To apply for financial aid in the DCCCD, applicants must complete the following items in a timely manner. In general, all application materials must be fully completed no later than 30 days before registration. Otherwise, the student will be expected to make payment arrangements with the Cashier's Office using personal resources at the time of registration. Late aid applications will be processed after registration for aid as it becomes available. Most scholarship programs have individual deadlines that must be met in order to be considered for an award from that particular scholarship program.

1. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is available upon request from the college financial aid office or from a local high school. Applicants should complete information on themselves and their spouses or parents (if applicable), and obtain the appropriate signatures as outlined in the directions for the FAFSA. The FAFSA can be filed with the government processor in one of the following ways:

• By mail: This method will require four to six weeks to receive a Student Aid Report (SAR); or
• By FAFSA on the web: Submitting the FAFSA to the government processor can be done over the Internet. The address to the website www.fafsa.ed.gov. This method can take less than a week for the government to process.

2. Financial Aid awards will be made only after the FAFSA results have been sent to the college by the government processor and the entire financial aid application process has been completed. If a student's record is selected for verification (a review of the FAFSA data), all required documentation and corrected FAFSA information must be received before the application process is complete.
3. An Award Notification Letter is sent to each student who completes the application process and for whom aid eligibility can be determined. The Award Notification Letter contains the names and amounts of the financial aid awards that the student is eligible to receive. The letter also contains important information about restrictions and conditions that can affect the ability of the student to receive the amounts awarded.
4. Financial aid awards will be disbursed by the Business Office of each college according to the regulations of each award program.