Office of Financial Aid

The FAFSA is your first step toward receiving financial aid. Completing it early gives you more time to complete any additional requirements and allows your school to determine what federal, state, and institutional aid you may qualify for.

Tip: Don’t wait until the last minute, submit your FAFSA as soon as you can.

Before completing the FAFSA, you and any required contributors will need a StudentAid.gov account. Your account allows you to access, complete, and electronically sign your FAFSA.

Tip: Create your account before starting the FAFSA so you’re ready to go.

Depending on your situation, a parent, spouse, or other contributor may need to complete part of your FAFSA. Each contributor must have their own StudentAid.gov account.

Tip: Ask your contributor to create their account before you begin the FAFSA. This can help prevent delays.

Having your information ready can make completing the FAFSA much easier. You may need information about your income, tax information, assets, family size, and other financial circumstances.

Tip: Have your information nearby before you begin so you don't have to stop and search for it later.

All required contributors must provide consent and approval on the FAFSA. This allows the Department of Education to access federal tax information needed to determine your eligibility for financial aid.

Important: Your FAFSA cannot be processed correctly if a required contributor does not provide consent.

Some FAFSA questions may be easy to misunderstand. Remember that when the FAFSA says “you,” it is referring to the student, even if a parent or another person is helping complete the form.

Tip: Read each question carefully before entering your information.

Make sure the information you enter matches your official records. Use your legal name as it appears on your Social Security card and enter your date of birth and other identifying information carefully.

Tip: Double-check your information before moving on to the next section.

Use the information requested by the FAFSA and follow the instructions provided for each question. If the FAFSA retrieves your federal tax information, review the information carefully and make any corrections the FAFSA allows you to make.

Tip: If you're unsure how to answer a question, don't guess. Ask the Financial Aid Office for help.

If the FAFSA asks for a dollar amount and the correct amount is zero, enter 0 rather than leaving the question blank.

Tip: Review each section carefully to make sure you haven't skipped a required question.

Your dependency status determines whose information may be required on your FAFSA. Filing your own taxes or supporting yourself does not automatically mean you are an independent student for financial aid purposes.

Tip: Answer the dependency questions carefully. If you believe your circumstances may qualify you for independent status, contact the Financial Aid Office.

If you have a FAFSA contributor, your FAFSA may not be complete until the required contributor has completed their section and provided the necessary consent and signature.

Tip: Check your FAFSA status after submitting to make sure there are no outstanding contributor requirements.

Before submitting your FAFSA, take a few minutes to review the information you entered. Look for incorrect names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, household information, and financial information.

Tip: A few extra minutes of reviewing your FAFSA can help prevent mistakes and processing delays.

Completing the questions is not the final step. Make sure you and any required contributors complete the appropriate signatures and submit the FAFSA.

Tip: Look for confirmation that your FAFSA was successfully submitted.

Submitting the FAFSA is only one part of the financial aid process. Your university may require additional documents or steps before your financial aid can be finalized.

Tip: Regularly check your student portal for outstanding financial aid requirements.

You must complete a new FAFSA each year if you want to be considered for federal financial aid for the upcoming academic year.

Tip: Don't assume your FAFSA automatically carries over from one year to the next

You may be eligible for financial aid even if you don't think you will qualify. Your FAFSA helps determine eligibility for different types of aid, including grants, work-study, loans, and potentially other forms of assistance.

Tip: Complete the FAFSA and let the financial aid process determine what you may qualify for.

Only enter your FAFSA information through the official StudentAid.gov website. Never share your StudentAid.gov username, password, or security information with someone else.

Tip: Be cautious of emails, texts, or websites asking for your financial aid login information.

You don't have to complete the FAFSA alone. If you're confused about a question or aren't sure what information to provide, contact your Financial Aid Office for assistance.

Tip: It's better to ask questions than to guess and submit incorrect information.

To submit your FAFSA®, visit studentaid.gov. For a quick overview of FAFSA® eligibility, refer to this guide to see if you're eligible to apply.

The FAFSA® for the 2027-2028 academic year will open by October 1, 2026. 

