Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)
Youth Finance Institute of America | March 2021
What is FAFSA?
FAFSA stands for Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Every year, thousands of students across the United States are granted money from the federal government to help them pay for college. Let’s make sure this is clear: this is FREE money. A number of factors affect the amount each student is eligible to receive, but of the 17.7 million (2.5 million in California alone) U.S students who applied in the 2019-2020 school year, 66% qualified for some amount of grant money from the government.1 With those odds, you have a pretty good chance of adding some extra cash to your wallet to help you get through college.
How does it work?
To apply, each student must visit the government FAFSA website at the following link: https://studentaid.gov/h/apply-for-aid/fafsa. To qualify, you must fill out the government forms. You’ll answer questions about your current income, housing situation, and access to current financial aid. When you finish, the government will review your forms and determine how much money you are eligible to receive. The most common form of grant is the Pell Grant, which awards students up to $6,095 per year.2 Again, this is FREE money; you do not have to pay it back. Besides the Pell Grant, there are various other forms of government grants. These include the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG) and the Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant, among others.
Image taken from studentaid.gov
YFIA Assisting Students in California
The Youth Finance Institute of America (YFIA) is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, nonprofit organization dedicated to preparing students to become financially stable and independent into adulthood. There were 2 million California students in the 2019-2020 school year who could have qualified for federal financial aid, but failed to apply. With your help, we can ensure that teenagers and young adults have all the financial help they need. YFIA travels to different schools across California to train and educate students about financial literacy and the steps the students should take to prepare for their future. To help us reach more of these California students who are in need of financial training, please consider donating whatever you can. Thank you!
Sources
1. FAFSA Application Statistics, Savingforcollege.com
2. https://studentaid.gov/sites/default/files/aid-glance-2019-20.pdf