If you plan to attend college in the fall, the time to fill out your FAFSA is now.

"I feel that every student, if they are not filling out a FAFSA they are doing themselves a disservice. There are ways to afford college and filling out a FAFSA is crucial," says Jerome Furman, college programs coordinator at Lutheran Family Health Centers.

While each school sets its own preferred financial aid due date, some of the money is available on a first-come, first-serve basis, so experts say do not dawdle.

"The sooner, the better, because the early bird does get the worm when it comes to filing for financial aid," says Michael Turner of the New York State Higher Education Services Corporation.

That can be confusing for families since the amount of money you receive is often affected by the amount of money you have. The form will ask for information from your tax return for 2014, which of course you don't have to file until April. Turner advises families on how to apply for financial aid. He says rather than wait to do your taxes, fill out the form using your best estimate.

"Now that can be their 2013 federal tax return or it can be as simple as looking at their last pay stub from 2014 and we can see what they earned, their year-to-date total and a lot of the information that they need to file that FAFSA is right on that form," says Turner.

Forget filling it out late. Turner says another mistake he says families make is failing to fill it out at all.

"Many families mistakenly believe that their income, or for whatever reason, their assets may disqualify them for federal assistance. We want them to file because many families are surprised that they do qualify for some type of aid," says Turner.

But perhaps the biggest misconception is that the form is simply too difficult for an individual to tackle on your own.  Turner says not true, and there's no need to pay a professional to do it for you.

He also warns that typing the wrong address in your web browser could take you to a site that charges up to $100 to file your FAFSA - the first letter of which stands for ‘free.’

"There are a lot of misconceptions out there, but often times, the neediest of families are the ones not sure of the process or falling prey to a lot of the scams and schemes out there in higher education," says Turner.

The correct web address is fafsa.gov, not .com.