Somerville was one of 26 sites across Massachusetts that provided FAFSA assistance as a part of College Goal Sunday, an event aimed at ensuring that all students have access to financial aid information. The organized sessions guided attendees through the 109-question form, the first step necessary to access federal student aid programs such as Pell grants, Stafford and Perkins loans, and federal work-study programs.

For two hours, financial aid professionals from the Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority (MEFA) and the Massachusetts Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (MASFAA) led a large group gathered in the cafeteria through the form, line-by-line. Meanwhile, multilingual volunteers from the Welcome Project's Liaison Interpreter Program of Somerville (LIPS) provided one-on-one assistance in the library upstairs.

"It was a really nice opportunity for people whose families don't have experience applying to college" said Somerville High School senior Alisha Thapa, who was leaving with a fully-completed FAFSA.

Samridha Rana, another senior at Somerville High, was happy to leave Sunday's event knowing that she can now shift her attention away from the FAFSA and onto making bigger choices, such as which photojournalism or media studies program she'd like to enroll in next year.

Several attendees said it was helpful to be able to go over the form with professionals due to the complex nature of the form.

"It's overwhelming," said Somerville resident Iona O'Brien, who had been through her son's application twice online before coming to the session. "Today clarified a lot of questions that I had."

Somerville residents are not alone in their FAFSA-induced bewilderment. Arne Duncan, the newly appointed Secretary of Education, said at his Senate Confirmation Hearing, "I don't know if any of you have completed [a FAFSA] lately, but you basically have to have a Ph.D. to figure that thing out."

Goal Sunday turnout at the Somerville location was slightly lower than last year, when it assisted with 81 FAFSA applications. Event organizers worried that this might be a result of the economic downturn, and hoped that the decrease is not an indication that students are giving up on applying.

For those who still plan on filing the FAFSA, there are still plenty of helpful resources online, according to Northeastern University financial aid officers Amanda Abreu and Emir Morais, who volunteered through MASFAA. They advised to beware of for-profit websites, such as Fafsa.com (and other websites ending in .com rather than .org or .gov), that charge fees to process the online application.

"We tell applicants that they shouldn't have to spend money to get money" said Jessica Belt, from the co-sponsoring non-profit MEFA, whose website (www.mefa.org) provides information on applying for financial aid in Massachusetts, as well as a free online tool to file the FAFSA.

The line-by-line FAFSA tutorial viewed by attendees is also available online at www.collegegoalsundayusa.org