What Does FAFSA Stand For?

The FAFSA acronym, one word at a time

• Free: filing costs nothing. Any site or service asking for a fee to submit it is not the official form.
• Application: you are asking, not yet receiving. Schools decide what to offer after they get your information.
• for Federal: the aid comes from the national government, though states and schools often read the same answers.
• Student Aid: money for education costs, including tuition, housing, books and transportation.

The small word "for" gets no letter, which is common in acronyms. People pronounce it as one word, "FAF-suh," rather than reading five letters, so it is a true acronym.

What does FAFSA stand for in terms of actual money?

Filing the form is how you become eligible for the main federal programs:

Beyond federal money, many state grant programs and college scholarships require a completed FAFSA before they will consider you. Skipping it can mean missing aid you never knew you qualified for.

What the form asks for

The application collects basic facts about the student and, for most undergraduates under 24, about their parents.

• Names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers.
• Income and tax information, which is usually pulled straight from IRS records with your consent.
• Household size and certain savings and assets.
• A list of colleges that should receive your information.

The answers produce a number called the Student Aid Index. Schools use it, along with their own costs, to figure out how much need based aid to offer. The Index replaced an older figure called the Expected Family Contribution, and it is not a bill.

Timing: when to file

The form usually opens in the fall for the following school year, and you file a new one every year you are in school. There is a federal deadline near the end of the aid year, but states and colleges often set much earlier dates, and some aid runs out once funds are used. Filing soon after it opens is the safest plan.

How people use the word FAFSA

• "Did you do your FAFSA yet?"
• "We need last year's tax return for the FAFSA."
• "My aid package came after I filed the FAFSA in October."
• "Make sure you add every college you applied to on the FAFSA."

It works as a noun, almost always with "the" in front, and it is printed in capitals. The opening F sound calls for a, not an: a FAFSA question, a FAFSA deadline.

Letters that travel with FAFSA

College paperwork comes full of short forms. GPA is your grade point average, SAT and ACT are admissions tests, and FERPA is the privacy law that limits who can see your student records. For more letters from federal agencies and programs, visit government acronyms.