Renewing your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) application every year is key to receiving all the federal financial aid you’re eligible for. Since your financial conditions can change drastically from one year to the next, you must apply for federal student aid for every school year that you attend.
To reapply, you should submit a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) at, https://fafsa.ed.gov. If you submitted a FAFSA last year, and you are eligible to complete a renewal FAFSA, you may choose to have most of the questions pre-filled with the information you provided. Simply updating the information for the new school year on a renewal FAFSA may be faster. However, the Renewal FAFSA is available solely for your convenience. If you prefer to start a new FAFSA, you are free to do so.
The academic award year for Federal financial aid is from July 1 of one year to June 30 of the following year. We are currently within the 2013-2014 award year which will end on June 30, 2014. Once this award year ends, the 2014-15 award year will begin on July 1, 2014. The 2014-2015 FAFSA is currently available for students to renew and complete. Although, you may not be able to completely fill out the 2014-2015 FAFSA until you have filed your 2013 taxes. There are also federal and state deadlines, and your college may also have deadlines for completing your FAFSA. You may go to the FAFSA website, Student Aid Deadlines, to view the deadline dates.
Not only is it important to renew your FAFSA each academic year but it is also important that you remain eligible to continue receiving financial aid. Aside from the basic eligibility criteria you must meet in order to continue receiving federal student aid, you must also make satisfactory academic progress. To make satisfactory academic progress (SAP) you must have good enough grades, and complete enough classes (credits, hours, etc.,) to keep moving toward successfully completing your degree or certificate in a time period that’s acceptable to your school.
Each school has a satisfactory academic progress (SAP) policy for financial aid purposes. You can contact your schools financial aid office or view their website to receive information about their SAP policy. Information about our SAP policy at American Public University Systems can be found at the following links for both undergraduate Satisfactory Academic Progress (Undergrad) and graduate students Satisfactory Academic Progress (Grad). You may also contact our Financial Aid office at 1-877-468-6268 ext 3630 for more information.
By Shalena Gonzales
Financial Aid Specialist, American Public University
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