If it is the beginning of January and you are the parent of a high school senior, then you need to be filling out the forms and figuring out your finances.

The official FAFSA form (www.fafsa.ed.gov) was made available Jan. 1. Because funds are distributed on a first-come-first-served basis, even those families who don’t anticipate aid are encouraged to complete the forms early.

Most colleges just use the FAFSA as their application for need-based aid, but a variety of mostly private colleges also require families to complete the CSS profile (www.bigfuture.collegeboard.org and go to the “Pay for College” tab) so they can determine the level of institutional aid they are likely to receive.

The output of both of these forms is a student’s Expected Family Contribution; this is the minimum amount colleges will expect you can pay each year. It is not uncommon for families to look at their EFC and say, “Are you crazy? We can’t afford to spend that each year.” If that is the case, then in addition to applying for need-based aid, you and your student should research and apply for merit-based aid scholarships.

If you already have one child in college, it is critical you complete the FAFSA each year, because part of the formula recognizes the number of dependent children enrolled in college. The gist of the forms focus on the assets and income of the parents and the student as well as family size.

Colleges and universities will use the student’s EFC to determine the need for financial aid. Institutions will subtract the EFC from their total cost of attendance and what is left is the amount of need-based aid for which the student qualifies.