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Completing The FAFSA

Complete the steps below to apply for federal and state grants, federal loans, or the federal Work Study program.

1. Apply to Mid-State and be accepted into a financial aid eligible program.

2. Apply for financial aid by completing the FAFSA online.

After you submit your FAFSA, you will receive a FAFSA Submission Summary.

3. Submit any needed documents.

After submitting your FAFSA, you may need to submit additional documents. If so, you will receive a request from the Financial Aid office at your student email. Be sure to complete all requested documents and return them to the Financial Aid office within two weeks of receiving the request. Financial aid applications will not be processed otherwise. Make sure to include your student ID on all submitted documentation.

Which FAFSA do I file?

  • Complete the 2024-2025 FAFSA for Summer 2024, Fall 2024 and Spring 2025.

Complete FAFSA

FAFSA Tips
  1. Make sure you write down your FSA ID and all the security questions and answers EXACTLY the way you created them. Don’t rely on your memory, but treat this information like you would your social security card—with extreme caution.
  2. Are you dependent or independent? There are three basic criteria to determine your answer to this question. If the answer to any of the following questions is yes, then you are an independent student.
    • Were you born before January 1, 2000?
    • Are you married?
    • Do you have children or other people (excluding your spouse) who live with you and who receive more than half of their support from you now and between July 1, 2024 and June 30, 2025? If not, then you are most likely dependent, in which case you will need your parent to create an FSA ID, and you will need their tax information as well as yours. There are other criteria. If you have questions, review the questions in the FAFSA carefully or contact us.
  3. It typically takes 3-5 business days for your FAFSA to process. You should receive an email from Federal Student Aid once it has been processed. Review your FAFSA Submission Summary to confirm if there is anything you need to follow up on, or correct if there was an error.
  4. Verification: if you are selected for verification you will be notified in your FAFSA Submission Summary, and you should receive an email from the Financial Aid office indicating you have to-do items to complete. If you have any questions about verification, please the Mid-State Financial Aid Office.
  5. Unusual circumstances are situations where a student and/or their parents (if student is dependent) have a severe change in finances. You may request a professional judgment by completing a re-evaluation request form. An example of this is when student, spouse, or parent has a big change in income as compared to the year reported on the tax form. This most often happens as the result of changing jobs or change in amount earned in commissions. These are not the only cases, so if you are not sure ask us.
  6. PLEASE BE PROACTIVE. As a small department processing thousands of students as quickly as we can, we can help you best when you do your part and complete your steps in the process in a timely fashion. To make sure you have done your part, check MyMSTC.