Applying for Financial Aid

It all starts with the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)!

Every contributor (students, a biological or adoptive parent, or a parent's spouse, or the student’s spouse), anyone who is required to provide information on the FAFSA, needs a Federal Student Aid account before accessing and completing their section of the FAFSA. Students and their contributors can access the Federal Student Aid accounts by using their account usernames and passwords.

An account allows students and contributors to complete and sign the FAFSA electronically. Keep login information safe and accessible; it will be used each year the FAFSA is completed.

The FAFSA is required each year a student attends Salem State and wants to receive financial aid.

Students will be considered for all federal, state, and institutional aid. The FAFSA is required to be considered for Salem State scholarships and many others.

Financial aid is awarded on a first-come, first-served basis. Submitting the FAFSA as soon as it’s available will help ensure students receive the maximum financial aid for which they're eligible.

Financial Aid Deadlines

The Massachusetts state deadline for the 2025-2026 aid year is May 1. Are you from another state? Check your state deadline.

Steps to Apply for Financial Aid

Create an account at studentaid.gov.
When completing the FAFSA, students and contributors must provide personal demographic and financial information, including their federal income tax returns, W-2 forms, records of child support received, current balances in cash, savings, and checking accounts, and the net worth of investments, businesses, and farms.
List Salem State University in the School Information section so we can receive your FAFSA information. Salem State's Federal School Code is 002188.
Determine dependency status. The FAFSA asks a series of questions to determine whether a student is dependent or independent for federal student aid eligibility. If a student is determined to be a dependent, they must report their parents' information along with their own information. For more information on reporting parents' information, please visit studentaid.gov.
Provide consent and approval to have federal tax information transferred into the FAFSA. If a required contributor doesn't provide consent and approval to have their federal tax information transferred into the FAFSA form, the student will not be eligible for federal student aid—even if the contributor manually enters tax information into the FAFSA.
Complete, electronically sign, and submit the FAFSA.

Dependency Status

The information students enter on their FAFSA determines their dependency status. The federal government has specific guidelines for determining whether a student is considered dependent or independent for financial aid purposes.

Not living with parents, not being claimed on parents' tax forms, or parents' refusal to help pay for college does not make a student an independent student for purposes of applying for federal financial aid. If parents are unwilling to provide their information on the FAFSA, please visit studentaid.gov for more details.

In certain situations, a student can submit their FAFSA without their parents' information if they have no contact with their parents due to unique circumstances:

A student's parents are incarcerated
A student left home due to an abusive family environment
A student does not know where their parents are and is unable to contact them (and the student has not been adopted).
A student is older than 21 but not yet 24, is unaccompanied, and is either homeless or self-supporting and at risk of being homeless.

When filling out the FAFSA, students will be asked whether they can provide information about their parents. If they cannot, they can indicate a unique circumstance that prevents them from doing so. Please be advised that students filing their FAFSA this way will be rejected and not loaded into Salem State's financial aid system.

Students who meet the above requirements may be eligible for a dependency override. They must submit several documents to document their situation. Please note that we do not grant dependency overrides based on financial independence.

A student living financially independent of their parents by choice, circumstances, employment, or geography does not constitute independence under Federal guidelines.

What Happens After the FAFSA is Submitted?

Check Your FAFSA Status

Students can check the status of their FAFSA by logging in to their studentaid.gov account and selecting their FAFSA submission from the "My Activity" section of their account dashboard.

If students submit a paper FAFSA, they can check its status after it has been processed (approximately 7–10 days from the mailing date).

The status of the application will be one of the following:

Draft: A section of the FAFSA form is incomplete.
In Progress: You have provided your consent, approval, and signature for your section of the FAFSA form, but it has not been submitted yet.
In Review: The FAFSA form was submitted but has not yet been processed.
Action Required: You are missing your consent and approval or signature, or the FAFSA form was processed but requires correction.
Processed: Your application was processed successfully. No further action is needed.
Closed: Your FAFSA form was never submitted and can no longer be submitted because the federal FAFSA deadline has passed.

Review Your FAFSA Submission Summary

The FAFSA Submission Summary is a summary of the data submitted to the FAFSA. Students receive their FAFSA Submission Summary after their FAFSA form is processed. Be sure to review the FAFSA Submission Summary carefully to ensure there are no mistakes on your FAFSA, and make corrections to your FAFSA data if necessary.

The FAFSA Submission Summary won't show how much financial aid a student will receive. Also, if consent and approval were provided to obtain federal tax information from the IRS, the FAFSA Submission Summary won't display a student's or parent's income or tax information.

Verification

Verification is the process to confirm that the information reported on the FAFSA form is accurate. Students are selected for verification at random by the U.S. Department of Education. A note will be listed on the FAFSA Submission Summary if a student is selected for verification.

Students receive notification from Salem State that they have been selected for verification. By logging in to their Navigator account, students can see the requested documents and how to submit the information on their To-Do List.

Generally, students will be asked to complete/provide one or more of the following forms:

Federal Tax Transcript
Verification Worksheet
Asset Threshold Form
Property Verification Form
Disability Discharge Form
Prior Degree Worksheet

Delays in completing verification requirements will impact financial aid eligibility and can result in the following:

Financial holds on their account
Inability to move into your residence hall
Restricted access to registration, grades, transcripts, etc.

Students will not be awarded financial aid until they complete the verification process.

Need Help Filling Out the FAFSA?

On Studentaid.gov

While in the online FAFSA form, select the white question mark icon next to a question to view a "tool tip” that provides information about answering that question.
Visit the FAFSA Help page, view trending FAFSA topics, browse FAQs, search for more information, or select Contact Us.
- Once you select Contact Us, you can email your question or chat (in English or Spanish) with live technical support staff during business hours.

MEFA FAFSA Festival

Do you need assistance completing the FAFSA, the form required to apply for college financial aid? Join MEFA for a virtual FAFSA Festival. You can log in anytime from 4-6 pm, and you will be paired with an expert who can answer your FAFSA or other financial aid questions and help you complete the online application.

Before you join, we encourage you to begin the FAFSA. If you want to learn about financial aid, view our recorded webinar, Financial Aid 101.