Apply for Financial Aid

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 2023-2024 FAFSA application will be for the Fall 2023, Spring 2024 and Summer 2024 semesters and will ask for the 2021 tax and income information. 
• The 2024-2025 FAFSA is now available for Fall 2024, Spring 2025 and Summer 2025. During January 2024, the Department of Education will do routine maintenance on the FAFSA, so expect delays. The Department of Education has begun processing FAFSA data and releasing the information to students and schools as of March 15 on a limited basis. As student's FAFSAs are processed, students will receive a notification from the Department of Education. Once this is processed, students can make corrections. The Financial Aid Office anticipates being able to process 2024-2025 financial aid around mid-April. The Financial Aid Office will begin sending notifications for any additional documentation as FAFSA information is received. If no additional documentation is needed, you will be issued an offer letter in your myKish Self-Service. To learn more about the changes, see our FAFSA Simplification Updates. 
• Kishwaukee College Title IV School Code: 007684.
• Obtain an FSA ID for the student and at least one parent (if dependent) in order to sign and submit the FAFSA.
• Apply at https://studentaid.gov/h/apply-for-aid/fafsa
• Review your Student Aid Report to determine potential eligibility.
• Complete additional documentation as requested by the Department of Education and the College. To access these, review your myKish Self-Service page once the FAFSA has been received.

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:

• Undocumented students who are Illinois residents
• Transgender students who do not complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) due to the requirement to report their gender at birth.

Beginning Spring 2020 undergraduate students...

• who are in good academic standing
• and who were previously ineligible (after using 75 funded credit hours) to receive the State of IL MAP Grant (Est) at a two-year school

...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.

• Individuals the application indicates should complete the FAFSA will be advised to consult their high school counselor, a financial aid professional or an ISACorps member for assistance completing the FAFSA.
• Individuals who should complete the Alternative Application for Illinois Financial Aid will have an Expected Family Contribution (EFC) calculated, which will be used by their college.
• State of IL Map Grant (est) awards will be calculated for eligible students and sent to the college.
• Colleges will notify students of their State of IL Map Grant (est) eligibility.

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.

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.