Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)

If you haven’t created an account, create a Federal Student Aid (FSA) account by setting up a username and password. Each student, and—if you’re a dependent—one of your parents, will need an FSA account (also known as an FSA ID) to complete the FAFSA process on studentaid.gov.

Create an FSA Account: Create your account early—even before you’re ready to complete the FAFSA—to avoid delays in the process. 

Your parents SHOULD NOT create an FSA account for you or vice versa. You can and should do this, and write down your login information somewhere you cannot lose it.

You can find the number on your Social Security card. Write it down (and memorize it—it comes up a lot).

If you are not a U.S. citizen but meet Federal Student Aid’s other eligibility criteria, you’ll also need your Alien Registration number. You and your parents need this information for the FAFSA form.

If you have a Social Security number you will need this as part of your ID. If you or your parents don’t have this, you can still file for financial aid with USF through the Financial Aid Office, and possibly qualify for aid from Illinois.

Have your driver’s license available to you. If you don’t have a driver’s license, don’t worry about this step.

On the FAFSA form, you (and your parents if you are a dependent student) will report your prior year income information. For example, for the 2025-26 academic year, you’ll use 2024 tax info.

• Since you’ll almost certainly already have filed your taxes by the time the FAFSA form is open, you may be eligible to import your tax information into the FAFSA form right away using the IRS Data Retrieval Tool (DRT).
• Not everyone is eligible to use the IRS DRT; and the IRS DRT does not input all the financial information required on the FAFSA form. This means you really should have your prior tax return and IRS W-2 available for reference.
• The IRS DRT is the fastest, most accurate way to input your tax return information into the FAFSA form.
• If you and your family experienced a reduction in income in the past year, go ahead and complete the FAFSA form with 2020 information, and then contact USF’s Financial Aid office (phone: 815-740-3403) to explain and document the change in income. USF has the ability to assess your situation and adjust your FAFSA data if necessary.

The FAFSA questions about untaxed income, such as child support, interest income, and veterans’ non-education benefits, may or may not apply to you. On the 2025-26 FAFSA form, you’ll report 2024 tax information when asked these questions.

This section includes savings and checking account balances, as well as the value of investments such as stocks, bonds, and real estate excluding your primary residence. Report the current amounts as of the date you sign the FAFSA form, rather than reporting the 2024 tax year amounts.

Note: Misreporting the value of investments is a common FAFSA mistake. Please carefully review what is and is not considered a student investment and parent investment to make sure you don’t over- or under-report. You may be surprised by what can (and cannot) be excluded.

USF’s FAFSA ID number is 001664. This will help us start a detailed financial aid package specifically for you!