FAFSA Completion Overview

What to Expect When Submitting a FAFSA

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid, known as the “FAFSA,” is the form that all eligible students must complete to be considered for financial aid in higher education. Students who are not eligible to submit a FAFSA may be able to submit a California Dream Act Application (CADAA).

The FAFSA is a way to assess your level of financial need to be able to
cover the costs of attendance at a college or university.
Information gathered by the FAFSA helps determine qualifications for certain federal, state, and university financial aid.
Complete the FAFSA to be eligible for federal financial aid awards, including (but not limited to): Pell Grants, Federal Supplemental Education Opportunity Grants, Federal Work-Study, and Federal Direct Subsidized Loans.

On this page:

Application Process for the FAFSA
Preparing to Submit Your FAFSA
How Financial Need is Determined
After Your FAFSA is Submitted

Application Process for the FAFSA

FAFSA Timeline At a Glance

The FAFSA form for an academic year opens the prior fall semester.
1. For example: The FAFSA for 2025–26 opens in the fall semester of 2024.
2. The FAFSA can be completed up until June 30 for that aid year. For example, the 2025–26 FAFSA can be completed until June 30, 2026.
New applicants and continuing students of higher education complete the FAFSA by the deadline to be considered for all aid.
1. To be considered for on-time financial aid at UC Berkeley, you must complete your FAFSA by the California priority deadline, prior to the fall semester that you will be enrolled.
2. The California priority deadline for the 2025–26 FAFSA is March 3, 2025.
Each applicant with a successfully completed and processed FAFSA receives a FAFSA Submission Summary and Student Aid Index (SAI) number.
1. Your FAFSA Submission Summary includes a summary of data you input on your FAFSA form and, if available, your SAI.
  1. Be sure to review the summary for accuracy and if necessary, make corrections or updates to your FAFSA data.
2. Your SAI is shared with UC Berkeley and any other schools that you indicated when submitting your FAFSA (up to 20 schools).
Some students are selected every year for a verification process.
1. A small percentage of students are selected for a verification process that confirms the data reported on their FAFSA form is accurate.
2. If you are selected for verification, you’ll be notified in CalCentral with tasks to complete, sign, and upload additional documents.
The Student Aid Index (SAI) from your FAFSA is used to calculate what financial aid you are eligible to receive.
1. You have one SAI number that is the same at all schools listed on your FAFSA.
2. Financial need is determined by the cost of attendance (for a specific school) compared to your SAI and any other financial support you receive.
3. Your financial need and financial aid will vary depending on the school.
UC Berkeley financial aid packages are offered in CalCental.
1. Financial aid packages for an upcoming academic year are offered in the spring.
2. You will receive an email when your package is available. To review your offer, choose “View Awards” under “My Finances” in CalCentral.

FAFSA Form Questions

The FAFSA consists of 36 questions (for special circumstances, up to 46 questions).
- Some questions will have additional available responses to better describe an applicant’s unique circumstances.
- The form no longer includes selective service and drug conviction questions to reduce applicant barriers.
The application maximizes the use of previously collected data by pre-populating available information.
- Data from your StudentAid.gov account will be automatically populated in your FAFSA form.
- For repeat applicants filing a renewal FAFSA, the form will prefill certain fields based on your previous year’s FAFSA, like name, mailing address, and the schools you selected.
On the FAFSA form, students can list up to 20 schools to receive their FAFSA data and student aid index (SAI).
The form includes demographic questions about an applicant’s gender and race/ethnicity.
- Students are offered a choice of “Prefer Not to Answer.”
- The information collected will only be used for research purposes.
- Schools and state agencies will not be able to see a contributor’s responses to these questions and this information is not used to calculate aid.

FAFSA Completion Resources

Foster, homeless, and unaccompanied youth—as well as applicants who cannot provide parental information—will be able to complete the form with a provisional independent student determination and receive a calculated SAI.
Resources for completing the FAFSA form are available in English and Spanish and translation services are supported for the 11 most common languages spoken in the United States.
Applicants may receive support in completing the FAFSA form from financial aid professionals or paid preparers, but need to complete and submit the form themselves.

