When it comes to paying for college, the first place to always start is the FAFSA form. The FAFSA form is the gateway to accessing federal grants, scholarships, federal direct loans, and the federal work-study program. In my state of New York, the FAFSA needs to be completed before the New York State tuition assistance program (TAP) and the New York State Excelsior Scholarship can be applied for.

The FAFSA form opens October 1st for the 2021-2022 academic year. Remember, dependent students will need to create a student FSA ID and a separate FSA ID username and password for a parent. By doing this you will be able to submit the FAFSA electronically. Think of your FSA ID as the key to all the federal Department of Education sites which include the FAFSA form, federal direct loans, National Student Loan data base, etc.. In order to create your FSA ID username and password go to the following site: https://fsaid.ed.gov/npas/index.htm