Before you begin the FAFSA application, you’ll want to gather all information required to apply. Listed below are some of the data items you will need in order to complete this application. You will be notified in writing if your application is flagged for verification. For a guided video on filling out the FAFSA application, go to https://studentaid.gov/apply-for-aid/fafsa/filling-out.

• Your Social Security number
• Your parents’ SSNs if you’re a dependent student
• Tax returns
• Records of child support received
• Current balances of cash, savings, and checking accounts
• Net worth of investments, businesses, and farm

Keep these records! You may need them again. 

Complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) for the school years you are applying for.

If you are starting the 2024–2025 FAFSA form for the first time on https://studentaid.gov/h/apply-for-aid/fafsa, select “Start New Form” and enter your account username and password to access the FAFSA form.

Listing Colleges and/or Career Schools

While completing the FAFSA form, you must list at least one school to receive your information. The School Code for Lancaster County Career & Technology Center is 016342.

For federal student aid purposes, the order of schools for your college list does not matter. However, to be considered for state aid, some states require you to list schools in a particular order (for instance, you might need to list a state school first). Find out whether your state has a requirement for the order in which you list schools on your FAFSA form.

Your 2024–2025 school list can have up to 20 schools online or up to 10 schools on a FAFSA PDF.

Determining Your Dependency Status

The FAFSA form asks a series of questions that determine whether you are a dependent or independent student for purposes of applying for federal student aid. If you are a dependent student, you must report parent information, as well as your own information, on your application. If you’re curious, you can find out now whether you’re a dependent student.

Reporting Parent Information

If you’re a dependent student, you’ll need to report parent information on your FAFSA form. Visit our page on reporting parent information to find out who counts as your parent, what to do if you don’t live with your parents, and what to do if you don’t have access to your parents’ financial information.

Reporting Spouse’s Information

If you are married (and not separated) and filed taxes jointly with your spouse, then you’ll report your spouse’s information on the 2024–2025 FAFSA form, but they will not be identified as a contributor. But if you’re married (and not separated) and didn’t file taxes jointly with your current spouse, your spouse will be considered a contributor on your 2024–2025 FAFSA form.

Providing Financial Information

The FAFSA form asks for financial information, including information from tax forms and balances of savings and checking accounts.

• The 2024–2025 FAFSA form asks for 2022 tax information.
• The 2023–2024 FAFSA form asks for 2021 tax information.

Automatically Transferring Your Tax Information

The Financial Aid Direct Data Exchange is replacing the IRS Data Retrieval Tool starting with the 2024–2025 FAFSA form. This will automatically transfer contributors’ federal tax information from the IRS directly into your FAFSA form.

All contributors must provide consent and approval to:

• Disclose their personally identifiable information provided on the FAFSA form to the IRS for matching purposes
• Obtain their federal tax information from the IRS via direct data exchange
• Allow the U.S. Department of Education (ED) to use their federal tax information to determine the student’s eligibility and amount of federal student aid
• Allow ED to share their federal tax information with colleges, career/trade schools, and state higher education agencies for use in awarding and administering financial aid 
• Allow ED to reuse their federal tax information on another FAFSA applicant’s form (e.g., if a parent has multiple dependent students or a parent’s own FAFSA form)

Signing and Submitting the FAFSA Form

After you complete your required section of the FAFSA form online, you’ll acknowledge the terms and conditions of the form and electronically sign your section. You can then submit your section of the FAFSA form. However, your FAFSA form won’t be considered complete until all required contributors provide their information on the FAFSA form, give their consent and approval to transfer federal tax information into the form, and provide their signatures.

After you and your parent (and/or any other required contributor) sign and submit the FAFSA form, the form will be considered complete and will be submitted for processing.

If you submit the FAFSA form, you’ll see a confirmation page that displays your completion date, data release number, and next steps. You’ll also see your estimated Student Aid Index (a number used by college and career/trade schools to determine your eligibility for federal student aid), estimated Federal Pell Grant eligibility, and information about other federal student aid for which you may be eligible. This confirmation page is emailed automatically to you for your records.

Note: The Student Aid Index on the confirmation page is only an estimate. The official Student Aid Index will appear on the FAFSA Submission Summary.