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Students
Check status of Financial Aid on KCConnect | How to Apply | Financial Aid Calendar | Forms | Eligibility | Workshop Schedule | Types of Financial Aid

How to Apply For Federal/State Aid

FAFSA.

Filing a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is the most important step you can take toward receiving financial assistance for college. Submitting a FAFSA is what starts the process for receiving federal or state financial aid, whether you are hoping to receive grants you will not have to pay back or need a student loan you will repay after graduation.

Here's how the process works and what you need to do if you will be attending KCC:

  1. Apply (link to app. form) early for admission to KCC.
  2. Apply for a pin number at www.pin.ed.gov. Parent and student should both apply. This pin number will serve as your electronic signature and will allow you access to your personal records.
  3. Fill out the FAFSA.
    • KCC's Title IV school code is 007690.
    • The FAFSA form for the upcoming school year is available online at www.fafsa.ed.gov.
      • You may also call the Federal Processor at (800)433-3243 to request a paper FAFSA be mailed to you.-- 
    • Filing the FAFSA electronically will speed up the process considerably. Computer terminals are available on campus in Student Services to submit your FAFSA. You can also submit electronically from local libraries, high schools and the Illinois Employment and Training Center in downtown Kankakee.
  4. Submit your completed FAFSA to the federal processor. If submitting by mail include only the application in the envelope provided. Submit the FAFSA by May 1 for priority consideration for the following fall. However, if you miss that deadline, there still may be time to apply. Check with KCC's Office of Financial Aid.
  5. Within four to six weeks after submitting the FAFSA, you will receive an SAR (Student Aid Report) in the mail or on line. Check it immediately for errors. If corrections are needed, make them on the form and bring the corrected SAR to KCC's Office of Financial Aid to submit electronically. KCC receives your SAR data electronically from the processor.
  6. The KCC Office of Financial Aid will send you a Financial Aid Handbook. Make sure to read this document thoroughly.
  7. Some students are selected by the federal processor for a review process called verification. If you are selected, you will receive a Verification Worksheet when you receive KCC's Financial Aid Handbook. Complete the Verification Worksheet and return it to KCC's Office of Financial Aid with photocopies of all the documents requested.
  8. You will receive an Award Letter from KCC's Office of Financial Aid listing the assistance for which you have been approved. You must sign, date and return the top copy of the Award Letter to KCC's Office of Financial Aid for your awards to be final. Report any assistance you will receive that is not listed on the Award Letter.
  9. For students with a MAP grant, the award will be available for use at KCC's Accounting Office when your signed Award Letter has been received by KCC. When you register for classes each semester, your bill will be paid through this transmittal process until it is depleted.
  10. If you are receiving a student loan, these funds will be disbursed according to federal regulations.
  11. If awarded funds exceed your costs at KCC, a refund check will be issued to you approximately three weeks after the last day to receive a refund for dropped classes.

Note: For students enrolled in classes which start after the first week of regularly scheduled classes in a semester, the date of financial aid disbursement will be affected. Check with the Office of Financial Aid.