If you're planning for college, completing and submitting your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (or FAFSA) is the all important first step in finding a way to pay for your college education. Still the top resource for college funding, the Federal government lays out more than 80 billion dollars of student aid per year as grants, work-study programs or loans. To get your piece of the pie, you'll want to submit your FAFSA application as early as possible.

The FAFSA application process has an undeserved reputation as a being difficult to understand and hard to complete. The less than stellar reputation may in part be attributable to fee-for-service providers that are in business to help college-bound high school juniors and seniors complete the application. The Federal government has made the application easy to complete online by offering extensive online help that guides applicants through the application process. Also, the government charges no fees of any kind. The FAFSA application is free to all.

You'll want to kick off Step One of the FAFSA application process by applying for and receiving your own personal identification number, or PIN. Your PIN makes it possible to apply for student aid online, a process the government has streamlined and made as easy as possible. You can also use your PIN to sign your FAFSA application online and access and correct information contained in your Student Aid Report, or SAR. The SAR is the report you'll receive once the government has processed your completed FAFSA application. It tells you the level of Federal student aid to which you may be entitled based on your financial need.

You'll need to get your PIN as soon as possible at pin.ed.gov before beginning Step Two of the application process. In this step, you should complete your FAFSA application online at fafsa.ed.gov, a site also known as FAFSA on the Web. The government has designed this site to offer step-by-step instructions as you answer each question in the FAFSA application. The online process also catches any potential mistakes you make and prompts you to correct them. Filing at FAFSA on the Web is also the fastest way to get into and through the Federal application process. Most FAFSA applications are processed within just a few days of their filing date.

Once you've filed your FAFSA application, expect to start Step Three, the final phase in the application process, in about three to five days if you filed your FAFSA application online, or in seven to ten days if you filed by mail. That's when you'll receive your SAR, or Student Air Report. The SAR contains your Expected Family Contribution, or EFC, which is the amount your family is estimated to be able to contribute to your college education. Your financial need is determined by subtracting the EFC from the cost of attendance at a particular college or university. Once you receive your SAR, review it for any errors and once it's complete, contact the financial aid office at the college or colleges you're considering. The financial aid office will let you know the type and amount of financial aid a particular college is willing to offer.

While not difficult to understand or complete, this three-step application process has more details than can be covered in a short article such as this. But the information provided here should pave the way for reviewing an easy-to-read, comprehensive government document that will shepherd you through the application process. Download the 60-page PDF document, entitled "Funding Education Beyond High School", from studentaid.ed.gov.

Sustainable Living Articles @ http://www.articlegarden.com