Many seniors utilize FAFSA, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, to gain financial aid for college.

FAFSA has relaunched a new version of their application process due to technical difficulties that many students faced with the old version. However, to prevent future issues and crashes, the availability to use the new system will be limited periodically throughout the soft launch. 

“I think it’s a really important thing to fill out, especially as an incoming freshman student in college,” senior Rida Zaki said. “But I do think that the process is a little bit like it can be difficult just because some questions are difficult.”

FAFSA requires students to input information about their parent’s finances, which can present a challenge for some students.

“Also, it took like a really long time for them to actually, like send the forms out and stuff so we don’t have a lot of time to fill it out,” Zaki said. “They also ask you to like, fill out some extra parent stuff so I feel like that could be difficult for some people in certain situations. But yeah, overall I think it’s a good thing to fill out.”

Colleges and career schools use the FAFSA form to determine how much financial aid students are eligible to receive, which could include grants, scholarships, work-study funds, and loans.

“A big factor for a lot of students in college is the cost, so FAFSA can be a huge help in making college more affordable,” senior Sadie Johnson said. “Especially because it can be used to give school specific scholarships and determine whether or not you can go to certain schools.”