Apply for Aid
Nearly all students are eligible for some form of financial assistance. In fact, over 90% of the students who applied for financial aid in recent years received an award offer. Every effort is made to assist you and your family obtain the resources necessary to meet the difference between the total cost of attending the University of Cincinnati and your ability to contribute toward your education.
Complete the FAFSA
The only financial aid application needed at the University of Cincinnati is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). This single application is used for grants, work-study and loans at the federal, state and institutional level.
Because some aid programs are awarded on a first-come, first-serve basis, apply as soon after January 1 of each year as possible for priority consideration for limited funding sources.
The online FAFSA provides an easy, quick and secure method that checks your application for errors and omissions. By listing UC (Title IV Code: 003125) as one of your school choices, we will receive your information electronically for award processing.
Parental Information
Students classified as dependent students for financial aid purposes will need to complete the FAFSA with their information as well as information about the parent(s). At least one parent will therefore need to be involved when completing the online FAFSA so as to provide required information and an electronic signature.
To aid parents who have multiple students in school, the online FAFSA allows the parent to transfer their information to another application if they are completing multiple student FAFSAs at the same time.
Tax Information
Beginning with the 2012-2013 FAFSA, the U.S. Department of Education will make a link available to students and parents that allows them to transfer their tax information from the IRS to the FAFSA. The IRS Data Retrieval process is a good way to ensure your application information is complete and accurate.
- You are not required to use the IRS Data Retrieval, though it is highly encouraged.
- Because it uses IRS data for the current filing year, the IRS Data Retrieval is not available prior to February 1 due to the low number of tax filers in January.
- The IRS Data Retrieval is only available if you have filed your current taxes and the IRS has processed them. (Electronic filing of taxes can speed the availability of your tax information via the Retrieval.)
- If you file a FAFSA prior to February 1 or prior to the IRS Data Retrieval making your tax information available, use your copy of your taxes or estimates to complete the income section(s) of the FAFSA. Do not delay completing the FAFSA.
- Following filing of your taxes, students selected for verification by the Department of Education will need to correct their FAFSA by using the IRS Data Retrieval process or will need to supply tax transcripts to UC to verify their income information.
EFC & Student Aid Report
The federal processor analyzes your FAFSA information to determine an Expected Family Contribution (EFC). Based on a federally mandated, uniform system, the EFC is used directly to determine eligibility for some aid programs and used in calculations to award other programs.
The results of your FAFSA are reported to you in the form of a Student Aid Report (SAR). Review your SAR carefully. Make corrections to any information that is incorrect.
Award Processing
Once you receive your student aid report and if you have been offered admisison, you can review your status online using the Check My Aid link.
- You may be asked to supply additional information. UC will detail if additional or supplementary information is needed and send you email notifications as well.
- If no additional information is needed, your financial aid award will be displayed for your review and acceptance.
Complete your FAFSA anytime after January 1 of each year.
While you should not wait until you are admitted to apply for aid, incoming freshman, transfer and graduate students must be offered admission to the university before a financial aid award offer can be extended, and admission applications are the basis for UC scholarship review.