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Step 1) Fill out your FAFSA online

Go to www.fafsa.ed.gov to complete your 2013-2014 FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid).

If this is your first time to fill out a FAFSA, you will need a PIN (personal identification number), and if you are a dependent student, your parent or guardian will also need to have a PIN. The PINs will be used to sign in to the FAFSA and to electronically sign your FAFSA and master promissory notes should you decide to take out loans. The PIN website is at www.pin.ed.gov.

Be sure to double-check your entries as you fill out your FAFSA. A mistake on your name or social security number will cause a delay in getting your FAFSA information to us, which in turn will put a hold on our ability to award you financial aid.

You will need to have your 2012 tax information in order to complete the FAFSA. You may be given the opportunity to use the IRS Retrieval option to pull your tax information directly from the IRS, which will often decrease the possibility of errors on your application. If your parent's or guardian's information is needed on the FAFSA, make sure they choose to use the same option if it is given to them.

Step 2) Set up your Crusader Mail account

Go to www.dallas.edu/CrusaderMail. We encourage you to bookmark this page.

Your username is the first letter of your first name, followed by your full last name.
(E.g. the username for John Smith would be jsmith)

Your temporary password is: Crusaders (with a capital "C")

Click the "Login" button. This will open your Crusader e-mail. Once you have successfully logged in, you should change your password immediately! To do this, follow the steps below:

1. Click on the "Settings" button in the top right of the e-mail window. (This button looks like a gear.) Select "Settings" from the menu that pops up when you click on the gear.
2. Select the "Accounts" option from the top of the page.
3. Click on the link that says "Google Account settings" to be taken to a new page.
4. On the new Accounts page, select the "Security" link on the left side of the page.
5. Click on the button that says "Change password."
6. Now enter a new password and confirm it by entering it again.
7. Click the button that says "Change Password."