EARLY IN YOUR SENIOR YEAR you need to apply for a PIN number--you and your parent. Make sure you go to www.pin.ed.gov to do this. You PIN will be requires to access your FAFSA information or to make corrections and it will serve as your signature. (If you fill in an email address, make sure it is a permanent one.)
Determine whether the school(s) to which you might apply use the CSS Profile. (Those schools are listed in the Profile guide in the Counseling Center.) You must register online or over the phone. You will then be sent the Profile application, which asks different questions from those on the FAFSA. The profile is generally due before the FAFSA, so check on it NOW. It is primarily rather selective schools that use the Profile.
Pick up the Free Application for Student Aid Application (FAFSA) by mid-December. After January 1 and BEFORE March 2, complete and send the FAFSA.
Get your taxes done as early as possible. It will make filling out the FAFSA much, much easier!
When the SAR comes, check to see if you were selected to send more information, in which case the colleges to which you have applied will want to see copies of your tax forms. They will expect you to comply.
Keep in touch with the financial aid administrator at the college. If there are any circumstances that you feel have changed or were overlooked, tell him/her. If you have questions about their aid offers, ask them!
Keep looking at the updated scholarship paper I publish and check out what employers might offer.
BEWARE OF SCAMS! If they charge you any fees, we suggest you do not buy in!
Cal Grant
For information about the Cal Grant eligibility visit the California Student Aid commission web site at http://www.csac.ca.gov or contact the Commission's Customer Service staff at (888) 224-7268.
For those who qualify (with the set financial need, grade point average, and general eligibility) there will be guaranteed grants to cover system-wide tuition and fee costs to attend CSU's or UC's, up to set dollar amount + tuition to attend a private California university, or grant or other assistance for other education costs to attend a California community college.
We submit GPA VERIFICATION FORMS for our entire senior class. Mrs. Evans sends them electronically, so that much is done for you! However, you will NOT qualify for the Cal Grant without having submitted the FAFSA by March 2.