How to renew my FAFSA for the new school year without starting over?

What should I do about my fafsa?

• I started to sign up for the fafsa this year so that I would be ready for next fall and not be one of the late submissions. I have not signed up for one on my own and this year is going to be a first. (first year financial aid department at my campus aided me somewhat, second year a friend helped me punch in a majority of the income information by pushing in some code or information that transferred my parents tax information from where they got their taxes done or something). Right now I am waiting on a new pin since I forgot my old one and forgot what I had put as the secret answer to retrieve the pin. I know from looking on various sites that I do not need a pin necessarily to submit a fafsa but it is easier to have one so I can electronically sign for it at the end and have it processed a bit faster. Should I go ahead and sign up and submit a new blank fafsa or wait for my new pin to sign up via renew and just change minor information from last years form? I am about two months early for the school I am going to attend again, their deadline is not until May and they do not start to even process until April. (The contents the same the questions reworded because I had an irritating typo in the head question)

• Answer:

  You should wait for the PIN. You are correct that it will speed up the processing. If you have time to wait, I would suggest that you wait until after you and your parents' tax returns have been processed by the IRS. It sounds like your friend helped you use the "IRS Data Retrieval" feature of the 2011-12 FAFSA. If at all possible, I would absolutely suggest that you use this on the 2012-13 FAFSA. If the taxes have not been given enough time to be processed by the IRS, this feature won't work. The reason that I suggest using the IRS Data Retrieval is that, starting with the 2012-13 FAFSA year, if your FAFSA is selected for verification (a review process mandated by the Department of Education), your school will be required to gather your and your parents' tax transcripts that you will need to have faxed or mailed by the IRS (a copy that you printed or copied upon submission will not suffice). If you successfully use the IRS Data Retrieval tool however, you will not be required to provide your tax returns at all if your FAFSA is selected for verification. It is your choice, but my suggestion is to wait. If you use the IRS Data Retrieval, make certain to answer the blank fields, but DO NOT change the answers supplied by the IRS. Doing so will put you back into the position of having to request transcripts from the IRS if your FAFSA is selected for verification. Be sure to double-check the deadlines for state grants and for scholarships offered by your school. If your options are to wait or to complete the FAFSA before those deadlines "the hard way" by punching in the numbers from your tax returns, definitely get the FAFSA completed before the deadlines. You may check the deadline for state grants at this site: http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/deadlines.htm As you complete the FAFSA, instructions for each field are displayed on the right hand side of the screen. Yes, the FAFSA can be imposing, but it's really just a matter of following those instructions. Take your time, and you will be successful.