For Fall 2027, the priority deadline to submit your FAFSA® to TAMIU is January 15, 2027. 

You can still submit your FAFSA® after the priority deadline. However, it will be processed in the order it is received.

A contributor is anyone required to provide consent for Federal Tax Information (FTI) and sign the FAFSA®, including:

• The student
• The student’s spouse (if applicable)
• A biological or adoptive parent
• The spouse of a remarried parent (stepparent)

Students completing a 2026-2027 FAFSA form will be able to invite a parent or spouse as a contributor simply by entering their email—instead of asking students for a contributor’s personally identifiable information—which will generate a unique, non-case sensitive code. The code will be sent to the parent or spouse by email. The parent or spouse will be directed to accept the invite by entering the code on an “Accept an Invite” page that can be accessed by the email or StudentAid.gov once they are logged in. The Department expects this update to ease the process for users and reduce errors associated with matching contributors to their accounts based on identifying information. Contributors must provide personal and financial information.

For dependent students whose parents are unmarried but living together, both parents are contributors, each needing a separate Federal Student Aid (FSA) ID. If the parents filed taxes as "Married Filing Jointly," only one parent needs to be listed. If they filed separately, both parents are contributors and need their own FSA IDs. For married independent students filing separately, both spouses are contributors and must have FSA IDs.

Note: If a contributor doesn't have an SSN, they can still be invited to complete their portion of the FAFSA form. To invite a contributor who doesn't have an SSN, the student or parent will indicate that the contributor doesn't have an SSN and will instead provide the contributor's mailing address.

To create an FSA ID, visit the Create Account page on the Federal Student Aid website.

To process your FAFSA®, all required contributors (student, parents, spouse) must provide consent. This authorizes the release of Federal Tax Information (FTI) to higher education institutions, state agencies, and scholarship organizations. Consent is given once for the academic year and cannot be revoked during that period. This is necessary even if a contributor doesn’t have a Social Security Number (SSN), hasn’t filed taxes, or filed taxes outside the U.S. Contributors must have an FSA ID to provide consent. 

The rules for determining which parent to include on the FAFSA® are changing. You should report income and assets for the parent who provides the most financial support, even if the student doesn’t live with that parent.

Use this tool to help determine which parent to list.

Previously, if parents were divorced or separated, the parent with whom the student lived the most in the last 12 months had to be listed. That is no longer the primary factor.

Parental Income on the FAFSA®

• Parents who live together:
  • Include both parents' income and assets.
• Divorced or separated parents:
  • Include the income and assets of the parent who provides more financial support.
• Deceased parent:
  • If one parent has passed away, the surviving parent is considered a single parent unless remarried.
  • If both parents have died, no parental income or assets should be reported.
• Remarried parents:
  • If the student's parent has remarried, the income of the stepparent must be included if they are married at the time the FAFSA is completed.
• Single parent (not divorced, separated, or remarried)
  • Only report the income and assets of that single parent.

Ensure the personal information entered for your contributor exactly matches what they used when creating their StudentAid.gov account. Even small differences, like using "Street" vs. "St," can cause issues. Verify the contributor’s information in their account settings to ensure accuracy.

If the contributor doesn’t have an SSN, check the box under the SSN field and leave it blank. Then, make sure their address is entered exactly as in their StudentAid.gov account. If the contributor does have an SSN, enter it in the appropriate field. For more tips on completing your FAFSA®, visit FAFSA’s Pro Tips page.

If your parents filed or will file a foreign tax return, use that information to complete your FAFSA®. Convert all monetary amounts to U.S. dollars based on the exchange rate closest to the date you’re filing the FAFSA®. For more details, visit the help page.

The Student Aid Index (SAI) is an evaluation of your family’s ability to contribute to college expenses. The SAI is calculated using a formula established by law. All the financial information you provide on the FAFSA® is considered in the formula. Also considered are your family size and the number of family members who will attend college during the year. Schools use the SAI to determine your federal student aid eligibility and financial aid offer.

Note: Your SAI is not the amount of money your family will have to pay for college nor is it the amount of federal student aid you will receive. It is a number used by the school to calculate the amount of financial aid you are eligible to receive.