The deadline for Michigan financial aid is March 1. MSU does not have a deadline but rather accepts the forms as they come in.

This year there is $169 billion in aid available to students through FAFSA. Last year, the average amount given per student was $11,000, said Mary Fallon, spokeswoman for Student Financial Aid Service Inc., a group that helps students complete their FAFSA forms.

Fallon said the aid is more likely to go to students from low-income families, but factors such as the number of siblings in school and other circumstances could determine how much the student received.

“Unless you’re Bill Gates, you should apply,” Fallon said.

The complete form is 136 questions long, although not everyone will need to answer every question, Fallon said. Information needed to complete the form includes a student’s family’s assets and income, and whether or not the student is claimed as a dependent on their parents’ taxes.

FAFSAs for the 2011-12 school year were accepted beginning Jan. 1, but many states have their own deadlines in order to process requests. Funds are given on a first-come basis, and students can apply for aid until June 30, 2012. This way, if a student’s financial situation changes midway through the year, they still can apply for aid.

Val Meyers, the associate director for the MSU Office of Financial Aid, said that about 74 percent of MSU students received some sort of financial aid last year, although not all the aid is through FAFSA. From FAFSA loans, grants and work programs, MSU students received $500 million.

“I would say (for) more than half the students, (financial aid) makes a difference (in) whether or not they can attend,” Meyers said.

Meyers said she has seen an increase in the number of students asking for aid since 2009 and the downturn of the automotive industry.

“Right before the government did the bailout we saw a lot of parents of our students had been laid off,” Meyers said. “That was a big spike in the number of people we had (applying for) financial aid and the amount of aid we were getting.”

Mathematics freshman Maggie Mikus said she is receiving aid from FAFSA and, while she could have attended MSU without the money, it helped make school more affordable.

“It wasn’t a huge thing, but it definitely helped,” Mikus said. “(Otherwise) I’d have to make up the cost myself.”