The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) priority filing deadline for 2008-2009 financial aid was March 2, 2008. Applications filed after the priority filing deadline will be considered for the Pell Grant, Academic Competitive Grant (ACG), National Smart Grant, Direct Loans (subsidized and unsubsidized), and the Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students (PLUS) only. The FAFSA application is available to file electronically at www.fafsa.ed.gov and the paper FAFSA is available at all high schools, colleges, and universities across the U.S. Information on this process is also available on the UCSB Financial Aid Office web site at www.finaid.ucsb.edu. Be sure to list UCSB (school code number # 001320) on your application.

Students who are admitted to UCSB in a degree-seeking program are eligible to receive financial aid. Students enrolled through Extension are not eligible. Additionally, a student must be a U.S. citizen or eligible non-citizen. Finally, a student must not be in default on a prior student loan or owe a repayment of aid to the U.S. Department of Education. Students should file a 2008-2009 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to begin the process for the 2008-2009 academic year. Please note that students need to reapply each year to re-establish their eligibility for financial aid (which includes grants, scholarships, loans, and Work Study) by filing the FAFSA by the priority filing deadline.

Financial aid is characterized as either need based or non-need based. Our office determines if a student qualifies for aid that is based on need, i.e. the expected family contribution (student and/or parent contribution) is less than the cost of attendance at UCSB (estimated to be $26,552 in 2008-2009 for a California resident living in a UCSB residence hall). The expected family contribution, which is calculated using a formula established by Congress, is based on several economic factors, such as the family's 2007 income, the family's assets, and number of family members in the household. Thus, there is no exact income "cut-off" to qualify for financial aid. Families who do not demonstrate need may still be eligible for financial aid that is not based on need (such as the unsubsidized Direct Loan or PLUS Loan for parents).

Student and parent contribution amounts are calculated using a federally mandated formula. If a student or his or her parent(s) have been adversely affected by extraordinary circumstances that have reduced their ability to pay for college expenses, the Financial Aid Office can review those circumstances in order to recalculate the student and/or parent contribution, thus potentially increasing the eligibility for need based aid. Please visit the “Forms” tab on our web site to obtain a "Request for Review" for these types of circumstances. The "Request for Review" for 2008-2009 will be available in May 2008.

If you are admitted to UCSB as a new undergraduate, you will be sent an e-mail advising you to view your unofficial Financial Aid Award Letter that will be posted on the Admissions Office web site. This is a preliminary estimate of your financial aid eligibility intended to assist you with your admissions decision. If additional documentation is required to verify the accuracy of your FAFSA information, you will be sent an e-mail in late May notifying you to access your file and review the "Request for Additional Documents" (RAD) on the Financial Aid Office web site. Once the Financial Aid Office has received all the documents we may have requested (i.e. tax returns, asset information, verification of citizenship status, etc.), we will review the documents and may need to recalculate the expected family contribution. At that point, we will create a financial aid "package" and send the student an e-mail directing them to access the Financial Aid Office web site to view their official Financial Aid Award Letter (FAAL). During the summer, our highest priority is reviewing documents and creating FAALs. Our goal is to notify all students of their aid eligibility prior to the Fall quarter fee deadline of 09/15/08. As we will request additional documentation from over 8,000 UCSB students, it is an on- going process of reviewing the data and creating financial aid packages. The sooner a student responds to the RAD, the sooner we can review the data in order to make an official notification of financial aid. Students are instructed to respond to their RAD within 30 days of being notified via e-mail that it has been posted to the Financial Aid Office web site.

The financial aid that students receive through our office comes from several sources (federal, state, institutional, and private). The total amount of grants, scholarships, and Work Study that is available for our office to award (in the form of a financial aid "package") is not enough to meet the need of all students who apply for financial aid at UCSB. As stipulated in the University of California Education Financing Model, UCSB's packaging policy directs most grant funding to the neediest students. Need is determined by the formula established by Congress. Our office makes every effort to offer financial aid to all eligible students who apply, however, most students will have loans as a component of their package.

UCSB will award its limited allocation of scholarship aid primarily to continuing UCSB students who filed the FAFSA by the March 2 priority deadline and who meet the dual criteria of financial need and academic merit. New students to UCSB applied for restricted scholarships when they completed the 2008-2009 Application for Undergraduate Admission and Scholarships in November 2007. Additionally, there are links to other scholarship opportunities on the scholarship section on our web site. Please note that any scholarships received reduce the student's need and may necessitate a reduction in the financial aid package. However, the first aid type that would be reduced are student loans.