Application Forms
Free Application for Federal Student Aid. This form is used by all colleges to determine your eligibility for aid from the federal government and from the state of Rhode Island. Most Colleges also use the FAFSA to determine your eligibility for their own financial aid. The FAFSA cannot be filed until after January 1st, but it must be completed and received prior to the college’s priority deadline date. The FAFSA must be filed for every year the student is in school. There are two ways to submit your FAFSA, online at www.fafsa.ed.gov or by paper application. In general, a paper FAFSA application will take 3 to 4 weeks to be processed. A FAFSA filed online will take approximately 7 days. A FAFSA requires a signature of both a parent and the student applicant. To sign the on-line application you must be assigned a Personal Identification Number (PIN) from the U.S. Department of Education. You can apply for a PIN any time at www.pin.ed.gov. Remember, both the student and a parent must apply for a PIN.
Some private independent colleges require you to file a College Scholarship Service Profile (CSS/Profile) application to determine your eligibility for their own sources of financial aid. The Profile Application can be completed as early as October and is available only online at www.collegeboard.com. Click on Student and under Paying for College click on CSS Profile.
Notification of how much financial aid you will receive will come directly from the schools that you have been accepted to. The FAFSA and CSS/Profile only measure a family's ability to contribute towards the cost of college. The colleges will then use this information to determine what types of financial aid a student is eligible for.
Generally, award letters are sent to all admitted freshman financial aid applicants prior by the first week of April. If you are a financial aid applicant, accepted for admission and have not received a financial aid award letter, you should contact the college’s financial aid office.