Apply for Financial Aid

Applying for FAFSA is as easy as 1..2..3

When Should I Complete My Financial Aid Application?

Each October, the FAFSA form is available for the next school year. You’ll need to reapply for every year you are in school. Here is a summary of key dates for submitting the FAFSA form for the year you plan on attending:

1. Complete your Financial Aid Application.

Submit new or renewal 2021/2022 or 2022/2023 Free Application For Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) at www.fafsa.gov.

If you are a Dreamer student, complete the Dream Act Application at dream.csac.ca.gov.

If you need assistance completing your financial aid application, please visit our workshop page.

2. Check Your Email Account or My Financial Aid Portal for Next Steps.

7-10 days after submitting your FAFSA/Dream Act application, check your student email account or check your My Financial Aid Portal and submit any required documents to financial aid as soon as possible. Processing can take up to 8-10 weeks.

For assistance with activating your My Financial Aid Portal, please click here

Videos to help with verifying your file on saddleback.verifymyfafsa.com:

Verifying you are a High School Graduate: https://bit.ly/verifyHSGrad
Filling out the Statement of Educational Purpose: https://bit.ly/StateEdPurpose
How many people are in your Household size: https://bit.ly/housesize

3. Choose How You Want to Receive Your Financial Aid.

Students should select a refund method for their financial aid disbursement as early as possible. Please visit our Disbursement Options webpage to tell us how you want to receive your financial aid money.

U.S. Department of Education Federal School Code: 008918

Already applied? Add Saddleback College by making a correction click here.

Here are a few key things to remember when applying for Financial Aid:

To complete a FAFSA, you and your custodial parent (if applicable) will need a Federal Student Aid Id (link is external)
- For more information on creating and using your FSA ID
Complete a new FAFSA/Dream Act Application for each academic year
- How to get Financial Aid with FAFSA
- How to get Financial Aid with the CA Dream Act
Complete the FAFSA/Dream Act Application before March 2nd. Both applications are available in October for the upcoming Summer semester (i.e. 2021/2022 FAFSA/Dream Act Application is available in October 2020, for the Summer 2021 semester). If you fail to submit your FAFSA/Dream Act Application by the March 2nd deadline your file will still be reviewed for financial aid eligibility, including the California College Promise Grant (formerly known as the BOG Fee Waiver).
Remember to list Saddleback College’s school code (#008918) in the "School Selection" section of the FAFSA/Dream Act Application
The immigration information reported on your FAFSA/Dream Act Application is not shared with anyone.

After you submit your FAFSA/Dream Act Application

Approximately 1-2 weeks after you complete the FAFSA, you will receive an e-mail informing you to check your processing status on the FAFSA website (link is external). If you did not provide an e-mail address, the FAFSA processor will mail you a Student Aid Report (SAR). Carefully review your status and follow the instructions if you need to make any corrections. Our office will receive your information as long as Saddleback College, school code #008918, is listed in the "School Selection" section
Approximately 1-2 weeks after you complete the Dream Act Application, you will receive an e-mail informing you to check the processing status of your application on https://dream.csac.ca.gov. If you did not provide an e-mail address, CSAC will mail you a CalSAR. Carefully review the status of your application and follow the instructions if corrections are needed. Our office will receive your information as long as Saddleback College, school code #008918, is listed in the “School Section” of your application.
All students who submit a FAFSA application will be sent an email informing them to check the status of their Financial Aid Application on My Financial Aid Portal.
All students who submit a Dream Act Application will be sent an email informing them of the documents needed to complete their application with the college.
All students will receive a separate email, informing them of when their Award Letters have been finalized or revised.

View the following tutorial 7 Easy Steps to the FAFSA (link is external) for step-by-step assistance in filling out your FAFSA.

Students with unique situations may have difficulty completing the FAFSA application. Please review the helpful tips below to assist you in completing your financial aid application:

If you need assistance in completing the Dream Act Application you can visit https://dream.csac.ca.gov, go to “California Dream Act Information and Resources” on the right-hand side of the page. This page lists all of the available options for getting additional assistance in completing the CA Dream Act Application.

Please also review our How to Get Financial Aid for FAFSA Filers or How to Get Financial Aid for CA Dream Act Filers for additional information.

If you need one-on-one assistance you can access our one-on-one zoom meeting by visiting: https://cccconfer.zoom.us/j/95310207685.

You can find information on our available workshops by visiting the Events and Workshops link.