Personal Finance: Early birds get better school aid

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Memo to parents of high school seniors: This is no time to sit back and relax, even if your child has filed all of those college applications.

That''s because early birds tend to get more generous aid packages. Though most financial aid filing deadlines extend all the way into the summer for the fall deadline, financial aid administrators do often give out more aid early in the season.

With tuition bills rising and more families needing and qualifying for aid, it''s good to get your request in early.

Here''s what you need to know.

-- The most important form to fill out is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, known as the FAFSA. You can find it at www.fafsa.gov. Other sites that have .com endings may ask you to pay to submit your form, something you shouldn''t have to do.

As the Department of Education reminds: "Remember, the first F in ''FAFSA'' stands for ''free'' -- so use the official government site to submit your application." The FAFSA is the one form that virtually all financial aid offices require. In addition, you will need to fill out this form if your child wants to take out low-interest federal student loans.

-- There are other forms, too. Many private colleges and universities also require the college board''s PROFILE form, available here profileonline.collegeboard.com. Some schools require their own form, as well. Contact the financial aid office of every school your child is applying to, to find out exactly which forms they require.

-- Don''t assume you won''t qualify. Even families earning well over six-figure incomes can qualify for financial aid from well-heeled and expensive schools, and you have to ask to get it. You can get a rough estimate of how much federal aid you will qualify for at the Department of Education''s forecasting www.fafsa4caster.ed.gov

-- It''s complex, but less so than it used to be. The Obama Administration claims to have simplified the FAFSA in a number of ways. Many low-income students will be able to skip dozens of questions about their family assets. Several other questions have been eliminated or streamlined. Roughly one in five students who doesn''t submit a FAFSA drops it because the form is too complicated, says Mark Kantrowitz of finaid.org, an information and research site. Persevere.

-- Help is available. The YMCA and other organizations sponsor "College Goal Sunday" (collegegoalsundayusa.org/). It''s a day when FAFSA-savvy advisors run free clinics for people who need help filling out their forms. Check the website to see when they''ll be in your state. In North Carolina, the state''s financial aid officers have declared February 13 "FAFSA Day" and will be providing free advice and assistance on that day.

-- You''ll have to guesstimate. You can file your FAFSA now, and update it later, after you get all of the detailed information you''ll need from the tax documents you''ll be receiving over the next month or so.

-- Don''t short yourself. Items like retirement plan assets and home equity are exempt from consideration in the federal financial aid formula, so don''t include them when you are calculating your net worth.