Preparing to Submit Your FAFSA

What Applicants Need to Complete the FAFSA

To complete the FAFSA, you will need:

The same documents and information that you need for the FAFSA every year. This includes:
1. Tax returns for the reporting year—for you and any parent or spouse who needs to sign your FAFSA.
2. If applicable, any records of child support received and/or the net worth of investments, businesses, and farms (for all contributors).
An FSA ID for each contributor to your FAFSA.
1. An FSA ID is a username and password for a StudentAid.gov account.
2. Any contributor who needs to sign your FAFSA will need a unique FSA ID.
The name(s), date(s) of birth, social security number(s), and email address(es) of any parent or spouse who will contribute to their FAFSA form.
1. For contributors without a social security number, you will need their A-number or current address.

Why you need an FSA ID
1. An FSA ID is needed to log in to all Federal Student Aid products and tools on StudentAid.gov.
2. There is a two-step verification for the FAFSA and all contributors must have an FSA ID to log in to the online form.
The online FAFSA form is the easiest way for students and their contributors to sign the form and provide consent for data sharing with the IRS. Signature and consent can also be provided with a printed FAFSA form, but the process is significantly slower, and it is more difficult to correct mistakes after submission.
How to register for an FSA ID
Students and other contributors register for an FSA ID by creating a StudentAid.gov account through the Federal Student Aid website. Most continuing students will have created an FSA ID to file their FAFSA in previous years and will not need to register for another one. Federal Student Aid (FSA) recommends all parents create an FSA ID.

Determine Who is a Contributor to Your FAFSA

A “contributor” is anyone asked to provide information on a FAFSA—student, student’s spouse, student’s parent(s) and/or stepparent(s). Contributors are required to provide consent and approval for sharing federal tax information (FTI) along with their signature on the FAFSA form.

The student applying for aid is always a contributor.
A student who is a dependent will have at least one parent as a contributor.
- The parent reported on the FAFSA is the one who provided the greater portion of a student’s financial support in the past year, not who the student lived with the most.
- A dependent student with unusual circumstances can receive a “provisional independent” status while their status is verified.
An independent student may not have contributors other than themselves.
- For independent students who are married and filed taxes separately for the reporting tax year, their spouse is considered a contributor.

How to determine your parent contributor(s)
The FAFSA includes an interactive worksheet (“parent wizard”) that can help you determine which parent(s) you should be planning to include on your application. Common situations include:
- If the parents are married and their tax filing status was "married filing jointly” for the reporting year, then only one parent needs to create an FSA ID and provide consent on the FAFSA. Providing consent allows both parents' tax information from their tax return to be retrieved from the IRS.
- If the parents are married and their tax filing status was "married filing separately” for the reporting year, then they will both need to create an FSA ID and will both need to provide consent on the FAFSA, since their tax information is provided on separate tax returns.
- If the parents are separated or divorced, the Custodial Parent will need to create an FSA ID and provide consent on the FAFSA. If the Custodial Parent remarried, include the new spouse’s information when completing the FAFSA form.
Federal Student Aid has additional information to help with your determination:
- Reporting Parent Information offers FAQs and special circumstances.
- Who is considered a parent? Helps you determine whose tax information needs to be provided on your FAFSA form based on your parents’ marital status.
What “provisional independent” status means
A provisional independent status allows a student to receive a Student Aid Index (SAI) calculation while their independent status is being verified.

Dependency is determined by how a student answers the dependency questions on their FAFSA. If a student is not considered independent, they can indicate they have unusual circumstances that prevent them from providing parental information. Dependent students with unusual circumstances—as well as foster, homeless, and unaccompanied youth—will be assigned a “provisional independent” status and receive an SAI while awaiting verification. The SAI will remain provisional and not official until a financial aid administrator verifies the independent student status. Students who have their independent student status approved by a financial aid administrator will also be eligible for a renewal of their dependency status in subsequent years if their circumstances remain unchanged.

