Financial Aid Application Instructions

At CF, a student must apply for financial aid for each academic year in which they attend school, as well as:

Be degree-seeking or certificate-seeking in an eligible program at CF.
Provide the Office of Enrollment Services with an official copy of the student’s high school transcript or GED and, if the student is a college transfer student, provide an official copy of your transcript from each institution attended. Transfer course work must be evaluated before an award can be made.
After Oct. 1 each year, a student should complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid and submit it to the federal processor. CF’s federal school code is 001471. In order for CF to process a student’s financial aid, this school code must be included on the FAFSA. The student may submit the FAFSA online at studentaid.gov (allow at least two weeks for processing). Students who are submitting a FAFSA for the first time will need to create an account (FSA ID) at studentaid.gov prior to completing the FAFSA.
Research and apply for CF and other local and national scholarships.

Verification: The U.S. Department of Education requires that some applications be reviewed for accuracy through a process called verification. If a student is selected for this process, it will be specified on the FAFSA Submission Summary that is sent to the student from the federal processor. The student will also be notified by the college on the MyCF student portal and through the mail or by email. If selected for this process the student will be required to turn in additional documentation. The student’s financial aid file will not be considered complete and ready for verifying until all missing eligibility information has been received and processed. The student will not receive aid notification until verification is completed. This process can take from one to four weeks depending upon how quickly the student submits accurate and complete information and documents.

Federal eligibility matches:

The federal processor matches a student’s name, date of birth and Social Security number with a variety of federal agencies. Agency matches are performed on the files of the Social Security Administration, Department of Homeland Security, Veterans Administration and the National Student Loan Data System. If any discrepancies or questions about a student’s information occur, the student will be asked to provide additional documents or take additional action to confirm eligibility for federal assistance. The federal processor will notify the student on the FAFSA Submission Summary of the results of these matches and whether additional information is required in order for the student’s application to be processed. The institution notifies the student by requesting documentation.

Please visit the student portal and view the Missing Documents link from the Financial Aid Tab for any required documents needed.

Academic Catalog

Financial Aid Application Instructions