Students are taking advantage of "free money." The Free Application for Federal Student Aid is the nation's oldest and largest non-governmental student financial aid adviser.
"SInce January 1 we have seen a 35 percent increase in people filling out the application," said Mary Fallon, the media relations contact for FAFSA.
The time to fill out the FASFA is now.
"The quicker you turn in the application, even with an approximation, the more aid will be available for students," Fallon said.
The FASFA Web site has a program that costs $79.99 to have a one-on-one consultant will individually help walk applicants through all 137 questions of the application.
"The FASFA can be daunting to parents and students and will even prevent them from taking the time to fill it out," Fallon said. "But getting a consultant will help eliminate errors and help get the most aid available ... kind of like a tax consultant."
Fallon said the nice thing about completeing the FASFA is that every application is reviewed by a person, whereas the Department of Education uses a computer check that doesn't always catch errors.
"I think that every student needs to know that time is precious with getting financial aid," Fallon said.
The deadline for Nebraska is June 30, 2009.
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