Step 1. Complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)
The FAFSA determines a students’ eligibility for federal and state aid, which includes grants and federal loans. It can be completed on the web at www.fafsa.ed.gov. The FAFSA is available for the upcoming award year after January 1 of each year. All students need to submit the FAFSA annually in order to receive/continue receiving financial aid. You will need a Personal Identification Number (PIN) in order to electronically “sign” your FAFSA. If you are a dependent student, your parent must have his/her own PIN as well. The website to apply for a PIN is www.pin.ed.gov.
To ensure that Columbia College Hollywood receives your FAFSA result, be sure to list our Federal School Code of 014697. Please note that you should complete the FASFA as soon as you make the decision to attend college, and you do NOT wait need to wait until you are accepted for admission.
Students who provide a valid e-mail address on their FAFSA will receive an e-mail with a link to their Student Aid Report (SAR). All students should review the information on their SAR for errors. If estimates were used for the income section of the FAFSA, be sure to correct the information provided as soon as you have accurate information. Be sure to also review the comment section of your SAR because some students are selected for a review process called Verification. Each year the Department of Education randomly selects a percentage of FAFSA forms for verification. This means that the Financial Aid Office is required to request verification documents, including copies of federal tax returns, to verify that the information provided on your FAFSA is accurate.
Need help completing the FASFA? If so, click here for a video tutorial.
Step 2. Apply for Admission to the College
Financial Aid is not awarded until a student has been accepted to the college.
Step 3. Complete a FERPA Release (Optional But Recommended)
FERPA, enacted in 1974, is a set of regulations that applies to those institutions that receive funding from the Department of Education. FERPA was written specifically for students and guarantees them the right to inspect and review their education records, the right to seek to amend education records, and the right to have some control over the disclosure of information from those education records. It is recommended that students who wish to have their information released complete and submit the FERPA consent to the college authorizing the release of their information to a parent, spouse, friend, etc.
Step 4: Receive Your Award Letter
After each of the above steps has been completed, a Financial Aid administrator will contact you to provide you with your award amount. Your award will show how much financial aid you have been awarded and how much in additional funds, if any, you need. Keep in mind that the award letter you initially receive is only based on the information we currently have available to us. Additional funds, such as scholarships, private loans and parental loans, can always be added on after the initial award letter is generated.
