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Office of Student Financial Aid
Timeline for Financial Aid

By following the outline listed below, your student will receive a financial aid award letter detailing his/her financial aid eligibility.

  1. File Parent(s) and Student Federal Taxes for 2007
  2. File the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)
    • The FAFSA is the only form required to apply for financial aid at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The University's preferential filing date is March 15, 2008. Using parents' and students' 2007 federal tax information, you can complete the form online at www.fafsa.ed.gov.
    • Completing the FAFSA requires both student and parent signatures as well as the Federal School Code (001775) before it will be processed by the federal processor. Both parent and student need to apply for a Personal Identification Number (PIN) at www.pin.ed.gov. These PIN's will serve as your signatures.
    • Note: It is more accurate to file the FAFSA with completed federal tax forms; however, if taxes will not be submitted until later, you may file the FAFSA with estimated information to insure meeting deadline dates. If your parents' or your income does not require that a tax form be filed, income from work must be provided.
  3. Student Aid Report (SAR)
    • The U.S. Department of Education will send a general summary of the information you submitted on the FAFSA. Please review the summary to be certain the information is accurate. This information is also electronically sent to the Office of Student Financial Aid at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as long as our school code (001775) is reported on your FAFSA. This information will be used to calculate your financial aid eligibility.
  4. Verification
    • Approximately one-third of the applicants are chosen at random by the federal processor to verify the accuracy of the information reported on the FAFSA form. If your student's application is selected, our office will contact the student in writing requesting specific documents we will need to complete the verification process. The student is not eligible to receive his or her financial aid award letter until this process is completed.
  5. Award Letter
    • Once your student has completed the steps above, it is our intention to mail the award letter by late March. The award letter outlines the student's financial aid eligibility for the 2008-09 academic year. Specific instructions will be included in the letter to initiate, reduce, or decline the aid awarded. The award letter will also request that the student report any scholarship or outside award that is not included in the award offered.