Senior Alert - Gear up for Finanical Aid Season

Senior Alert - Gear up for Finanical Aid Season

Senior Alert - Gear Up for Finanical Aid Season

Hopefully your senior year is off to a great start! Now that we're into September, it’s time to start thinking about financial aid. If you attended a Financial Aid Night at your school last spring, you are probably pretty familiar with the financial aid timeline, but we’d like to give you a quick recap. If you missed the presentation, attend a regional presentation this fall. Visit for a list of upcoming events.

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) for the 2018-19 school year will open up on October 1st. The FAFSA is the first step in the financial aid process, and gives students access to need-based aid and federal student loans.

FAFSA Help

  • Make an appointment with ICAN. Appointments are free and out schedule fills up fast, book your appointment today -
  • Visit a FAFSA Ready Iowa site. Professional help and no appointment necessary -

Scholarship Options

After you’ve filed your FAFSA, you should start looking into different scholarship opportunities.

  • Colleges and universities that you’re applying to,
  • Local applications that your school counselor will have,
  • Online scholarship databases - ICAN Scholarship Database
  • State of Iowa Scholarship Application - www.iowacollegeaid.gov.

A lot of deadlines for scholarships and other aid will start coming up in the fall semester, so make sure to stay on top of the process!

Get an FSA ID
The FAFSA form won’t be available until October 1st, but you can set up your username and password for the FAFSA now. Visit https://.fsaid.ed.gov to set up your username and password.

  • You as the student will need an ID
  • One of your parents will need an ID
  • If your parents have filed the FAFSA for an older sibling, they might already have their FSA ID.
  • Make sure that you write down your username and password after you set it up, and keep it in a safe place so that you can find it when you’re ready to file the FAFSA!
  • Learn more about the FSA ID Process -

As you start to think about financial aid, don’t forget to fill out those applications for admission! We recommend applying to 2-5 different schools, and submitting your applications before November 1st.

The ICAN Team

Top View