The federal student aid application process requires the collection and processing of data necessary to determine a student’s eligibility to receive federal assistance. The process begins with an applicant submitting a FAFSA® form to the Department of Education. After the FAFSA® form is processed, the applicant receives a FAFSA® Submission Summary (formerly a Student Aid Report), which is a summary of the data provided on the FAFSA form. The applicant reviews the FAFSA® Submission Summary for accuracy and if necessary, makes corrections or updates to the submitted FAFSA® data.
The FAFSA® Submission Form is broken into four tabs: Eligibility Overview, FAFSA® Form Answers, School Information and Next Steps. On the Eligibility Overview tab, the student sees information about what federal student aid they may be eligible for, such as a Federal Pell Grant and Federal Direct Loans. They are also able to view the Student Aid Index. Any amounts of financial aid that display on this tab are estimates and are not guaranteed. On the FAFSA® Form Answers tab, the student sees the answers that they and, if applicable, their contributor(s) provided on their FAFSA® form. If any of the provided answers are incorrect, the student can choose to start a correction. On the School Information tab, the student sees information about the college(s) and/or career school(s) that they selected to send their FAFSA® information. The student can compare the graduation rate, retention rate, transfer rate, default rate, median debt upon completion, and average annual cost of their selected schools. On the Next Steps tab, the student sees comments that pertain to their FAFSA® form. Some comments may require the student to start a correction or send additional documentation to their school. Other comments may be informational and do not require any further action from the student.
You may find your FAFSA® Submission Form by logging into your FSA account at studentaid.gov. If you have questions regarding your FAFSA® Submission Form, you will need to contact the Office of Financial Aid.