What is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)?

How to fill out the FAFSA

The 2025-26 FAFSA will be available for you to complete sometime after December 1, 2024. The priority deadline is April 15 for Indiana residents. (If you don’t meet that deadline, you should still file.) For the best chance of receiving maximum financial aid, it’s a good idea to complete the FAFSA as soon as possible during your senior year of high school.

Make sure you have the following information ready to go to make filling out the FAFSA easier:

• Your Federal Student Aid (FSA) ID
  You’ll need an FSA ID, and so will one of your parents if you are a dependent. You can create it online.
• Your IU campus’s federal school code
  • IU Bloomington: 001809
  • IU Indianapolis: 001813
  • IU Columbus: E01033
  • IU East: 001811
  • IU Fort Wayne: E40457
  • IU Kokomo: 001814
  • IU Northwest: 001815
  • IU Online (Use the code for the campus to which you’re assigned)
  • IU South Bend: 001816
  • IU Southeast: 001817
• Your tax information
  You’ll need your federal tax return and W2 form for the prior-prior year—two years before the current academic year—as well as your parents’ federal tax return and W2 form if you’re a dependent (or your spouse’s federal tax return and W2 form if you’re married). For example, the 2024–25 FAFSA form used 2022 income and tax information, and the 2025–26 FAFSA uses 2023 information.
• Your Social Security number
  If you’re a dependent, you’ll also need your parents’ Social Security numbers.
  • OR your alien registration number, if you’re not a U.S. citizen
    In place of a Social Security number, you’ll need your alien registration number, also known as your alien number, A-Number, or USCIS#.
• General financial information
  You’ll need information about your savings, investments, and business assets. You’ll also need this information about your parents if you’re a dependent.

Once you’ve gathered everything you need, it’s easy to file your FAFSA. It will take as little as 30 minutes to complete, following the directions on the screen. Complete the FAFSA now.

What are contributors on the FAFSA?

The term “contributor” was introduced on the 2024–25 FAFSA. It refers to anyone asked to provide information on a FAFSA form, including:

• You (the student)
• Your spouse, if you have one
• Your biological or adoptive parent(s)
• The spouse of a remarried parent who is on the FAFSA form (stepparent)

Determining and inviting contributors

Your answers on the FAFSA will determine which additional contributors are required to provide information. Each additional contributor will be notified by email after you enter the following information:

• Contributor’s name
• Date of birth
• Social Security number
• Email address

What your contributors need to do

1. Create an FSA ID if they don’t already have one.
2. Log in on the FSA website.
3. Review information about completing their sections of the FAFSA form.
4. Provide the required personal and financial information in their sections of the FAFSA.

Information on being a dependent

Your dependency status is determined by a group of dependency questions on the FAFSA. Learn more about dependency status.