Apply for Financial Aid Assistance
To apply for financial aid, complete a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The information you provide determines whether you qualify for federal and state grants and federal loans based on financial need.
To qualify for financial aid, you must be a degree-seeking student. Submit all academic transcripts from any schools and colleges you have previously attended and allow time for evaluation.
Students are strongly encouraged to file the FAFSA as early as possible. If you have questions about the FAFSA or need assistance, visit the Financial Aid Office, Building B, Highlands Campus; call 784-7134; or email finaid@southflorida.edu.
The FAFSA form is available on Oct. 1 for the next school year.
Easy as 1, 2, 3
- Gather the documents you’ll need. In some circumstances, the FAFSA allows a student and/or parent to use information directly from the IRS to complete the financial portion. SFSC highly recommends this option, if available, as it can speed up the application process.
- Use the FAFSA on the Web worksheet to help you complete the FAFSA.
- Create a FSA ID/Password. This becomes your electronic signature and is used each year to access all of your federal financial aid records. Parents of dependent students must apply for their own FSA ID/Password.
- Complete a FAFSA as soon as possible after Oct. 1 each year, regardless of the date you begin college. This video explains how to file the FAFSA.
- Applications submitted on or before April 15 are given priority consideration for many types of aid.
- If you cannot complete a FAFSA online, call the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 800-433-3243 to request a printed application.
- To eliminate delays, file your tax return early and use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool to import income information.
- Make sure you choose SFSC’s school code: 001522.
- You will receive an e-mail version of the FAFSA Confirmation Page.
- In 3-5 business days, you will receive an e-mail notifying you that your FAFSA was processed.
- If you did not provide an email address, the FAFSA processor will mail you a Student Aid Report (SAR). Carefully review your status and follow the instructions if you need to make any corrections.
- The SFSC Financial Aid Office will receive your information as long as you listed the SFSC Federal school code 001522 in the School Selection section.
- If you are eligible to receive financial aid assistance based on the FAFSA, you will receive an email informing you to check the status of your financial aid application in Panther Central.
- If you have been selected for the process called verification, review the information you received via your Panther Central account to complete the verification process.
