Forecasting Financial Need for College

Although everyone supposedly knows by now that your FAFSA can't be submitted for the 2010-11 year until after January 1st, 2011 (with your 2010 tax information), there is a way to track your financial need / request earlier than that.

FAFSA4caster will help you get an early start on the financial aid process by:

• Providing you with an early estimate of your eligibility for federal student aid.
• Giving you an experience similar to FAFSA on the Web
• Allowing you to transfer all of your FAFSA4caster data to FAFSA on the Web once you are ready to apply for aid.
• Providing you the option to apply for your Federal Student Aid PIN.
• Increasing your knowledge of the financial aid process, and providing information about other sources of aid.

By going to the Fafsa4caster site, students and parents can set up an account using their 2009 tax information to get started.

Other benefits include:

• You will become familiar with the student aid lifecycle and begin to understand the roles of the financial aid players - students and families, colleges, Federal Student Aid, and banks and lenders.
• When you're finished entering your data, you can see your estimated federal student aid eligibility information, which is based on the answers you provided in FAFSA4caster. Your estimated federal student aid eligibility will help you better understand the types and approximate amounts of federal student aid for which you may qualify.
• Once you submit your data, we review your information and notify you if there are any issues you need to resolve prior to officially applying for federal student aid. This will save you time.
• We will automatically submit a request for you to receive a Federal Student Aid PIN in time for you to use when you officially apply for aid.
• Additionally, FAFSA4caster provides you with an opportunity to pre-populate a FAFSA on the Web application for the current processing year, to reduce the time spent completing the FAFSA if you choose to attend college now.

I've set up a link to this site under "Places to go...". Juniors and seniors should use this to get a head start on the financial planning for their college years.