For details, reference Dependency Status Update Due to Unusual Circumstances (PDF).
Contributors who don’t have a Social Security Number (SSN)
You can complete your FAFSA if you have family contributors with different citizenship or immigration statuses.
1. Have the contributor create an FSA ID with the contributor’s current address instead of a Social Security Number (SSN). You can complete the FAFSA before completing FSA ID verification, but complete the identity verification process as soon as possible.
2. When the student completing their FAFSA is asked to invite contributors to their form, they will need to input the exact same address as their contributor’s StudentAid.gov account.
Any contributor without an SSN will be required to manually enter their tax information on the FAFSA form. For details, reference Mixed Family Status (PDF).
Determining the custodial parent
For dependent students, the Custodial Parent will be the parent who provided the most financial support, instead of the parent with whom the student lived more during the past 12 months. If both parents provided an exact equal amount of financial support, then this will typically be the parent with greater income or assets. The Custodial Parent will need to create an FSA ID to provide their information for the student’s FAFSA.

Consent to Data Exchange with the IRS

Any contributor (student, spouses, parents, and/or stepparents) need to provide their consent to share their Federal Tax Information (FTI) in order for the student to be eligible for federal student aid. It is vital that all contributors provide consent for this direct data share. For details, reference Contributors and Consent (PDF).

Direct Data Exchange (DDX) allows the IRS to directly provide Federal Tax Information (FTI) for contributors to an applicant’s FAFSA. Details about providing consent:

To provide consent, complete the Consent to Retrieve and Disclose Federal Tax Information section of the FAFSA. The section provides details about what information is shared.
Family contributors (most commonly parent(s) or spouse) will need to log in to the student’s form with their unique FSA ID in order to consent to the data exchange.
Once given, consent lasts for that application year.
Consent needs to be given by all contributors every year the applicant submits a FAFSA.
Once data is exchanged with the IRS, consent will not be able to be revoked.
A contributor’s tax return information, including information from a spouse or parents, comes directly from the IRS and is not viewable by the other contributors.

What happens if a contributor does not provide consent
- If any contributor to the FAFSA form does not provide consent, submission of the form will still be allowed; however, a student aid index (SAI) will not be calculated so the student will not be eligible to receive Title IV federal student aid.
- If a parent contributor refuses to provide consent, the dependent student can indicate that they would like to be considered for a Direct Unsubsidized Loan (this loan is the only federal financial aid the student can be considered for without the parent's consent).
A contributor who did not consent at first can change their decision later. Throughout the FAFSA form, there are several opportunities to update your consent approval. Consent can also be updated on the dashboard of a contributor’s studentaid.gov account.
Contributors who didn’t complete taxes for the reporting year
Even if a tax return was not completed for the reporting year, the applicant and all other contributors must provide consent in order for the student to be considered eligible for federal financial aid. If tax filing was required for a contributor, but taxes were not filed and no filing extension has been obtained, the applicant may not be eligible for Title IV federal student aid.
When tax information is not available through the IRS, including foreign tax returns
Eligible non-citizens and applicants with unique circumstances (like families navigating identity fraud) still need to provide consent for Direct Data Exchange with the IRS. For instances where income and tax information cannot be obtained directly from the IRS—including foreign tax filers—the contributors will be able to manually enter tax information into the FAFSA. That manual entry may be subject to verification.

How Financial Need is Determined

Calculating Financial Need with the Student Aid Index (SAI)

The Student Aid Index (SAI) is a number that determines each student’s eligibility for certain types of federal student aid. A student receives one SAI number after completing their FAFSA, but financial need is specific to each university’s Cost of Attendance and will vary by institution.

SAI is an index number that a financial aid office uses to determine how much federal, state, and institutional aid a student would receive if they were to attend that school.
SAI determines eligibility for all aid except for minimum and maximum Pell Grants.

Financial need is calculated and determined with the need-analysis formula:

COA – SAI – OFA = financial need

Cost of Attendance (COA) is the starting point for calculating financial need. COA includes direct costs (charges for which the university bills you directly) and estimated indirect costs (living expenses) to fund educational expenses for a year.
Student Aid Index (SAI) is a formal evaluation of a student’s approximate financial resources to contribute toward their education for a specific award year.
Other Financial Assistance (OFA) is all financial aid awarded to the applicant, including outside scholarships and loans, as well as aid awarded by the university.

