If you're planning for college, completing and submitting your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (or FAFSA) is the first step in finding a way to fund your post high school education. Still the top starting place for college funding, the Federal government disburses more than 80 billion dollars of student aid per annum as grants, work-study programs or loans. To get your piece of this financial pie, you'll want to submit your FAFSA application as early as possible.

The FAFSA application process has an undeserved reputation as a being difficult to understand and hard to complete. The less than stellar reputation may in part be attributable to fee-for-service providers that are in business to help college-bound high school juniors and seniors complete the application. The Federal government has made the application easy to complete online by offering extensive online help that guides applicants through the application process. Also, the government charges no fees of any kind. The FAFSA application is free to all.

You'll want to kick off Step One of the FAFSA application process by applying for and receiving your own personal identification number, or PIN. Your PIN makes it possible to apply for student aid online, a process the government has streamlined and made as easy as possible. You can also use your PIN to sign your FAFSA application online and access and correct information contained in your Student Aid Report, or SAR. The SAR is the report you'll receive once your FAFSA application has been processed. It contains important information about you financial need, which ultimately determines the amount of aid you may receive.

Get your PIN at pin.ed.gov before you move on to Step Two of the application process. In this step, you should complete your FAFSA application online at fafsa.ed.gov, a site also known as FAFSA on the Web. The government has designed this site to offer step-by-step instructions as you answer each question in the FAFSA application. The online process also catches any potential mistakes you make and prompts you to correct them. Finally, filing your FAFSA application online is fast. You'll receive confirmation of the receipt of your application immediately and the typical FAFSA application is usually processed in just a few days.

In Step Three of the application process, you'll receive your SAR, or Student Aid Report, approximately three to five days after filing your FAFSA application online, or in seven to ten days if you filed by mail. The SAR contains your Expected Family Contribution, or EFC, which is the amount your family is estimated to be able to contribute to your college education. Your financial need is determined by subtracting the EFC from the cost of attendance at a particular college or university. Once you receive your SAR, review it for any errors and once it's complete, contact the financial aid office at the college or colleges you're considering. The financial aid office will let you know the type and amount of financial aid a particular college is willing to offer.

While not difficult to understand or complete, this three-step application process has more details than can be covered in a short article such as this. But the information provided here should pave the way for reviewing an easy-to-read, comprehensive government document that will shepherd you through the application process. Download the 60-page PDF document, entitled "Funding Education Beyond High School", from studentaid.ed.gov.