No. Even if you haven’t applied to any college yet, you can and should still fill out the FAFSA. You can list up to 20 schools of interest on the online FAFSA form and up to 10 schools of interest on the paper FAFSA form. If you are at all interested in attending K-State, the OSFA encourages you to list K-State on the school section of your FAFSA. You can use the school code of 001928 to list K-State and have your FAFSA sent to us. You will need to be admitted to K-State before you receive a financial offer notification from us.

For each year that you want access to federal and other forms of aid, you must fill out a FAFSA. The FAFSA addresses different factors when determining eligibility for student aid and those factors can change from year to year. The OSFA encourages you to file a FAFSA for each year that you plan to attend college.

Yes. The FAFSA is free to fill out and only takes an average of 15 minutes to complete it. Even if you believe that your household income is too high to qualify for federal grants or work study funds, the FAFSA is also used to determine eligibility for certain State of Kansas and institutional aid programs. A FAFSA must also be submitted in order to establish your eligibility for federal student loans, which most students qualify for.

A FAFSA Submission Summary is sent to you by the federal government. It summarizes the data you reported on your FAFSA and includes your estimated eligibility for a Federal Pell Grant and federal student loans, your Student Aid Index (SAI), and whether you have been selected for verification. Carefully review your FAFSA Submission Summary 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.

The form usually opens on October 1 prior to the academic year in which you are applying for financial aid. However, due to the large changes made through FAFSA Simplification, the 2024-25 FAFSA launch was delayed to late December 2023. The 2025-26 FAFSA is set to be fully open and out of the testing phases by December 1, 2024.

The 2024-25 FAFSA is used for the Fall 2024, Spring 2025, and Summer 2025 terms. On the 2024-25 FAFSA, your 2022 income information will be used.

The 2025-26 FAFSA is used for the Fall 2025, Spring 2026, and Summer 2026 terms. On the 2025-26 FAFSA, your 2023 income information will be used.

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.

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 Social Security Number (or Alien Registration Number if you are not a U.S. citizen)
• Your 2023 federal income tax returns, W-2s, and other records of money earned (Note: Most of your federal tax return information can be directly transferred from the IRS to the FAFSA with your approval and consent to do so through the Direct Data Exchange. Approval and consent to have information transferred is now required to be eligible for federal financial aid, even if you didn’t file a federal tax return for 2023.)
• Bank statements and records of investments (if applicable)
• Records of net worth of investments, businesses, and investment farms (if applicable)
• Records of untaxed income (if applicable)
• Records of child support received (if applicable)
• An FSA ID to sign electronically

In order to be eligible for federal student aid, students and other contributors are required to provide their consent and approval to have their tax information transferred to their FAFSA through the IRS Direct Data Exchange. This was enacted through the FUTURE Act that was signed into law in December 2019. Providing consent even applies to FAFSA contributors without SSNs, those who didn’t file taxes in the relevant tax year, or individuals who filed taxes outside of the U.S.

Please view our Change in Circumstances webpage. We encourage you to schedule an appointment with your financial aid advisor or contact our office for more information.

If you filed single for the tax year used on the FAFSA but have since gotten married, you will complete the FAFSA with a marital status of married. You will complete your section of the FAFSA and then invite your spouse as a contributor to add their information to the form.

If you filed married for the tax year used on the FAFSA but have since gotten divorced or separated, you will need to select the marital status of divorced/separated on the FAFSA and then manually enter only your income information from the tax year. You will still be required to provide your consent for tax information to be transferred from the IRS through the Direct Data Exchange.

You can log in to your gov account using your FSA ID to check the status of your FAFSA form.

A FAFSA Submission Summary is sent to you by the federal government. It summarizes the data you reported on your FAFSA and includes your estimated eligibility for a Federal Pell Grant and federal student loans, your Student Aid Index (SAI), and whether you have been selected for verification. Carefully review your FAFSA Submission Summary 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.

SAI stands for Student Aid Index. The federal processor calculates this index number on the information you provide on your FAFSA. The SAI will be displayed on your FAFSA Submission Summary. The SAI is used to determine a student’s financial need by subtracting it from their Cost of Attendance (COA).

Once your form has been processed and you have received your FAFSA Submission Summary, you can correct your FAFSA form online or on paper.

To make corrections online, you would log in to your StudentAid.gov account, select your FAFSA submission from the “My Activity” section on your account dashboard, and then select “Make a Correction.” If you are a dependent student and change information about your parent(s), they must re-sign your FAFSA from electronically using their StudentAid.gov account.

If you received a paper FAFSA Submission Summary by mail, you can make your changes to it, sign it, and then send it to the address listed on your FAFSA Submission Summary.

Note: Federal tax information transferred directly from the IRS cannot be changed on your online FAFSA form. If you filed an IRS Form 1040-X amended tax return, please contact our office to discuss whether we should adjust the information on your FAFSA form.