While President Obama calls for a freeze on the interest rates of student loans, the deadline to apply for those loans is coming up. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) grant and loan application is due June 30 for the school year 2011-2012.
Those who have not yet applied for a FAFSA for the school year 2011-2012 are encouraged to apply before the 30th. In essence, if you haven't yet applied, you can backtrack the cost for school from the last school year. If you are applying for grant or loan money for the upcoming school year 2012-2013 (federally the school year begins July 1) , those applications can be done any time from Jan. 1, 2012 until June 30, 2013.
The FAFSA website requires general statistics including tax information from the previous year of their legal guardian or themselves if they filed taxes independently and their social security number.
Students anticipating marriage during the school year should wait to complete their FAFSA. If not, the change in their marital status change will make their FAFSA invalid.
Freshman Taylor Sallaway, a pre-nursing major from Dallas Texas had a hard time completing the grant and scholarship application.
'It was very confusing,' Sallaway said. She also said that the first questions of name and birth date were simple, but then the questions became more complex, referring to her parents information.
'It was hard to get them, first of all, to participate and then it was just confusing for me,' Sallaway said.
The taxes were her biggest concern followed closely by the confusion of what to do with the information she received after completing her FAFSA.
'All of the follow up on it--I never knew what it was trying to tell me or how it related to BYU,' Sallaway said.
When asked if she was planning on doing it again, although tough the first time, Sallaway said she would.
'I would definitely do it again, just because now I have kind of figured it out. Just for the chance of some grant or scholarship, I would fill it out.'
Mikkel Unrau, a mechanical engineering major from Orem, said about the process, 'It was normal, I didn't think it was too much of a hassle.' When asked if he would recommend other students to complete the form, Unrau said, 'If you qualify for government aid, you might as well take advantage of it.'
Go to fafsa.ed.gov to complete your FAFSA before time runs out.