Purpose: These questions collect personal identification information (name, telephone number, address, Social Security number and so on). Also included is a question about citizenship status because you must be a U.S. citizen or eligible noncitizen to receive federal student aid.

Questions 1-13

1-3. Name. You are required to provide your name. The Department of Education matches each name and Social Security number (SSN) with the Social Security Administration (SSA). Therefore, the name provided for this question should match exactly the name on your Social Security card. If you use a name (such as a nickname) other than the name on your Social Security card, you will be asked to correct the inconsistency, and there might be a delay in the awarding of your aid.

4-7. Mailing address. You are required to provide a permanent home mailing address (not a school or office address).

An incarcerated or homeless (at this link, scroll down to the instructions for Question 56) student may use his or her school's administrative address. If such a student uses a school's administrative address, the school's financial aid administrator (FAA) must include a letter with the FAFSA^SM indicating that the student is incarcerated or homeless and is therefore using the school's address.

Use the State/Military Abbreviations list when entering your state. See the list below:

Below are the Canadian Provinces:

8. Social Security number. You are required to provide a Social Security number (SSN). The Privacy Act statement gives information about how your SSN may be used.

The one exception to the SSN requirement is for students from the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, or the Republic of Palau. If you are from one of these areas, you are not required to have an SSN. Instead, you are required to enter "888" for this question and the system will assign the remaining six digits while processing your application.

If you do not have an SSN or need a replacement Social Security card, if yours has been lost or stolen, contact your local Social Security office. For additional information (in English or Spanish), you can call the SSA at 1-800-772-1213 (1-800-325-0778 - TTY)-or go to its Web site at www.ssa.gov.

9. Your date of birth. You are required to provide your date of birth. Enter in the appropriate boxes of the paper FAFSA the month, day and year in which you were born (formatted as MMDDYYYY). The "19" part of the year is pre-printed on the paper forms. Do not use dashes on either the Web or paper applications. For example, if you were born on April 1, 1990, you would enter 04011990.

10. Your permanent telephone number. Enter your permanent telephone number where you can be contacted. Follow the instructions showing how to enter the number. For example, parentheses and dashes are used on the paper forms: (202) 555-1212; however, on FAFSA on the Web, you would enter 2025551212.

11-12. Your driver's license number and state. Enter your driver's license number (11) and its state of issue (12). If you do not have a driver's license, leave Questions 11 and 12 blank.

13. Your e-mail address. Enter your e-mail address if you want to receive your information electronically. You will receive an e-mail with a link to your SAR data within 3-5 days after your FAFSA is processed.

If you do not have an e-mail address or prefer to receive your information by postal mail, leave this question blank. In this case, all notifications will be mailed to your permanent mailing address. This process can take up to 2 to 3 weeks to receive your Student Aid Report (SAR) and other notifications.