How to Apply for Financial Aid

Last year nearly 13,000 students received financial aid approaching 100 million dollars through our office--proof that it's never been easier to apply for and to receive financial aid at UT. Here's a quick overview of requirements and procedures to get you started. First, some ground rules.
 

Pre-application Checklist
	You must be a U.S. citizen or eligible non-citizen.
	If you are male and 18 years of age or older, you must have registered with Selective Service.
	You must be admitted to UT through the Office of Admission and enrolled in a degree or certificate program. (If you are a graduate student accepted through the "special or provisional graduate" status, this especially affects you.)
	If you are a continuing student, you must be making satisfactory academic progress towards your degree.

If you meet the requirements above, here are the steps you need to follow to apply for financial aid.

Application Steps
1.	The first step in applying for aid is filling out a FAFSA or Renewal Application. Need help filling it out? Contact us, or call 1.800.4FED.AID. Short on time? The Free Application for Federal Student Aid is now available online.
2.	Keep in touch with us! For many students, all we need before telling them what they can receive is to get the results of their FAFSA or Renewal Application. Roughly 1 in 3 applications are selected for a process called verification. Others might need to clear up questions related to the general eligibility requirements listed above, or submit some common forms. Regardless, it is a good idea to stay in touch with our office, or watch your mail, so we can stay informed of your application’s status.
3.	The next step should be for our office to send you an Award Notification Letter through the mail, which needs to be completed and returned to our office. The Department of Education's Student Guide does an excellent job of explaining how aid offices determine what, and how much, you are eligible for, if you are interested.
4.	Returning the award notification letter to our office and enrolling in the required number of hours is all it takes to make grants and many scholarships pay against your bill once the term begins.
5.	For those students who accepted loans as part of their award, we will prepare Promissory Notes which you will need to sign and return in order for those funds to credit against your account. A new electronic signature is available online for Federal Stafford Loans.
6.	Finally, should your total financial aid exceed what you owe UT, you can expect the Bursar's Office to issue you a check for excess aid after the term begins. Your check will be sent to you through the mail, or you can have it automatically deposited to your bank account through direct deposit.