The year continues to get more exciting for seniors at Central High School. With the third quarter inching towards the end, college deadlines loom even larger than before. Just as important as college deadlines is the FAFSA deadline. To aid seniors in the complicated process that is FAFSA applications, Central hosted its annual FAFSA night, where students and their guardians could fill out applications and get help if needed. This event took place on Wednesday, February 28th, from 6-8pm in the Central gymnasium.

FAFSA stands for Free Application of Federal Student Aid. This program takes tax and earning information from a student’s guardians and uses it to determine how much federal student aid they can qualify for. The FAFSA started in 1992, when congress reauthorized the HEA, also known as the Higher Education Act, and created a standardized form to apply for aid.

The FAFSA has obviously evolved over the years to keep up with the new technology but, this year, the evolution took a different turn. The new and improved FAFSA form is supposed to be streamlined and more user-friendly, but a late opening date, frequent pausing of the website to fix it, and major delays have some students concerned.

Overall, the FAFSA does seem to have improved and will make our upcoming FAFSA night go much smoother. Make sure to meet those deadlines!