Before you begin the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) process, you need to have the following documents available: federal income tax returns, W-2 forms, records of untaxed benefits received, current bank statements, records of other savings and investments, such as stocks, bonds, and mutual funds.

To be considered for the following financial aid programs, the FAFSA must be completed.

• Federal Pell Grant
• Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG)
• Leveraging Education Assistance Program (LEAP) Grant
• EC Endowed and Funded Scholarships (where demonstrating need is an eligibility criteria)
• Federal SMART Grant
• Federal Academic Competitiveness Grant
• Federal Work-Study
• Federal Subsidized and Unsubsidized Stafford Loans
• Federal PLUS (Parent) Loans

You are encouraged to submit the FAFSA as soon as possible, but no earlier than January 1^st of each year.  Some financial aid programs, such as FSEOG, the LEAP Grant, Endowed and Funded Scholarships, and Federal Work-Study, have limited funding.  Early application is the key to be considered for programs such as these.

Approximately 30% of all FAFSAs filed are selected by the U.S. Department of Education for a review process called verification.    In this process, the Office of Financial Aid is required by law to compare your FAFSA information with signed copies of your federal tax forms, other financial documents, etc.  If your FAFSA is been selected for this process, additional documentation will be requested from you.

To complete your FAFSA on-line, go to the following website: www.fafsa.ed.gov (click here).

Students and parents are encouraged to sign the FAFSA electronically!  To sign electronically, you must have a valid pin number given to you by the U. S. Department of Education.  To obtain a pin number, you should go to www.pin.ed.gov (click here) get the student and parent numbers.