Created to help families better plan for college, the FAFSA4caster (Free Application for Federal Student Aid “Forecaster”) uses a form half the size of the actual FAFSA application to estimate youths’ eligibility for federal financial aid. Most colleges also use the FAFSA to determine non-federal aid. The process on the site takes 20 to 25 minutes to complete and transfers the information to a FAFSA form for later use.