Financial Aid

Federal, state, institutional and privately funded financial aid.

For help with Financial Aid, call: 1-833-465-2505 option 2

Financial Aid

The Financial Aid Office administers federal, state, institutional and privately funded financial aid awards. Financial aid can be in the form of grants, scholarships, employment and loans. Financial aid is awarded to students enrolled in degree or certificate programs. A student must demonstrate financial need to be eligible for most student aid programs. A student’s financial need is the difference between the student’s cost of attendance (COA) at the school and the amount the family is expected to contribute to the student’s education (EFC).

First Step: Create FSA ID

You (and your parent, if you’re a dependent student) should create an FSA ID as soon as possible. You can apply for an account at any time; however, you might need to wait up to three days to use your account, so we recommend registering early.If you don’t have an account by the time you fill out your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) form, you’ll be prompted to apply for one.Note: Your information must be correct with the SSA before your FAFSA form can be processed. If you think the Social Security Administration (SSA) might have the wrong name or date of birth for you in its records, go to ssa.gov now to find out how to correct any errors.

2024-2025 FAFSA Changes

Big changes are coming to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) application for the 2024-2025 aid year. The FAFSA Simplification Act was passed by Congress in 2020 and represents a significant overhaul of the processes used to award federal student aid. This includes the FAFSA form, the need analysis that determines federal aid eligibility, changes in terminology, and many policies and procedures for schools that participate in federal student aid programs.

WHAT SHOULD YOU KNOW?

FAFSA Filing Availability

The 2024-2025 FAFSA will be available on or around December 31, 2023. This is two months later than usual. In future years, the form will be available in October as usual again. If you plan to attend EGCC in the Fall of 2024, you should complete the FAFSA as soon as it becomes available.

Streamlined Process

The FAFSA will have fewer questions, fewer requirements, and retrieve tax information using a direct data exchange from the IRS versus the previously used IRS Data Retrieval Tool.

New Information

The FAFSA is introducing the new term Contributor, which refers to anyone required to provide information on a student’s FAFSA form, including the student, the student’s spouse, a biological or adopted parent, or the parent’s spouse. Being a contributor does not imply responsibility for the student’s college costs.
Students will need the contributor’s name, date of birth, Social Security Number (SSN), and email address to invite them to complete the required portion of the FAFSA.
Contributors will need to provide personal and financial information on their section of the FAFSA.
If your parents are divorced or separated, the contributing parent(s) is the parent (and their spouse, if remarried) who provided the greater portion of your financial support during the 12 months immediately prior to filing the FAFSA. It is not automatically the parent you primarily lived with during the past 12 months.
All Contributors–student, student’s spouse (if married), and student’s parents(s) (if a dependent student), must provide consent to have tax data transferred directly from the IRS to the FAFSA. If consent is not provided by all parties, the student will not be eligible for federal financial aid. In previous years, transferring IRS data was optional. It is now required.
The result of the FAFSA will now be called the Student Aid Index (SAI). The SAI replaces the former terminology called EFC (Expected Family Contribution). The SAI, like the EFC, is used to calculate need based financial aid.
Small businesses and family farms are now considered assets.
The number of family members in college will still be asked on the FAFSA, but it will be excluded from the federal, state, and institutional financial aid calculation.
For dependent students, financial information was previously needed from the parent(s) the student had lived with the most in the last 12 months. With the new FAFSA, financial information will be required from the parent(s) who provided the most financial support to the student.
The Student Aid Report (SAR) will now be called the FAFSA Submission Summary. This is the summary submission document you receive after completing the FAFSA. The FAFSA Submission Summary provides your SAI and expected Federal Pell Grant offer.

Expanded Pell Grant Eligibility

The adjustments to the new Student Aid Index (SAI) calculation will expand Federal Pell Grant eligibility to more students!

As we transition to the revamped FAFSA, we anticipate potential processing delays and increased questions about the FAFSA. While many Pell Grant recipients may receive a similar amount as they did in 2023-24, others could be eligible for the first time.

Disclaimer: EGCC works to provide timely updates to students, families, and our community. Due to the significant amount of changes that are occurring, portions of our website may not yet be 100% accurate for the 2024-2025 academic year. We’ll continue to update this page as we receive information from the Department of Education and Federal Student Aid. We appreciate your patience as we work to implement the changes resulting from the FAFSA Simplification Act.

Preparing to File the FAFSA

Create and Access Your StudentAid.gov Account

Tips to Reduce Student Debt

National and statewide media channels have shed a light on rising student debt, but less has been shared about ways to minimize and avoid student debt. The Ohio Department of Higher Education produced a segment as a part of its weekly Higher Ed Highlights video series to help raise awareness of student debt avoidance, with tips to help college students find available financial assistance.

Additional episodes can be found at: Ohio Higher Ed YouTube

Complete your FAFSA Here