Financial Aid Application Process

To apply for financial aid at the college, applicants must complete the following items in a timely manner. In general, all application materials must be fully completed no later than these deadlines for priority processing.

Critical Information for College Transfer Applicants:

Transfer students must submit official transcripts from all previous colleges attended. If you have an unevaluated transcript with a print date that is more than three years old, you must submit a new one for evaluation. For those who transfer to DCCCD, all previous college transcripts must be received and evaluated by the deadlines listed above. If you are applying for financial aid, please be prepared to pay tuition and fees until financial aid is evaluated based on your transfer request and eligibility.

1. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is available upon request from the college financial aid office or from a local high school. Applicants should complete information on themselves and their spouses or parents (if applicable) and obtain the appropriate signatures as outlined in the directions for the FAFSA. The FAFSA can be filed with the government processor in one of the following ways:



• By mail: This method will require four to six weeks to receive a Student Aid Report (SAR) or
• By FAFSA On The Web: Submitting the FAFSA to the government processor can be done over the Internet. The address to the Web site is www.fafsa.gov. This method can take less than a week for the government to process, and it is the fastest and easiest way to apply for aid.



2. Financial aid awards will only be made after the FAFSA results are sent to the college by the government processor and the entire financial aid application process has been completed. If a student's record is selected for verification (a review of the FAFSA data), all required documentation and corrected FAFSA information must be received before the application process is complete. Applicants will be notified by e-mail that additional information is needed to complete the application process. Students will be instructed to log on to a secure web portal and review the "Missing Information" that must be submitted.



3. An Award Letter notification is sent to each student who completes the application process and for whom aid eligibility can be determined. The Award Letter notification contains the names and amounts of the financial aid awards the student is eligible to receive. The Award Letter also contains important information about restrictions and conditions that can affect the ability of the student to receive the amounts awarded. When a student's award package is available for review, the student will be notified by e-mail to log on to eConnect to accept the terms and conditions of the Award Letter and to activate the awards for payment. You must accept your awards on the official award notification before financial aid will transmit to your DCCCD student account.



4. Financial aid awards will be disbursed by the Business Office Department according to the regulations of each award program.