The formula uses information that applicants provide on the FAFSA form and, in most cases, federal tax information (FTI) that is retrieved directly from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Understanding a negative SAI
SAI is used by financial aid offices when determining student eligibility for need-based financial aid. SAIs can range from a minimum of -1,500 to maximum of 999,999. Lower SAIs (including negative SAIs) indicate a higher financial need.
Considerations about reporting assets
The need-analysis formula was updated in 2024–25 and included changes to asset reporting:
- Child support received is included in assets and not as untaxed income.
- Families who own a small business/farm that also serves as primary residence have assets of that business/farm considered in their need-analysis calculation.
For details, reference Small Business and Family Farm Assets (PDF).

How Federal Pell Grants are Determined

The eligibility criteria for Federal Pell Grants is based on the federal poverty line and family size, which allows more students and families from low-income backgrounds to qualify.

The calculation for minimum and maximum Pell Grants is separate from the student aid index (SAI).
Pell Grants are accessible to incarcerated students under specific rules and programs.

Considerations for Federal Pell Grants are based on:

Dependency
Marital status
Adjusted Gross Income (AGI)
Poverty level
Enrollment status

“Family size” and number of students in college
Family size (formerly “household size”) captures the appropriate number of family members and dependents in the applicant’s household. For tax-filers, Family Size will be automatically calculated based on the number of individuals claimed as exemptions on the tax return. If the Family Size is different from what is reported on the tax return, there will be an option to enter it manually.
- If the applicant is a dependent, family size includes the parent (and spouse or partner), the student, the parent’s dependent children (even if they live apart because of college enrollment), and any other people living with the parent now, if the parent will provide more than half of their support during the upcoming aid year.
- If the applicant is independent, family size includes the student (and spouse), the student’s dependent children, and other people only if the student will provide more than half of their support during the upcoming aid year.
The number of family members in college (“sibling discount”) is not considered in the calculator for the need-analysis formula. For details, reference Family Size and Number in College (PDF).

After Your FAFSA is Submitted

Completed FAFSAs are Sent to a Processing System

When your FAFSA is completed and submitted by all contributors, your form will be sent to the FAFSA processing system.

Your FAFSA form is considered complete and submitted on the date that all contributors (student, spouse, parent as applicable) complete and submit their sections; not on the day the student starts the FAFSA.
For applicants with other contributors, your form is not considered complete until the other contributors have completed their section, even if you have completed your own section.

The FAFSA form completion date is important for schools that use a priority deadline to award/offer institutional funds. In order to be considered for all possible financial aid, you must complete your FAFSA by UC Berkeley’s priority deadline March 2.

Note: Your application information will only be shared with UC Berkeley after your FAFSA has been processed.

Review Your FAFSA Submission Summary

Each applicant with a completed and processed FAFSA receives a FAFSA Submission Summary, which includes a summary of data you input on your FAFSA form.

When your summary is available, the Department of Education will send you an email with instructions on how to access it online.
Be sure to review the summary for accuracy and if necessary, make corrections or updates to your FAFSA data.

What to look for when reviewing your FAFSA
New and continuing students can find their application status in CalCentral along with directions for any additional tasks that need to be completed. Common errors that need to be corrected on FAFSAs include:
- Missing student or parent signatures
- Needing to provide consent to share tax information
- Choosing to be considered for unsubsidized loans only (most students will choose subsidized loans)
- Inaccurate manual entry of financial information (check your tax information)
- Inaccurately filed as provisionally independent
How to make corrections to your FAFSA
Visit the How to Correct or Update Your FAFSA Form page on studentaid.gov for information about how to make corrections. Common corrections include:
- If your FAFSA form is missing a contributor’s consent and approval
- If you filed a FAFSA using an incorrect Social Security Number (SSN)
- If you want to add or delete a school (Changes to Federal School Codes)
- Change answer to “Direct Unsubsidized Loan Only” question
- Add a missing signature
If you encounter unexpected financial hardships
While financial circumstances remain relatively the same from year to year, there may be instances where students and their families face unexpected financial hardships not reflected on the FAFSA. These situations are considered special circumstances.

If you experience special circumstances, you can appeal your financial aid. Submitting an appeal will allow the UC Berkeley Financial Aid and Scholarships Office an opportunity to review your situation to determine if your financial aid eligibility needs to be recalculated. If your appeal is approved, you may qualify for additional need-based financial aid.

For details, reference Special Circumstances for Unexpected Financial Hardships (PDF).