On Oct. 1, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) opened for the school year, which includes the federal grants, work-study and loans.

“Financial aid is a really complicated subject and it has many different avenues, so everyone needs to go to the meetings about it and do readings about it,” Career Specialist Robin Roth said.

By completing FAFSA, students are given access to a variety of resources that can help pay for college or trade schools.

A majority of states and colleges use a student’s FAFSA information to view their eligibility and need for state and school aid.

FAFSA doesn’t give money, but qualifies a senior for federal programs from the government and sends this eligibility to colleges a student is applying to. By filling out the application, it also allows colleges to know that a student is interested in receiving financial aid.

Seniors are encouraged to submit their FAFSA as soon as possible, but it can also depend on whether someone is applying early action or regular action. There can also be different deadlines for colleges that can result in an early submission of FAFSA.

Students are also highly encouraged to apply for scholarships for additional financial support.

Students should not wait until the end of the academic year because the money available will be limited at the end rather than the beginning.

Undocumented students should also fill out FAFSA.

“Undocumented students should reveal themselves now to their counselors that they are undocumented,” Roth said. “We are all about helping them and we can not help them if we don’t know they’re undocumented.”

There will be a Financial Aid information night on Wednesday, Oct. 17 at 7 p.m. in Clausen Hall. Seniors are highly encouraged to attend and underclassmen are also welcomed. On Saturday, Dec. 8 there will be a FAFSA completion workshop from 9-12 p.m. and another workshop on Feb. 27 at 7 p.m.