Scholarship Guide
Do You Need the FAFSA to Get Scholarships?
Short answer: not always, but filing it still helps, and for some scholarships it's required. The FAFSA and scholarships get tangled together in people's minds, so here's what's actually true for the 2027-28 year.
What the FAFSA actually does
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is how you apply for federal and state financial aid, grants like the Pell Grant, work-study, and federal loans. The 2027-28 FAFSA opened in fall 2026 and is open now. It uses the Student Aid Index (SAI), which replaced the older Expected Family Contribution (EFC) a couple of years ago, and the Pell Grant income thresholds were expanded, so more middle-income families may qualify than in past years.
The FAFSA is about federal and state aid. Most private scholarships, the kind run by companies, foundations, local organizations, and community groups, are separate from it.
So do scholarships require the FAFSA?
It depends on the scholarship:
Many private scholarships do not require the FAFSA at all.
A local business scholarship or an essay-based award usually just wants its own application.
Some scholarships do require it, especially need-based scholarships and awards run by colleges themselves.
They use your FAFSA (your SAI) to confirm financial need.
Your college's own scholarships often depend on it.
Many schools pull from your FAFSA to award institutional scholarships and grants, and some have priority deadlines, so filing early matters.
The honest takeaway: file the FAFSA regardless. Even if a scholarship doesn't require it, filing unlocks federal and state aid you'd otherwise miss, and it keeps every need-based and college scholarship option open. There's no downside to filing, and real money on the table if you skip it.
The part people miss: scholarships can affect your financial aid
Here's the wrinkle worth knowing. If you win outside scholarships, you're generally expected to report them to your college's financial aid office, and they may adjust your aid package. This is called scholarship displacement, when a scholarship reduces your other aid rather than adding to it. It doesn't always happen, and some states have passed laws limiting it, but it's worth understanding so you're not surprised.
When to do what
A rough order of operations for this season:
File the 2027-28 FAFSA now (it opened in fall 2026).
Check your college's priority deadline, filing early maximizes your aid.
Keep applying for scholarships in parallel.
You don't wait for FAFSA results to hunt for scholarships. The two run alongside each other.
Report scholarships you win to your financial aid office.
Ask how they handle outside awards.
Where to find scholarships while you're at it
Filing the FAFSA covers federal and state aid. Scholarships are where you close the rest of the gap, and the local and niche ones are where students leave the most money unclaimed, because they're scattered and hard to find.
That's where ScholarScan comes in. It searches the live web for scholarships matched to your profile, including the smaller local awards the big databases miss.
Find scholarships matched to you
Matched to your profile. Free to run your first search.
Find my scholarships free →Note: financial aid rules, FAFSA dates, and scholarship requirements change over time and vary by school and provider. Always confirm current details at studentaid.gov and with your college's financial aid office. This guide is educational and not financial advice.