FAFSA

The is the application form used to apply for all federal student financial aid and some forms of state and institutional aid across the nation. This form is an online application.

The FAFSA form becomes available to the public December 1 for the following academic year. In other words, a student who wants to apply for student financial assistance for the 2025 - 2026 school year, can submit a FAFSA on December 1 of the year 2024. The earlier that the FAFSA is submitted the better for the student. The Financial Aid Office cannot begin to assess a student’s financial eligibility for student financial aid until the Department of Education processes their FAFSA.

The IRS Data Retrieval Tool allows students and parents to access the IRS tax return information needed to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), and transfer the data directly into their FAFSA from the IRS web site. If you are eligible to use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool, we highly recommend using the tool for several reasons:

1. It’s the easiest way to provide your tax data.
2. It’s the best way of ensuring that your FAFSA has accurate tax information.
3. You won’t need to provide a copy of your or your parents’ tax return transcripts to your college.

Students or parents who are married and filed as married filing separately, are married and filed as head of household, filed an amended tax return, or filed a Puerto Rican or foreign tax return are not eligible to use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool, and will need to enter their tax return information manually.

Additionally, students or parents who filed their tax returns electronically within the last three weeks, or through the mail within the last eight weeks, might need to either enter their tax return information manually or return at a later date to transfer their tax return information into the FAFSA, as their tax return information might not be available for transfer from the IRS.

If you are eligible to use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool, then click Link To IRS to transfer your tax return information from the IRS Web site into your FAFSA. (Note: If you previously transferred your tax return information from the IRS, or you indicate that you filed your tax return electronically within the last three weeks or through the mail within the last eight weeks, then the Link To IRS button displays once you click the “View option to link to the IRS” hyperlink.)

If you are ineligible or otherwise choose not to use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool to retrieve tax information, your college may require a copy of your IRS Tax Return Transcript (or your parents’ IRS Tax Return Transcript, if you are a dependent student).

Cal Grant deadline is March 2 

Once processed, the student will receive an Electronic Student Aid Report (eSAR) from the United States Department of Education, which must be reviewed for accuracy. If the student has indicated that they are planning to or thinking about attending one of the colleges in our district, the Financial Aid Office will also receive an electronic copy of the student’s record called an ISIR. Once the Financial Aid Office receives an ISIR for a student from the United States Department of Education, we will send a notification to the student's college email address. This email will indicate which steps must be taken by the student to move their application through the review process and to receive student financial aid if qualified.

FAFSA on the Web is fully compatible with Macintosh. Mac users will have a slightly different experience than PC users. FAFSA on the Web performs best when you turn off the virtual memory on the Macintosh.

You can use the Tab key to move from question to question. However, you must use a mouse to access lists and buttons.

If you receive an edit message that instructs you to click the OK or Cancel buttons, you must select Yes for OK and No for Cancel.