s hyperlink.
Monitor your form’s status, and don’t forget to submit the FAFSA® form after all of your contributors have signed and all sections are completed.
If you’ve been notified that all of your contributors have signed and completed their sections, and your student section is also complete, you should check the sections of your form to ensure that all questions are answered.
- Log in to StudentAid.gov using your account username and password.
- Navigate to your account Dashboard.
- Select “2024–2025 FAFSA® Form” from the “My Activity” page.
- Once you’ve accessed your form, review the information submitted in each section.
- If all sections are complete and all of your contributors have signed, follow the prompts to submit your form.
Once your application is submitted, you can view all of the information entered on your form, along with a summary of who contributed to your form, on the Summary page (accessed from the “My Activity” page of the account Dashboard).
Remember that if you make a mistake, you can correct it in the first half of March.
If you make a mistake when submitting your FAFSA® form—for instance, if you submit your form without the required contributor information or without your signature—don’t worry. You’ll be able to correct the error as soon as your form is processed in the first half of March. Learn about how to make FAFSA® corrections.
Not sure if your form has been processed? The Department of Education will send you an email once it is, but you can also check the status of your form yourself:
- Log in using your account username and password.
- Navigate to your account Dashboard.
- Select “2024–2025 FAFSA® Form” from the “My Activity” page.
