Financial Aid
Federal and State Resources

What is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®)?

The FAFSA® is the application that students must complete to apply for federal student aid, which can be used to attend an eligible college or career school. Federal student aid includes Federal Pell Grants, federal student loans, and work-study opportunities. In addition to determining eligibility for federal student aid, many states, private organizations, colleges, and career schools rely on information from the FAFSA to determine eligibility for nonfederal sources of aid. FAFSA offers more than $150 billion in federal grants, loans and work-study funds each year to help millions of students pay for higher education. High school seniors who complete the FAFSA are 90 percent more likely to attend college.

Two major changes to the FAFSA will take effect for the 2020–2021 school year. (The 2020–2021 school year runs from July 1, 2020, through June 30, 2021.)

1. The FAFSA will be available October 1 (instead of January 1).

2. The FAFSA will collect income information from an earlier tax year (You can use your 2018 taxes!).

More easily submit a FAFSA. The IRS Data Retrieval Tool (DRT), which allows automatic population of a student’s FAFSA with tax return data and decreases the need for additional documentation, could be used by millions more students and families under PPY, since tax data from two years prior would readily available upon application.

Receive notification of financial aid packages earlier. If students apply for aid earlier, colleges could potentially provide financial aid notifications to students earlier, ensuring that students and families have more time to prepare for college costs. Early notification also means more time for financial aid administrators to counsel students and families.

The following information is needed to complete your FAFSA: Be Mindful of Deadlines!

• FSA ID - Description Below

• If you are a parent and need to electronically sign your child’s FAFSA, you need your own FSA ID. If you have more than one child attending college, you can use the same FSA ID to sign their applications.
• If your FSA ID is lost or stolen, you must:

• Social Security number
• Driver’s license number
• Your family’s most recent federal tax return
• Your family’s most recent W-2 or year-end pay stub
• Untaxed income records
• Bank statements
• Business and investment records
• Alien registration card if not a U.S. citizen
  *students who were born before Jan. 1, 1992, do not need to bring parental information

State Aid – Texas Application for State Financial Aid (TASFA)
If none of the federal residency requirements apply to you but you are classified as a Texas resident and therefore are eligible to pay the Texas in-state tuition rate and apply for aid through the Texas Application for State Financial Aid.
To use this application, you cannot be paying the Texas resident tuition rate due to a waiver such as an in-state scholarship or an assistantship. Nonresidents paying the resident rate due to a waiver are still nonresidents.