Financial Aid It ’s time to fi l l out your 2015-2016 FAFSA! Filling out the Free Appl ication for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is the first step required to be eligible for loans, grants, and scholarships. There are sites out there that try to get you to pay, but it is a free appl ication. Go to https://fafsa.ed.gov/ to fill out your application and you’ll be safe! Make sure to complete a 2015-2016 FAFSA and input UF’s school ID = 001535. Follow these step-by step instructions to submit your FAFSA by March 15, 2015 in order to meet the UF financial aid priority deadline. What’s a priority deadline? It’s the deadline you need to meet if you want to be eligible for UFCD scholarships, grants, or special loans from UF in the 2015-2016 academic year. It can only help you to complete a FAFSA as a dental student and meeting the priority deadline is critical. Even if you don’t plan to take out any student loans, we strongly advise all dental students to fill out the FAFSA every year, just in case. It’s good to have this in place as a back-up plan.

Watch a short video about filling out the 2015-2016 FAFSA here.

Check out the 2015-2016 FAFSA on the Web worksheet for a preview.

Step-by-step instructions: http://admissions.dental.ufl.edu/financial-aid-2/applying-for-aid/financial-aid-applications/

Reminder: You must apply every year to be considered for a scholarship. Just because you received a scholarship last year doesn’t mean you’ll receive a scholarship this year – and vice versa. Maybe you didn’t receive a scholarship last year but you might be eligible this year.

2015-2016 Optional UFCD Financial Aid Application This application is optional, but required in order to be considered for need-based scholarships in 2015-2016. The 2015-2016 UFCD Financial Aid Application is available here: http://admissions.dental.ufl.edu/financial-aid-2/applying-for-aid/financial-aid-applications/. Follow this checklist in order to be considered for need-based scholarships in 2015-2016: 1. FAFSA submitted no later than March 15, 2015 2. Parental informat ion included on the 2015-2016 FAFSA 3. 2015-2016 UFCD Financial Aid Application submitted no later than Apr i l 30, 2015 4. Your parents’ 2014 tax return submitted no later than Apr il 30, 2015

Beginning in February 2015, students who have completed their 2014 IRS tax return may be able to use FAFSA on the web to electronically view their tax information. With just a few simple steps, tax information can be securely transferred into FAFSA on the web through the IRS data retrieval tool. This is very simple, but you will need to file your 2014 taxes before you can link them to your FAFSA. Don’t wait to start on your FAFSA; you can submit your FAFSA today and link your taxes later! (Note: If you file your taxes electronically you’ll need to wait two weeks before linking; if you file taxes by paper, you’ll have to wait 4-6 weeks before linking.)

It takes 3-5 business days from the time you submit the FAFSA before UF receives it. Additionally, 2015-2016 FAFSAs won’t be imported into the UF system until April 2015.

Financial Aid award notices (for loans) will be available in late spring/early summer. Once you’ve submitted your 2015-2016 FAFSA and UFCD applications, you won’t need to do anything for 2015-2016 financial aid again until May or June 2015. UFCD scholarships are awarded in Spring semesters and will be viewable on ISIS no later than November 2015.

Janu

ary 2

015

FAFSA & Loans As a graduate/professional student, you are eligible to receive student loans based solely on your information on the FAFSA (DMD students are considered independent for financial aid purposes). Parental information is not required on the FAFSA to receive federal loans. Additionally, you can submit your FAFSA after March 15, 2015 and still be eligible for federal student loans.

FAFSA & Scholarships You must submit your FAFSA by March 15, 2015 (UF financial aid priority deadline) in order to be eligible for consideration for UFCD scholarships, grants, or special loans from UF. Additionally, you will need to include your parents’ information on the FAFSA and fill out the UFCD financial aid application (more details below). Because DMD students are considered independent for financial aid purposes, including your parents’ information on the FAFSA WILL NOT hinder your eligibility for loans. If you’ve already submitted your FAFSA without parental information, you can go back and add it now. If you do not include your parental information on the FAFSA, you will not be eligible for UFCD scholarships.