Purpose: This part of the application asks for your signature, your parent's signature if you are a dependent student, and the date you completed the FAFSA. The questions are numbered 99-103 on the paper FAFSA. If you are completing a FAFSA on the Web application, you can sign your application electronically using your PIN, prior to beginning the application or at the end of the application. If you choose not to sign electronically, you can print a signature page and, sign and mail it to the U.S. Department of Education. Dependent students will also need to provide a parent's signature. Parent's can electronically sign the application using their PIN or the parent can sign the student's printed signature page.

Shown below is the numbered order of the Questions as they appear on the paper FAFSA:

99. Date this form was completed. If you apply on paper, fill in the month and day spaces using 2-digit numbers, e.g., "04" for April. Then fill in the appropriate oval for the year. Note that all information you report on the FAFSA must be accurate as of the date you complete the form. If you apply online, you automatically provide this information once you submit the completed application for processing.

100. Student and parent signatures. Students and parents will be able to sign electronically within the FAFSA on the Web application. The applicant (and a parent of a dependent applicant) must either use his or her PIN to provide an electronic signature on FAFSA on the Web or Renewal FAFSA on the Web or print out, sign, and submit a signature page, or (if completing a paper FAFSA) sign that FAFSA. If the proper signatures are not provided, the application will be entered into the processing system awaiting the proper signature(s). If the processor does not receive the signature(s) within 14 days, it will send the applicant a SAR showing the applicant was rejected for lack of signature(s). If the applicant (or parent, if applicable) signs the SAR and sends it back to us, processing will continue.

You (and anyone else who signs the form) certify that all information on the form is correct and that those who signed are willing to provide documents to prove that the information is correct. You also certify that you will use federal and/or state student financial aid only to pay the cost of attending an institution of higher education, that you are not in default on a federal student loan or have made satisfactory arrangements to repay the loan, that you will notify your school if you default on a federal student loan, that you do not owe money back on a federal student grant or have made satisfactory arrangements to repay it, and that you will not receive a Federal Pell Grant for more than one school for the same period of time.

Giving permission to state agencies to obtain income tax information and certifying your application data

By electronically signing FAFSA on the Web or signing the paper FAFSA, you also give permission to the state financial aid agency to which information is being sent to obtain income tax information for all persons required to report income and for all periods reported on this form. Finally, by electronically signing FAFSA on the Web or signing the paper FAFSA, you are certifying that the data you are providing the Secretary of Education is true and accurate as of the date signed. The Higher Education Act provides that the Secretary can verify certain student and parental data with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and other federal agencies to insure its accuracy.

You cannot submit a 2005-06 FAFSA on the Web application before January 1, 2005. Nor should you sign, date, or mail the paper version of the FAFSA before January 1, 2005. Note, that if you sign and submit the FAFSA before that date, we will process it (put it in the system), but you will receive a rejected SAR.

Understanding the proper use of a PIN

When you sign electronically, you select your application year, enter your PIN information, and indicate you are a student before submitting the application. One of your parents signs electronically by selecting the application year, entering parental PIN information, indicating they are a parent, and identifying the person for whom they are electronically signing. Neither you nor your parents should share your or their PINs with anyone. In addition, only the person providing the data should sign the application.

Note that if you (or a parent, if you are dependent) sign electronically any document related to the Federal Student Aid Programs using a PIN, you certify that you are the person identified by that PIN and have not disclosed that PIN to anyone else.

Alternatives to a parental signature

Although parental information must be provided for a dependent student, a high school counselor or a postsecondary school's financial aid administrator (FAA) may sign the application in place of your parents in the following limited cases:

• Your parents are not currently in the U.S. and cannot be contacted by normal means.
• Your parents' current address is not known.
• Your parents have been determined physically or mentally incapable of providing a signature.

If you are a dependent student, you cannot get federal aid without your parents' financial information and signature on the FAFSA, except in a limited number of cases as described above. Your parents' unwillingness to sign the FAFSA or provide financial information is not, in and of itself, a reason for the FAA to sign your FAFSA in place of them.

If your counselor or FAA signs the paper FAFSA in place of your parents, he or she should provide his or her title when signing and briefly state the reason (only one reason is needed) why he or she is signing for your parents. By signing your application, however, your counselor or FAA does not assume any responsibility or liability in this process. If a financial aid office finds any inaccuracies in the information reported, you will have to submit corrections on paper, on the Web, or through the financial aid office.

If you complete a FAFSA on the Web application and need a counselor to sign in place of your parent, you will need to either print a signature page or wait to receive a SAR. (Note, however, that waiting for a SAR will delay the processing of the application.)

101-103. Preparer's name/Social Security number (SSN)/signature and date. The law requires that if anyone other than you, your spouse, or your parents prepares the application, then the preparer must write in his or her name, the firm/company name (if applicable), the firm/company address, and either the firm/company's Employer Identification Number (EIN) (as assigned by the IRS) or the preparer's SSN. A tax preparer can also use an IRS-provided Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN) in lieu of using the preparer's SSN for privacy protection. Question 103 (Preparer's signature and date) appears only on the paper FAFSA.

High school counselors, FAAs, and others who help students with their paper applications by actually filling out line items on the form or dictating responses to items on the form are considered preparers, even if unpaid for their services.