As the new year dawns upon us, many of you will be applying for financial aid for the 2008-2009 school year using the FAFSA form (fafsa.ed.gov). You'll be happy to know that soon you will not have to wait until you recieve your PIN numbers in the mail before you can sign your applications for processing! Read more below.
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Beginning January 1, 2008, students and parents will be able to apply for and receive a "real-time" PIN when completing a FAFSA on the Web (www.fafsa.ed.gov) or when applying for a PIN on the Department’s PIN Web site (www.pin.ed.gov).
After determining that 97 percent of PIN applicants provide correct information (i.e. social security number), the Department decided to make this real-time PIN available not only for first-time PIN applicants but also for those who have lost or forgotten a previous PIN. After receiving the real-time PIN, applicants will be able to change the PIN to a number that is meaningful to them.
First-time PIN applicants will instantly receive a conditional PIN that will allow them to electronically sign their FAFSA on the Web. The conditional PIN can only be used to sign the original application that students and/or parents are completing at the time they applied for the PIN. The data supplied by the PIN applicant will then be verified with the Social Security Administration (SSA). If the applicants’ PIN information is accurate, the conditional PIN will then be good for all processes that require a PIN in the future. If the applicants’ data does NOT pass the SSA match, they will receive a SAR with a rejected signature comment and the school will receive a rejected ISIR. The students and/or parents will then need to provide the required FAFSA signatures. Students and parents will need to correct PIN data to receive their PINs.
Source: http://www.nasfaa.org/publications/2007/rnpin120407.html
The 2008-09 Process Guide for Student Web Application Products provides more guidance about how the real-time PIN process will work.
