According to Johnson:

• Filing a FAFSA is required for federal student aid but some scholarships also rely on the FAFSA to determine who qualifies. In other words, if you don’t file a FAFSA you might lose out on scholarships from some colleges.

• If your family's income is close to, or below $50,000, you should consider filing a 1040A or 1040EZ. Why? Families with income below $50,000, who file a 1040A or 1040 EZ, will not generally have their assets included for purposes of calculating their Expected Family Contributtion (EFC).

• If your family income is below $30,000 and you file a 1040A or 1040EZ, you qualify for an automatic $0 EFC.

• Your assets are determined as of the date of your filing of the FAFSA. So if you have been saving up for that new car, buy the car before filing your FAFSA.

• The FAFSA will consider 20 percent of student assets available for college but only a maximum of 5.6 percent of parent assets.  Going to buy a computer for college? Buy it before filling out your FAFSA.  (Source: FAFSA Tips; Feb. 24, 2009; Todd Johnson).

Paying for college (and most other things) is getting more difficult by the day, but don’t give up! Be encouraged and step up your game.  In life, there are factors which we can control like how we spend our time, what we learn, and how we achieve our goals. However, there are also factors such as family income and assets that are pretty much controlled by external circumstances. You owe it to yourself to apply for financial aid using the FAFSA, even if your family income is above what you think is going to qualify.

Worst case scenario: You don’t qualify for aid or the EFC is too high for your folks to cover. If either of these things happens, then you have already geared up to apply for scholarships. In applying for scholarships, you are back in control. Before, during and after you submit the FAFSA, have a scholarship plan. If you end up getting free grant money, then your scholarship money can help with all of the little hidden costs in the daily life of a college student. If not, then your scholarship winnings could spare you years of student loan debt or even missed educational opportunities.