If I take a gap year after high school graduation, am I still eligible to apply for FAFSA when I decide to start college the following year? How does financial aid work in this situation?
Yes, you are still eligible to apply for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) after taking a gap year. You are not required to enroll in college immediately after graduating high school to qualify for federal student aid. Just remember to complete the FAFSA for the academic year in which you’ll be enrolled in college.
To break it down:
If you graduate high school in May 2023 and will begin college in the fall of 2024, you should complete the 2024-2025 FAFSA, which typically becomes available on October 1, 2023.
As you fill out the FAFSA, you'll input financial information from two years prior to the academic year for which you are applying; in this case, you'll use 2022 tax information. This process, known as "Prior-Prior Year" (PPY), allows families and students to complete the FAFSA using information from tax returns that have already been filed, rather than estimating tax data and then updating it after taxes have been filed.
Note that the FAFSA determines your Student Aid Index (SAI), which colleges use fairly continuously to determine your eligibility for financial aid in any particular year irrespective of whether you took a gap year or not.
Remember, applying early can increase your chances of receiving grants and other forms of aid that may be first-come, first-served. So, even if you're taking a gap year, it's best to make a note of when the FAFSA becomes available for the following academic year and fill it out as soon as possible.
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