For the coming school year, students that are applying for financial aid must have their FAFSA (Federal Association of Financial Student Aid) submitted by March 15. Once an application has been submitted the FAFSA will determine which students are eligible and which ones will receive financial aid for the 2015-2016 school year. Additional paperwork needed for fall quarter must be submitted to the financial aid office by July 7th. Here is how to make sure you have everything you need for next year:Log into Whatcom’s financial aid portal through the website. https://www.fas.ctc.edu/portal6/?col=210
Make sure your FAFSA has been submitted and view the tab “What we need from you” (Anything the school still needs from the student would be shown there).
Make sure all the paperwork is submitted, and the rest is up to the financial aid office.
Starting in June, Higher One (The 3rd party company that handles financial aid money) will be changing its options for how students can get their financial awards, giving new options without using the Higher One card.
Student loans will be starting up on June 1st this year with 4.29% interest rates as opposed to the former 4.66% interest.
FAFSA will also be changing the PIN system and will be using FSA I.D’s from now on out. For students that already have a PIN, they will be prompted to create an FSA I.D when they submit their information for next quarter.
Numerous Scholarships are also available to students through the Whatcom Community College website under the getting started tab. The student services tab has links to various student support services like food stamps, WorkFirst training, and opportunity grant scholarships.
David Klaffke, Director of Financial Aid, said that the most important thing for students to do is make sure their e-mail addresses are up to date in the system, and to turn in their paperwork the as soon as possible in order to have the best chance at getting financial aid for 2015-2016.
The Financial Aid office is open Monday through Thursday, nine a.m. to five p.m., and on Saturdays from nine a.m. to noon.
