West Iron County Guidance Office

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Key Financing Items for Seniors:  The FAFSA Form

• January 1st (no sooner) through March 1st (no later) of your senior year, everyone MUST fill out the FAFSA form.  Families with high incomes should still fill out this form.  It is sometimes required for other purposes as well.
• The FAFSA form goes through the Federal Government and is used for financial aide purposes across the country.  It is based on both student and parent incomes from the previous year, therefore tax returns must be completed before filing.  If you need to estimate your income to meet this deadline, you can go in later to correct your data.  March 1st is the deadline for Michigan Colleges and Universities.  Forms submitted later than March 1st risk missing out on some forms of Federal Funding.
• The FAFSA will need to be filled out again each year the student is enrolled in college.
• The FAFSA can be filled out online by clicking the hyperlink below or paper versions are available in the Counseling Office.  We strongly encourage you to fill the form out online for many reasons.  Ease of access and speed of response are the two main reasons.
• To fill the FAFSA out online, you and your parents must both apply for separate PIN numbers.  A PIN number is an electronic signature that will be emailed to you once you apply by clicking the link below.  You can apply for a PIN number any time during the Fall of your Senior Year.

        Click here to apply for a PIN number

        Click here to fill out the FAFSA form On-Line

Planning Tips for Underclassmen College Financing:

• Start learning about the College Financing Process now.  The following link provides an overview of the financial aide process as well as a personalized college funding worksheet.  College Funding Tips and Strategies
• The FAFSA form produces a figure that is used in college financial aide offices to determine how much money a family should have saved over the past year based on a variety of circumstances.  This value is called the EFC:  Expected Family Contribution.  The EFC does not change from one college to the next.  It is the amount that you are expected to write a check for to cover the entire year.  The rest of the tuition may be comprised of loans etc, but this must be a cash payment.  You can estimate your EFC by using the following link:  Estimated EFC