The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) completion deadline has been changed to Dec. 20 for 2021-22.

Students must complete their FAFSA to be considered for Iowa State priority aid programs, according to the Office of Student Financial Aid.

Before starting to file a FAFSA, a student should have their social security number, driver’s license information and student alien registration or permanent resident card if the student is not a U.S. citizen. If the student is a dependent, they will need their parent’s social security number as well.

To determine if a student is an independent or a dependent, the Office of the U.S. Department of Education lists criteria on their website on its website.

If a student is considered a dependent and wishes to change their status, they can appeal to Iowa State; however, the U.S. Department of Education does not consider these changes. Appeal request information can be found here for independency status and here for marital status.

“Typically, neither a student’s decision to deny financial assistance from their parents nor the parent’s decision to deny financial assistance to the student are considered valid reasons to change dependency status,” according to the Office of Student Financial Aid website.

A student must create a Federal Student Aid ID to complete the FAFSA.

According to the Federal Student Aid website, the 2021-22 FAFSA requires tax information from 2019. The application will link to the IRS website to retrieve tax information.

The Office of Student Financial Aid has the following tips for filling out the FAFSA.

“Read the instructions carefully,” according to the website. “The words ‘you’ and ‘your’ always refer to the student, whereas questions for parents will be specified. Always round to the nearest dollar, and do not use commas or decimal points. When asked to list school codes, Iowa State University’s School Code is 001869. Use a Currency Converter to report the value of foreign income in U.S. dollars. List an email address checked frequently as you will receive communication at this address from FAFSA and ISU.”

A student can make corrections to their FAFSA after submitting. After logging in, the student should select the FAFSA year they wish to correct and select “Make FAFSA Corrections” from the options provided to them. The student should then follow the prompts given by FAFSA to complete the correction process.

To correct information on a paper application submission, the student should contact the Federal Student Aid Information Center by phone at 1-800-433-3243 and request a copy of their Student Aid Report.

After making those corrections, the student should mail them to Federal Student Aid Programs, P.O. Box 7654, London, KY 40742-7654.

Special conditions can be considered when filing the FAFSA, such as students and families impacted by natural disaster, loss of job, reduced earnings due to a disability, loss of benefits, divorce or death of parents, unmet medical expenses or dependent care expenses.

There is a special condition application for parents, independent students and dependent students. The application review process typically takes four to six weeks.

If students should have any questions while filling out the FAFSA, they can schedule an Iowa State financial advising appointment following the instructions here. New students should call 515-294-2223 to schedule a virtual appointment. The preferred meeting platform is WebEx, according to the Office of Student Financial Aid.