Applying for Federal Aid begins with the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The FAFSA is your application for all federal grants, work-study, and loans.
The only official site to fill out a FAFSA is https://studentaid.gov/. Do not use any source that charges a fee or asks for credit card information.
The FAFSA must be completed every year, beginning October 1st, for the following Fall semester.
- OCC’s Federal School Code is 002875
- You and your parents will need information from your Federal tax returns and/or W2s from the prior-prior year. (For example, when applying for the 2022-23 school year, use tax information from 2020.) Other documents may be required.
- Before filling out the FAFSA, you and your parents will be required to create a Federal Student Aid (FSA) ID and password. These will be used to electronically sign and complete the FAFSA. Parents who have more than one child applying for federal aid will use the same FSA ID for each child.
These instructional videos will help you complete your FAFSA
Review Student Aid Report (SAR)
About 3 business days after completing the FAFSA, you will receive an email notice that your Student Aid Report (SAR) is complete. The SAR is a summary of the information entered on the FAFSA. You should review the SAR for accuracy and carefully read the comment section on the first page to see if any changes or corrections are needed.