Why Fill Out a FAFSA?
Financial aid is evaluated based on the results of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). You are required to complete a FAFSA for each academic year in which you wish to be considered for federal Aid. At Santa Fe Community College (SFCC), the academic year starts each fall semester and includes the following spring and summer sessions. The information you provide on your FAFSA determines if you are eligible for federal and/or state aid.
PIN Number
The first step to filing out the FAFSA is to apply for a PIN number at www.pin.ed.gov. The PIN is a four digit number that you will use to sign the FAFSA electronically. Note: If you are a dependent student, a parent must also apply for his/her PIN. If you and/or your parent have an existing PIN, you can use the same PIN each academic year.
Filling out the FAFSA
Once you have your PIN number, you are ready to fill out your FAFSA online at www.fafsa.ed.gov. The SFCC school code is 016065 and must be included on your FAFSA to insure that your information successfully arrives in the SFCC’s Financial Aid Office. If you are unable to fill out the FAFSA online, you can request a paper FAFSA be mailed to you by calling the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 1-800-4-FED-AID (1-800-433-3242). Please note, that a paper FAFSA can take four to six weeks to process, whereas the online FAFSA may take as few as two weeks.
Continuing students who have filed a FAFSA in previous academic years should be able to file a renewal FAFSA online. A renewal FAFSA allows you the option to pre-fill most of the information from your previous FAFSA and is available after the first page of the FAFSA is complete. You must have your FAFSA PIN available in order to pre-fill your new FAFSA. If you are eligible you should use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool to insert your federal tax information directly to the FAFSA.
IRS Data Retrieval Tool
The best way to verify income when filling out the FAFSA is by using the IRS Data Retrieval Tool that is part of FAFSA on the Web. If you have not already used the tool, go to FAFSA.gov, log in to your FAFSA record, select “Make FAFSA Corrections,” and navigate to the Financial Information section of the form. From there, follow the instructions to determine if you are eligible to use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool to transfer IRS income tax information into your FAFSA. It takes up to two weeks from the date of filing for IRS income information to be available for the IRS Data Retrieval Tool for electronic IRS tax return filers, and up to eight weeks for paper IRS tax return filers. If you need more information about when, or how to use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool visit the Financial Aid Office.
Information Needed to Complete the FAFSA
- Your social security number and your parents’ if you are required to provide parental information.
- Parents’ dates of birth if you are required to provide parental information.
- Federal tax information and W-2’s for yourself (and spouse if you are married) and for your parents if you are required to provide parental information.
- Information on checking, savings, investments, and business assets for yourself and your parents if you are required to provide parental information.
- Your driver’s license number if you have one.
- Your alien registration number if you are not a U.S. Citizen.
Professional Judgment
There are 3 types of Professional Judgment a student may request: Income Adjustment, Cost of Attendance Adjustment, and a Dependency Override. More information on Professional Judgment.
Verification Process
Once you have submitted your FAFSA, you may be required to provide additional information. The Department of Education randomly selects approximately one-third of students who apply for federal aid for verification process that must be completed by the school you are attending. If you are selected for verification, you will be required to submit additional documents before your financial aid file is complete and you can be awarded any financial aid. SFCC Financial Aid Office may ask you for such documents as:
- If you did not use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool you will need to provide the Federal IRS tax transcript for yourself (and spouse if you are married) and for your parents if you are required to provide parental information.
- Verification Worksheet, completed and signed.
- Citizenship status documentation if required.
- Any other information required to complete the verification process.
Completion of Financial Aid File
All students requesting financial aid, even if not selected for verification, must submit the following:
- Declaration of Degree (start the process at the SFCC Enrollment Center).
- Official High School or GED Transcript is required for certain scholarships.
- Official Transcript from previously attended Colleges.
Note: All transcripts can be mailed directly to the Registrar’s Office. Transcripts can also be hand delivered to the Registrar’s Office but must remain in the original sealed envelope.
To E-mail Financial Aid:
Federal regulations require that all financial aid inquiries come from your school e-mail address. Please e-mail all financial aid questions from your SFCC email account.
Log into JACK, access email account in upper right hand corner, and create a new email using “financialaid@sfcc.edu” in the address bar.
For more information please contact the Financial Aid office, 505-428-1268.
