Federal Student Aid Forms

I. FAFSA Filing Options TOP

A. FAFSA^SM Application

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is the form used by virtually all two- and four-year colleges, universities and career schools for the awarding of federal student aid and most state and college aid.

Deadlines

Students should apply as soon as possible on or after January 1. For the 2010-2011 school year, we must have your application no later than June 30, 2011. Your college must have your correct, complete application information by your last day of enrollment in the 2010-2011 school year.

Filing Methods

1. Online FAFSA: FAFSA on the Web^SM

Why use FAFSA on the Web?

To make the process even faster and easier, FAFSA on the Web now even lets applicants from the previous award year pre-fill the application with much of their preexisting data.

Tell your friends! The official FAFSA is at www.fafsa.gov - not at a .com Web site. If you go to a .com site, you will probably be asked to pay to submit the FAFSA. Remember, the first F in "FAFSA" stands for "Free" - so use the official government site to submit your application.

2. PDF FAFSA

With the PDF FAFSA, you can fill out the application on screen and print the completed form, or you can print the blank form and fill out the application manually. You then mail us the completed form for processing. Your PDF FAFSA will be processed in two to three weeks.

The 2010-2011 FAFSA PDF can be printed in black and white or in color.

3. Paper FAFSA

If you don't have Internet access, you can request a paper FAFSA by calling the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 1-800-4-FED-AID (1-800-433-3243) or 1-319-337-5665. (Hearing impaired TTY users can call 1-800-730-8913.) After completing the paper FAFSA, you mail us the form in the attached pre-addressed envelope. Your paper FAFSA will be processed in two to three weeks.

If you don't hear anything within three weeks of the date it was mailed, you can check the status by going to www.fafsa.gov. You can also check by contacting the Federal Student Aid Information Center at the numbers listed above.

Getting Help with the FAFSA

In addition to the toll-free telephone number listed above, we offer free guides, worksheets and sample forms to help you understand and complete the online, PDF or paper FAFSA.

B. Student Loan Applications.

To apply for a federal student loan, you must complete and submit a FAFSA. Based on the results of the FAFSA, the college will send you an award notification. An application for a student loan or the process to obtain one will be part of the award notification package issued by the college. Contact the financial aid office at the school you are planning to attend for details regarding the student loan application process.

II. Managing Your Student Loans TOP

Once you receive the first disbursement of a student loan you are responsible for managing that loan until it is paid in full. The following paragraphs provide sources for forms and points of contact to help you keep your loan current and manage your loan(s).

A. Forms for student loan deferments, forbearance, and cancellation

For FFEL^SM Stafford, PLUS, and consolidation loan borrowers, you will need to contact your servicer for deferment, forbearance, and cancellation forms. If you need to know who your servicer is, what kind of loan you have, or how much you borrowed, you can use the National Student Loan Data System^sm (NSLDS) at www.nslds.ed.gov. To access your loan history on NSLDS, you will need to use your Federal Student Aid personal identification number (PIN). If you have forgotten your PIN number or never had one, please click here.

For Perkins Loan borrowers, please contact the school that made your loan.

For Direct Loan borrowers, click on the name of the form listed below.

If the student loan form you are seeking is not listed above, please click here for a complete list of the Direct Loan forms for deferments, forbearance, cancellation and consolidation.

B. Repaying Student Loans

Repayment is an important part of managing your student loan(s). Your Federal Student Loans: Learn the Basics and Manage Your Debt explains available repayment options, includes examples of monthly payments for different loan amounts, and covers other topics you need to consider when managing your loans. If you have specific questions about repaying these types of loans, please contact your loan provider. (In the case of Perkins Loans, this will be the school that made you the loan). Don't know who your loan provider is? Go to www.nslds.ed.gov.

C. Defaulted Student Loans

If you have a student loan that is in default, you can find out what options are available by clicking on this link to our Guide for Defaulted Borrowers. This resource provides comprehensive student loan default information developed by the Department's FSA Collections section. Clicking on various tabs within that publication will give you information about how to remove your loan from default, what to do if you have a dispute about your loan's default status, and how to get answers to questions you might have.