Do I need to file a FAFSA?

Okay, so I am already accepted to Duke University. I got accepted last year but I deferred my admissions for one year because I am studying abroad in Germany. Last year I submitted a FAFSA and I got financial aid from Duke. However, since I deferred my admissions, I lost my fin aid. They told me I have to resubmit a FAFSA to them this year.. now my question. I want to send the FAFSA as soon as possible to get the most aid I can. Last year I submitted it on Jan. 1 with the taxes from the year before as an estimate and then corrected it when I had last years tax info. This means, I already submitted a 2007 form, do I need to submit a 2007 again in Jan 1 while I wait until my 2008 info? How do I resubmit an application? I'm confused....

Financial aid awards are based on each year's FAFSA, and are recalculated every single year. If you're going to be attending school in a particular academic year, and you hope to qualify for financial aid, you need to apply all over again.

The process is exactly the same each year - you'll apply at the fafsa.ed.gov site, and report your financial circumstances and your family's financial circumstances for the previous year. If your finances change, the makeup of your parents' household changes, more household members begin to attend college, someone loses or gains a job, or gets a raise, etc. you would have important new data to communicate to the Department of Education - and remember - your aid eligibility is always based on your CURRENT circumstances, not some moment, frozen in time, from when you first started applying for aid.

The Department recognizes that most applicants have a fairly similar situation from year to year, so the FAFSA website allows you to begin each year's "new" FAFSA pre-filled with the last year's information - or fresh from scratch. Some may find it easier to make changes to the info from last year, some may prefer to start over - the choice is up to you.

Once again, your application for financial aid for 2009-2010 must be submitted on the correct form (which will be available in another couple of weeks), and you'll need to provide the info from your parents' (and your) 2008 state and federal income tax returns. You're free to estimate and correct if you'd like, but it's not really necessary, so long as you get your application in ahead of your school's "priority aid deadline". They will not begin processing aid awards until that date, so there is no real benefit to getting your FAFSA submitted to the Department of Education on January 2nd.

I hope that information helped. Good luck!