Here are 8 tips for Kentucky college students on how (and why) to fill out the FAFSA

To pay for a college education, one of the keys you need to open doors to grants, government loans and more is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or the FAFSA.

If students don't fill it out, they may miss out on opportunities for financial assistance — and those opportunities can be pivotal as earning a degree becomes more and more expensive.

The Courier Journal got advice on the FAFSA from staffers with the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority (KHEAA) and the University of Louisville's student financial aid office.

Here are some tips for students about the FAFSA and how to complete it:

Where can I complete the FAFSA?

It's free to complete the FAFSA. Unlike plenty of college admissions applications, there's no fee to apply.

Some websites may ask you to pay to submit the application, but you don't have to do that.

Instead, fill out the FAFSA on the federal government's website for that: studentaid.gov/fafsa-app/ROLES. (The government also has a mobile myStudentAid app where you can complete the form.)

To do that, it's a good idea for students (and their parent or parents) to create an account, or FSA ID, at studentaid.gov/fsa-id/create-account so you can sign the FAFSA electronically.

More: How students can help U of L researchers reduce education, health disparity gaps: Opinion

What information and documents do I need for the FAFSA?

Students who are considered dependents may want to collect the following information about themselves and their parent or parents so they have it all ready for the FAFSA, per the KHEAA's FAFSA completion guide:

• Email address or cell phone number

• Date of birth

• Social Security number

• Driver's license number

• Your A-Number if you aren't a U.S. citizen

• Federal tax returns, W-2 forms and other documents detailing your income from two years ago. (For the 2022-23 academic year, the FAFSA form requests your financial information for 2020.)

• Bank statements and investment records

How do I know if I need to include information on my parent(s) for the FAFSA?

The U.S. Department of Education's studentaid.gov website has guides online that explain:

• Whether you're considered a dependent or independent student for the FAFSA's purposes;

• Who counts as a legal parent for the FAFSA's purposes and which parent(s) you should include information for on this application, if you're considered a dependent student.

You'll need to include information on both your parents if they're married or if they live together.

If that's not the case and if you lived with one parent more than another over the past year, include information on the parent you lived with most (as well as their spouse if they are remarried).

If that's not the case either, include information on the parent who gave you the most financial support during either the past year or the most recent year in which you received such support. (If that parent is married, include information on their spouse, as well.)

Related: How filling out your FAFSA early (like now) increases your chances for financial aid

How can I upload all that tax information?

Here are a couple ways you can input details from your and your parents' tax records for the FAFSA:

• You can enter it all manually, adding the information on your own.

• If you're eligible to do so, you can use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool to have the IRS directly transfer certain tax return information into the FAFSA.

Kim Dolan, director of outreach services for KHEAA, said "the vast majority of tax filers" will be able to use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool and recommended doing so if you're able. She noted that using this tool instead of entering everything by hand "cuts down on errors on that tax information."

Double-check everything.

This tip is simple: Take another look at the information you're adding to the FAFSA to make sure all the numbers and other details are accurate.

While the FAFSA can sound complicated, Dolan said it generally isn't a long process once you sit down with the information you've collected and start going through the form step by step.

And don't worry: Doing the FAFSA does not obligate you to take on any federal student loans.

Fill it out even if you don't think you're eligible for any aid.

Even if you think your family earns too much money for you to be eligible for anything other than federal loans, it's still worthwhile to do the FAFSA — at least for your freshman year of college, said Mike Abboud, associate director for the University of Louisville's student financial aid office. (He noted that students, ideally, should file a FAFSA every year they attend college.)

"Many families think that they won't qualify for anything, or they'll only qualify for loans," he said. "But you don't know until you actually file the FAFSA."

If you skip the FAFSA, Abboud said, that can lock you out of financial aid, such as grants and scholarships, at the federal and state level. Even some colleges, businesses or other organizations that offer aid to students require those students to fill out a FAFSA.

Apply early. (But if you don't, there's still time to do it later.)

The earliest you can fill out the FAFSA is Oct. 1 of the year that precedes the start of the next academic year.

For example, students could submit the FAFSA for the 2022-23 term beginning on Oct. 1, 2021. From there, the federal deadline for that FAFSA is June 30, 2023.

The sooner you fill it out, the better, Abboud said. That helps you figure out what kind of financial aid you're able to get as soon as possible, which can be vital as students determine the affordability of the schools that have accepted them.

Plus, some aid programs have limited resources. The faster you know you're eligible for a grant, the better chance you have of getting it before the money runs out.

Where can I get help with the FAFSA?

Abboud and Dolan both noted there are many resources to assist students.

The U.S. Department of Education has a hotline you can call at 1-800-433-3243.

For high school seniors, their school's counselor also can be a big help. Likewise, Abboud said financial aid offices at universities like U of L can offer advice.

So can KHEAA. There are outreach counselors for different regions of Kentucky, and their contact information is available on the organization's website, kheaa.com.

Morgan Watkins is The Courier Journal's chief political reporter. Contact her at mwatkins@courierjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter: @morganwatkins26.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Here are 8 tips for college students on how to fill out the FAFSA