FAFSA Help
Undergraduate Students
2007-2008 Academic Year
To apply for financial aid administered by the Office of Student Financial Aid, you must complete the FAFSA or Renewal FAFSA each year. At the University of Illinois, an academic year consists of fall, spring, and summer. Applications are accepted beginning in January for the fall semester through June 30 of the next year. If you plan to enroll in summer school an OSFA summer financial aid application is also required.
By completing the FAFSA, you are automatically applying for federal, state, and institutional financial aid. Your eligibility for need based financial aid depends on your family's financial situation, which can change on an annual basis.
We encourage you to use FAFSA on the web because it is fast, easy, and secure. Paper FAFSAs are also available at most college or university financial aid offices or from high school guidance counselors and some libraries.
Graduate Students
To apply for any University administered financial aid for the fall or spring terms, you must complete the FAFSA for the current year. Graduate and professional students are only eligible for federal loans.
For faster processing, apply online. Paper FAFSA forms are still available at most university financial aid offices and some libraries.
Determining Your Aid
The information you provide on the FAFSA goes through a federal needs analysis process to determine the Expected Family contribution (EFC), the amount that your family should be able to contribute toward your college education. Graduate students are considered "independent" and not required to provide parental information on the FAFSA.
Information for All Students
To complete a FAFSA for the upcoming academic year, you will need your financial information from the past year, including your federal income tax return. If you file the FAFSA before you do your taxes, you may use your estimated income information. However, you must update the estimated tax information with the final income figures reported on your federal tax form.
The distribution of financial aid resources is based on your family's ability to pay the college costs; therefore, if you are married, you will need your spouse's information and, if you are a dependent student, you will need your parent(s) and/or stepparent(s) information.
It may also be helpful to have the following documents:
- Your Social Security Card
- Your driver’s license (if applicable)
- W-2 forms or other records of your earned income
- Your (and your spouse's, if married) previous year's federal income tax return
- Your parents' previous year's federal income tax return
- Your records of other untaxed income received (i.e. welfare benefits, social security benefits, TANF, veterans benefits, or military or clergy allowances)
- Current bank statements and records of stocks, bonds, and other investments
- Business or farm records
- Your alien registration card if you are not a U.S. citizen
Signature Options
Students completing the FAFSA on the web have two signature options.
- Electronic Signature
If you are filing a FASFA on the web, and you and your parents (if you are a dependent student) have valid Personal Identification Numbers (PIN), you will use those numbers as your electronic signatures. To apply for a PIN, click here. - Mail-in Signature Page
If you do not want to sign electronically, you can send a signature page to the federal processor. To do this, you must print out a signature page from FAFSA online, sign it, and mail it in. If you are a dependent student, your parent(s) will need to sign the signature page as well.
Your completed signature page must be received by the federal processor before your application can be processed.
Renewal FAFSA
To submit a Renewal FAFSA online, you will need a PIN to access the application. First, check the FAFSA website to see if a Renewal FAFSA is available for you. If a renewal application is not available to you, you must complete the regular FAFSA.
W-2 Forms
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign only requests copies of tax documents if the Federal Department of Education selects you for a process called verification. If you are not selected for verification, you don't need to send in any tax forms. If you are selected OSFA will request the documents.
Educational IRA
An Educational IRA is treated as investment income and should be reported on the FAFSA. If a parent has an Educational IRA and is responsible for completing the FAFSA, then the net worth of the Educational IRA is listed as a current investment in Step Four: Parent Section of the FAFSA.
If you have an Educational IRA, the net worth of the Educational IRA is listed as a current investment in Step Two: Student Section of the FAFSA.
Divorced Parents
If your parents live separately or are divorced at the time you submit the FAFSA, you need to report the income and assets of the parent with whom you lived the majority of time over the previous twelve months and who provided the most financial support.
Even if your parents file a joint tax return, you will report only the portion of income and other resources of the parent who provided the most support. If a joint tax form is filed, the Adjusted Gross Income and Income Tax Paid will need to be recalculated. You or your parent/stepparent may contact our office for further clarification.
Stepparents: The Department of Education has determined that parents and students have the primary responsibility for meeting a student's post-secondary educational costs. The distribution of financial aid resources is based on the family's ability to pay the college costs. When a parent with whom the child is living remarries, the stepparent becomes a family member. Consequently, the stepparent's resources will be considered when determining the family's ability to cover the college expenses.
International Parents
If your parents reside outside the United States, they still must claim their income earned in a foreign country. Their income is treated the same as income earned in the United States. You will need to convert all figures to U.S. dollars using the exchange rate in effect on the day you complete the FAFSA.
If income tax is paid to the country in which the parents reside, the dollar amount comparable to the U.S. Adjusted Gross Income, and the dollar amounts of each parent's earnings from work are reported in the respective questions. Any taxes paid to the government of that country on their income should be reported as U.S. income tax paid. If the government of the foreign country does not tax the income, the income earned from each parent's job needs to be reported as earnings from work. Any other income needs to be reported on Worksheet A or Worksheet B.
Special Circumstances
Should you believe you have special circumstances, you may complete the Special Circumstances Form. However, the verification documents must be completely evaluated by a financial aid administrator at the Office of Student Financial Aid before we will begin reviewing your special circumstances information.
