Who should fill out the FAFSA?

Every student starting or continuing college or vocational school, regardless of income.

How long does the FAFSA take?

Usually under an hour once you have your documents and StudentAid.gov accounts ready.

Can I get FAFSA help in Spanish?

Yes. Call the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 1-800-433-3243 for help in English or Spanish, or ask CROME.

FAFSA and financial aid: where to start

College & careerSeptember 13, 2026 · CROME

CROME scholarship recipients celebrating their next chapter

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid, the FAFSA, is the form colleges and vocational schools use to decide how much financial aid you can receive: grants, scholarships, work-study and loans. It is free, it is redone every year, and it is the gateway to aid from the federal government, the State of Texas and the schools themselves.

Who should complete it?

Every student, whether you are starting college or continuing, and regardless of family income. Many families skip it assuming they will not qualify and miss aid they were entitled to. Schools also use it for their own scholarships.

When are the deadlines?

The form for the next school year opens in the fall. Every state and every school sets its own deadline for its own aid, and those are usually earlier than the federal one. Check the financial aid pages of each school you are considering. Federal aid stays available after state deadlines pass, so a late FAFSA is still worth filing.

What to have ready

With everything gathered, the form usually takes under an hour.

A StudentAid.gov account for you and, if you are a dependent student, for a parent. The name and Social Security number must match the Social Security card exactly.
Social Security numbers for you and your parents if you are dependent.
Federal income tax returns from the tax year the form asks for.
Records of untaxed income, such as child support.
Current bank balances and information on investments, businesses or farms if they apply.

You do not upload these documents. Keep them nearby; a school’s financial aid office may ask for them later.

Filling it out

Sign in and choose your role: student, or parent completing the form for a dependent child.
List at least one school to receive your information. You can list up to 20 online. Some states want them in a particular order for state aid, so check before you submit.
Answer the dependency questions honestly; they decide whose financial information you report.
Each person whose tax information is included must give consent for it to be transferred from the IRS. Without that consent your aid eligibility can be at risk even if you typed the figures in by hand.
Every contributor signs electronically. The form is not processed until everyone has signed.

After you submit you get a confirmation page with your receipt details and an estimate of your aid. The Federal Student Aid Estimator on StudentAid.gov can give you a preview before you even start.

Help in Spanish and other languages

The Federal Student Aid Information Center answers questions in English and Spanish at 1-800-433-3243. The FAFSA website is available in Spanish, and paper versions of the form exist in other languages for reference.

Help from CROME

FAFSA and financial aid support is part of CROME’s college and career readiness work. If you are stuck, email us with the school you are applying to and where you got stuck, and someone will walk through it with you.