October 1st is the day the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) opens for the following school year.

To say that slightly differently, October 1st 2021 is the day the FAFSA application for first year college bound students for the 2022-2023 school year becomes available. And if you’re a returning student for the 2022-2023 school year, this FAFSA form applies to you too.

Today’s assignment is very easy. It’s only four short things:

1. Gird your loins, and prepare to wade through this sooner rather than later. Block of some time on your calendar, because while none of it is rocket science, it can be overwhelming due to being new, detail oriented, and time consuming.

Now, I don’t know any colleges where having your paperwork in on October 1st vs October 2nd will impact your financial aid, but do understand the concept that time is money – the more you delay, the more it may cost you. If you look at the FAFSA deadlines list, you’ll see for some states it’s as simply stated as “As soon as possible after Oct. 1, 2021. Awards made until funds are depleted.” If you’re a first year college student next year, being early is most important, as many scholarships are granted for the freshman year only and then can be renewed in future years. Subsequent year students should still get theirs in sometime in November, not loitering until Christmas vacation to do this paperwork.

2. Let your college-bound high school senior know that college paperwork season has arrived, and they’ll be expected to be involved at some level. I like to set expectations up front, communicating so they know they’ll be needing to clear some time in their schedules too. They want to be treated like an adult, they have to act like an adult, and that includes both boring paperwork as well as learning the system.

3. Create a new throw-away email address for everything related to applying for colleges, if you haven’t already. Colleges and scholarship sites all want you to share your email address, generating umpteen million emails you won’t want to be receiving and wading through for the next 50 years.

4. Bookmark a great resource website for all things FAFSA is https://studentaid.gov/resources .

Ready for more than four things? Make sure you check out my other educational articles about college to feel more organized about your child’s college application and funding.