Fafsa.ed.gov, Fafsa.gov, Or Fafsa.com

Q: When it comes to applying for FAFSA, which site is the correct site to apply through? There seems to be www.fafsa.ed.gov, www.fafsa.gov, and www.fafsa.com?

A: Both www.fafsa.ed.gov and www.fafsa.gov will take you to the correct FAFSA (fafsa.gov is a shortcut or redirect to www.fafsa.ed.gov). The FAFSA is The Free Application for Federal Student Aid, and any student interested in receiving federal grants, federal student loans, and/or federal work study will need to complete a FAFSA. There are a number of different websites out there with the word “fafsa” in the web address. Some of these websites may be purely informational, however others may be in the business of charging money or obtaining payment for their services in relation to competition of FAFSA.

Students should be aware that FAFSA (The Free Application for Federal Student Aid) is 100% free to complete. The government does not change any fees to complete FAFSA, and the FAFSA form (located at www.fafsa.ed.gov or www.fafsa.gov) will never ask or require you to give your credit card or banking information. Individuals should always make certain to do their research on any company and/or site that requires you to provide credit card information and/or banking information (such as routing or account numbers).

www.fafsa.ed.gov is the formal website address to reach the FAFSA, however fafsa.gov will simply provide a redirect to www.fafsa.ed.gov. The most important thing to note is that the website domain extension ends in .gov (i.e. www.fafsa.ed.gov). FAFSA is a service of the federal government, specifically the US Department of Education, and only programs and/or services of The US Department of Education will be allowed to have website domain names ending in ed.gov.