FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) is the first step to applying for financial aid.
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is the building block for your financial aid. Funding can pay for tuition, books and supplies and is available through the Department of Education and Illinois Students Assistance Commission.
Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA): The FAFSA is the first step in applying for financial assistance from federal or state programs. Assistance could come in the form of grants, loans, work-study and scholarships depending on eligibility.
General eligibility requirements include that you have financial needs, are a U.S. citizen or eligible noncitizen, and are enrolled in an eligible degree or certificate program at Kish.
The Retention of Illinois Student and Equality (RISE) Act allows access to state financial aid (i.e. State of Illinois MAP Grant) to previously ineligible students.
For additional information, including a link to the Alternative Application for Illinois Financial Aid, please visit Retention of Illinois Students & Equity (RISE) Act and Alternative Application for Illinois Financial Aid or contact the Kishwaukee College Financial Aid Office.
Students are able to decline to use the State of IL MAP Grant (Est) if they wish to use these funds at a later time. For instance, someone may want to decline to use the remainder of their State of IL MAP Grant (Est) so that they may use it to obtain their bachelor's degree.
These students include:
Beginning Spring 2020 undergraduate students...
...may now be eligible to use State of Illinois MAP Grant (est) funds up to 135 credit hours at a two-year school.
Effective January 6, 2020, students who are unable to complete the FAFSA due to citizenship status or inability to register for the selective service based on birth gender, may be eligible to complete the Alternative Application for Illinois Financial Aid (formally known as the RISE Act Application) to determine eligibility for the State of IL Map Grant (est).
The application consists of pre-screening questions to confirm if an individual should complete the FAFSA or Alternative Application for Illinois Financial Aid.
Please note: Similar to the FAFSA, individuals must complete the Alternative Application for Illinois Financial Aid each academic year to apply for MAP Grants.
Please be sure to review the User's Guide and Resources for the Alternative Application for Illinois Financial Aid prior to completing your application.
Due to changes passed by the FAFSA Simplification Act, the 2024-25 FAFSA was delayed from the traditional October start date, but it is now available for Fall 2024, Spring 2025, and Summer 2025. During January 2024, the U.S. Department of Education will do routine maintenance on the FAFSA, so expect delays. FAFSA information will not be available to schools until the end of January 2024 or the beginning of February 2024. The Kish Financial Aid Department will begin importing this data beginning in March 2024 to be ready for Fall 2024 registration, which starts in April 2024.
If you wish to see how the FAFSA simplification changes impact your eligibility, you can use the Federal Student Aid Estimator to calculate your estimated Student Aid Index (SAI) and eligibility.
Starting in the 2024-2025 award year, students and families will see a different measure of their ability to pay for college and experience a change in the methodology used to determine aid. The new need-analysis formula removes the number of family members in college from the calculation, allows a minimum SAI of -1500, and implements separate eligibility determination criteria for Federal Pell Grants.
Part of the FAFSA Simplification and FUTURE Act established a Direct Data Exchange between the Department of Education and the IRS for Federal Tax Information (FTI) that will automatically report on the FAFSA.
All contributors to the FAFSA will need to provide their financial information and consent to use the Direct Data Exchange with the IRS.
Students with unusual circumstances will be directed to an independent workflow. Students will need to work with the Kish Financial Aid Office to determine if circumstances meet the eligible criteria. All approved unusual circumstance determinations will carry forward to the next year.
Enrollment status will change and be measured by enrollment intensity. Enrollment intensity is the percentage of full-time enrollment at which a student is enrolled, rounded to the nearest whole percent. For example, if full-time enrollment is 12 or more credit hours and the student is enrolled in 7 hours, the enrollment intensity would be (7 ÷ 12) × 100% = 58%. For the 2024-2025 award year and after, a student’s scheduled Pell Grant award is multiplied by the student’s enrollment intensity percentage to determine the annual Pell Grant Award.
Previously, a Pell Grant-eligible student must have been enrolled at least half-time in a payment period during which they received more than 100% of their Scheduled Award. The law removes the half-time enrollment requirement beginning with the 2024-2025 award year but made no other changes to the Year-Round (Summer) Pell provisions.
The FAFSA will no longer consider the number in college as part of determining the Student Aid Index.
Colleges will now be required to report the total amount a student earns in Federal Work-Study within a calendar year.
Kishwaukee College will host three upcoming information sessions for high school students interested in the Early College Program or Engineering, Math & Science Academy (EMSA). The information sessions are open to current high school sophomores and juniors along with their parents/guardians.
Read MoreMatt Duffy, Executive Director of the DeKalb Chamber of Commerce, was awarded the 2024 Distinguished Alumni Award at the Kishwaukee College Foundation Annual Gala on Saturday, Nov. 2. The award honors established alumni who have demonstrated service or outstanding contributions within the Kish community.
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