Filled out my FAFSA... What next?

Question

I am a single mom with 2 kids and i am trying to further my education. Iv'e been out of school for about 7 years, and my highest completed education level is my diploma. I really have no idea what i am doing as far as attempting to get some kind of grant or financial aid and I am pretty much just playing this completely by ear. I filled out my FAFSA and sent it in online, and my status for the form is now "Processed", but there really isn't any other information than that. My EFC score is 0, which I think is a good thing?

Anyway, I guess my main question is where I go from here. Do I just wait for the schools I had the form sent to to call me and let me know what they specifically could offer me in lou of grants and loans, or will I be getting something letting me know my general qualifications? Is there anything else I should be doing in preparation for enrollment or any other kinds of additional paperwork I should fill out in an attempt to get additional grants?

I feel really ridiculous trying to call the schools directly at this point, since I'm not even sure if they have received my FAFSA. (It was just processed online today.) If anyone has any information on what I should do next, it would be appreciated; especially any info from single moms or other nonconventional students who have done this before.

Thx!

Answer 1

Where you live shouldn't matter so much as what schools you've applied to and how late in the season you filled out your FAFSA.

The best time to fill out the FAFSA is as soon as you've filled out your federal income taxes for the previous year or better yet, as close to the beginning of the year as possible. That's because you want to be one of the first in line while the schools still have most of their funds available for distribution.

Unfortunatley, at this late date, most schools have already given away most of their funding. Don't worry though, there's always something left.

Now that you've filled out the FAFSA and it's being processed, I would give it a couple of days and then call the school to confirm that they've received it in their systems and after that, there's not much you can do but wait. You will recieve a letter from FAFSA telling you that your application has been processed or asking for more information if needed. Just fill that out and return it.

Then you'll start receiving letters from your schools (if you've been accepted) detailing how much money in loans and grants that you'll be provided coming from both the federal government and the school.  With that information, you'll be able to make up your mind which school you can afford to go to.

The biggest difference between you (as an adult single mom) and most of the other population (of young first time college students) is because you may actually have an income to report to FAFSA rather than your parent's income, you'll more than likely get offered more loans than grants. In that case, just be careful to to know the difference between subsidized and unsubsidized loans.

Here's a quick breakdown:

Subsidized loans are awarded based on financial need and you will not be charged interest while you're still in school and during any periods of deferment.

Unsubsidized loans are not awarded based on financial need. Any student can take out this loan to help pay for school. You will begin paying interest from the time the loan is disbursed until it's paid in full.

Anyway, that's all I can think of. Hope it helps.  

Answer 2

Go to or call your schools finanicial aid office and tell them what you just did.  They will give or send you additonal paperwork you must fill out and return to them.  Be sure you also apply for admission to the school and turn in your high school transcripts and take the placement tests.  In a couple of weeks (sometimes more) the school will issue you an "Award Letter" detailing the exact amount of finanical aid you will be recieveing.  But sometimes they will ask for your tax forms before they can issue this so be prepaired.

Enrollment for fall is going on now, but those who are starting classes did their fafsa back in Feb/March so you are a bit late to start school in a few weeks.  Hopefully your school processes fafsas fast so you know what you are up against as far as cost goes.  But I would visit the school and take your placement test (admission test) TODAY.

At my school, all the good classes are full already.  Because enrollment started in March.