Federal Student Aid (2024)

FAQs

Do you have to answer every question on FAFSA? ›

If you're only applying for federal student aid, you may skip the following questions: Your gender. Permanent telephone number.

This is question 40d on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA^®) PDF. Enter the amount of any college grant and scholarship aid that you (or if married, your spouse) reported as income to the IRS for 2021 (See IRS Publication 970 “Tax Benefits for Education”).

School-Based Loans, Advances, or Emergency Aid

Sometimes you may have college-related costs, such as housing costs or other living expenses, before your financial aid is disbursed. Your school may offer an option to advance your financial aid, offer a school-based loan program, or have an emergency aid procedure.

You can only skip FAFSA questions about assets if you meet the qualifications to do so based on your answers to other questions on the application. However, that's only because your asset information at that point doesn't affect your eligibility for federal student aid.

Does FAFSA Check Your Bank Accounts? FAFSA doesn't check anything, because it's a form. However, the form does require you to complete some information about your assets, including checking and savings accounts.

Incarceration, misdemeanors, arrests, and more serious crimes can all affect a student's aid. Smaller offenses won't necessarily cut off a student from all aid, but it will limit the programs they qualify for as well as the amount of aid they could receive. Larger offenses can disqualify a student entirely.