Due to limited funding for certain aid programs, the OSFA encourages all individuals to apply by March 1 prior to the start of a new academic year. Filing your FAFSA after the priority date will, however, not affect your eligibility considerations for certain federal aid programs such as Federal Pell Grant or Federal Direct Student Loans.

Your parent can use the same FSAID to sign multiple electronic FAFSA applications. A separate FAFSA must, however, be filed for each student in the household.

The FAFSA contains a series of questions which will determine if you are considered to be a "dependent" student for financial aid purposes. The OSFA encourages you to carefully review this series of questions when completing the FAFSA on-line. If it is determined that you are considered to be a dependent student, the FAFSA application will indicate that a parental section will need to be completed by your parent before the application can be successfully submitted.

This report is sent to you by the federal government. It summarizes the data you reported on your FAFSA and displays your EFC. Carefully review your SAR for accuracy. If you find that you need to make corrections, you can do so by logging back into your online FAFSA, making the needed corrections, and re-submitting the application.

EFC stands for Expected Family Contribution. The federal processor calculates this index number based on the information you provide on your FAFSA. The EFC will be displayed on your Student Aid Report (SAR). The EFC allows financial aid professionals to determine a student's financial need. To determine need the EFC is subtracted from a student's Cost of Attendance.