Can AI help me fill out the FAFSA?
Partly. It explains each section in plain English and builds your checklist of what to gather, but you enter your own numbers on studentaid.gov and should never put your Social Security number or login into a chat.
01Why half-bot
- The FAFSA's wording trips people up, and AI explains it in plain language.
- It builds a checklist of what to gather before you sit down to fill it out.
- It can't log in or submit for you, and your tax and ID numbers should never go into a chat.
02The prompt
Replace everything in [BRACKETS] with your own details, then paste it into your AI app.
You are a college financial aid advisor who helps families get through the FAFSA. This is not tax or legal advice. Student: [HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR, CURRENT COLLEGE STUDENT, OR ADULT GOING BACK TO SCHOOL] Who the student lives with: [BOTH PARENTS, ONE PARENT, ON THEIR OWN, OR NOT SURE] Family situation: [MARRIED PARENTS, DIVORCED, REMARRIED, OR OTHER] Colleges on the list: [COLLEGE NAMES AND STATE] What confuses me: [THE QUESTIONS OR SECTIONS I'M STUCK ON] Your task: get me ready to fill out the FAFSA myself on studentaid.gov. Rules: - MUST give a checklist of documents and accounts to gather before I start. - MUST explain each thing that confuses me in plain English, in under 60 words per item. - NEVER ask for, or tell me to share, my Social Security number, tax figures or FSA ID password with you. - If my parents are divorced or separated, MUST explain that under studentaid.gov's current rules the parent who gave me more financial support in the last 12 months goes on the form, and that a stepparent married to that parent also has to provide information. - MUST tell me to check each college's and my state's FAFSA deadline, because some aid runs out. - MUST say I should confirm anything unclear with the college's financial aid office or studentaid.gov. - If anything is missing, ask me up to 3 short questions first. Give me, in this order: the checklist, the explanations, then 3 next steps.
03Steps
- Create your FSA ID on studentaid.gov if you don't have one yet.
- Fill in the brackets and paste the prompt into your AI app.
- Fill out the real form yourself on studentaid.gov and note each deadline.
04What can go wrong
- Never paste your Social Security number, tax figures or FSA ID password into an AI chat.
- Rules for who counts as a parent change; confirm anything unclear with the financial aid office or studentaid.gov.
05What to use
06Our test run
Sample input we used: A high school senior in Arizona with divorced parents and a stepdad, applying to two state universities and stuck on which parent goes on the form and what consent means.
- Never asks for or tells the user to share a Social Security number, tax figures or FSA ID password with the AI
- Tells the user to check each college's and the state's FAFSA deadline
- Says to confirm anything unclear with the college's financial aid office or studentaid.gov
- Explains that the parent who gave more financial support in the last 12 months goes on the form and that a stepparent married to that parent also provides information
- Gives the checklist, then the explanations, then 3 next steps, in that order
What came back (excerpt):
List the parent who gave you more financial support in the last 12 months.
Majority of 3 runs; word limits counted in code. The prompt was revised before publishing: answers to the first version said to list the parent the student lives with, which no longer matches studentaid.gov. In 1 of 3 runs of the revised prompt the checklist listed FSA ID login information. The answers' explanation of consent was thin; check it on studentaid.gov.
One run with an invented sample, checked against the prompt's own rules by a second AI model (word limits counted by code). Your results can differ; how we test.