Virtually all students who complete the FAFSA will qualify for some type of federal financial aid. Financial aid includes both grants and student loans. Students must, at minimum, meet the following basic federal financial aid eligibility requirements. There may be additional eligibility requirements relevant to individual students. Basic eligibility requirements include:
- Enrollment in a degree program.
- Attend classes at least half-time, which is 6 or more credits per semester or 3 more credits per 8-week session. If you are Pell eligible, it is possible to receive the Pell grant for less than half-time enrollment.
- Documentation of US citizenship or eligible non-citizen status.
Complete the Free Application for Federal Financial Aid (FAFSA) at:
- http://www.fafsa.ed.gov
- Include the Columbia College school code (002456) in order for Columbia College to receive your FAFSA application information.
- Students must have an active application for admission to Columbia College for the FAFSA information to reach the financial aid department at Columbia College. To apply for admission, fill out an application online.
- Note: In filling out the FAFSA, you will supply information about yourself. If you are considered a dependent for financial aid purposes, you must also supply information about your parent(s).
- Activate your CougarTrack account today and monitor your CougarMail account on a regular basis. The Financial Aid office uses your official Columbia College CougarMail e-mail address to inform you about the status of your financial aid application, additional information you may need to provide to complete your aid application and upcoming deadlines and important dates.
- More financial aid information: http://www.ccis.edu/offices/financialaid/index.asp
The goal of the Financial Aid Office is to offer students a package that meets their financial need, if possible. However, since there are limits, it isn't always possible to cover 100% of a particular student's financial need. The Financial Aid Office (FAO) will put together a federal aid financial aid package based on financial need.
- If eligible, students will automatically be awarded federal and state grants.
- Students will be awarded both subsidized (if eligible) and unsubsidized Stafford loan eligibility to accept, decline or modify on the award letter. Students are encouraged to accept only the amount needed to avoid higher loan payments later.
- Students also may apply for scholarships at Columbia College.
When will a student be considered independent for financial aid
purposes? Generally, not until the student turns 24 (i.e. student must
turn 24 before January 1st of the award year). Exceptions to this are
made for veterans and active duty members of the U.S. Armed Forces,
students with dependent(s) other than a spouse, married students,
students in graduate or other professional school, or students who are
in legal guardianship, homeless, orphans, emancipated minors, or wards
of a court. If you are a dependent student who has special circumstances
and want to have the financial aid office to review your dependency
status, you need to complete and return the Request for Dependency
Override form located in the Financial Aid Forms section of your CougarTrack account.
Tuition and fees vary by campus. To find an estimate of both direct costs (tuition) and indirect costs (books, transportation, living expenses) for your campus, review the Net Price Calculator.
You can review the Columbia College institutional scholarships at:
http://www.ccis.edu/offices/financialaid/scholarshipfinder/
Once there, choose your campus to see which scholarships are available to you.
You might want to look at outside scholarships. There are a variety of good online sources such as http://www.fastweb.com. Please keep in mind that the good services are free. If a source requires that you pay for the services, please strongly consider not using that site. Most sites requiring a payment are fraudulent in some way.
You can view an excellent nonbiased video about how to find scholarship money at: http://www.Studentscholarshipsearch.com/ebook
