The Free
Application for
Federal Student
Aid (FAFSA)

Your first step in applying for financial aid starting for fall 2008 is to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), regardless of your family’s financial status.  Your FAFSA information is used to determine your eligibility for a broad range of federal, state, and UNM aid, including loans and work-study. We encourage you to apply electronically at fafsa.ed.gov.
Watch the Five-Minute FAFSA Video for a quick introduction to the FAFSA.

UNM’s Financial Aid
Priority Date

If you submit your FAFSA by the UNM priority date of March 1, 2008, you increase the likelihood that you will optimize your receipt of grants that do not need to be repaid.  Once funds allocated for a specific grant have been exhausted, additional awards are unavailable for the academic year, even though you may otherwise be eligible.  You can be considered for other sources of financial aid such as the Federal Pell Grant and Stafford loans, if eligible, with an application date past March 1, 2008. We are not under the same allocation constraints for Pell Grant and Stafford Loans.

UNM’s Federal School Code
for use on the FAFSA is 002663

Be sure your submitted FAFSA includes the University of New Mexico’s Federal School Code, 002663.  The federal processor uses this code to send your FAFSA results to UNM. That becomes your application for aid.  If possible, use income information from your completed 2007 tax return instead of estimated figures. You may use estimated income to help meet the March 1 priority date, but you will need to update the FAFSA with tax return data to receive an award.

How Need-Based Aid
Eligibility is Determined

Financial aid programs were created with the concept that the primary responsibility for paying college costs rests with the student and his or her family. Need-based aid is made available to students who demonstrate a need (using the FAFSA) for additional resources to help pay college costs. The formula used to determine whether you are eligible for need-based aid is:

Cost of Attendance at UNM
-        Expected Family Contribution (EFC)
-        Scholarships & other resources
=    Eligibility for need-based financial aid

·   The Cost of Attendance represents an estimate of the cost of attending UNM for a regular academic year (fall & spring semesters), and includes tuition & fees, books & supplies, room & board, plus a modest allowance for personal & miscellaneous expenses.

·   The EFC is an amount that your family is expected to contribute toward the cost of attendance based on a federal assessment formula that considers the information provided on the FAFSA as well as other documents you may provide the University.

·   Scholarships & other resources are generally non-need-based types of resources that you have available to apply toward the cost of attendance.

What’s next?

1. The Student Aid Report (SAR)
   You will receive a form from the Department of Education’s Central Processing System shortly after submitting the FAFSA. The form is called the Student Aid Report (SAR) and it contains the data you entered on the FAFSA. Review the SAR carefully for accuracy and follow the directions provided if you need to make corrections.  If no corrections are needed, the EFC on the upper right corner of page 1 of the SAR will be used to calculate your eligibility.

2. UNM may request additional documents to verify some FAFSA data.

3. When all necessary documents are received and your application is considered accurate & complete, an award may be offered. UNM generally starts awarding for the next academic year right after the Regents determine tuition & fee costs, usually in April.   

Your Responsibility

Aside from the application process, your main obligation is to perform in the classroom. Do familiarize yourself with UNM’s Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy and complete your semester credit hours to protect your continued eligibility for financial aid.

Communications

Additional Information and a chat function are available on the UNM Student Financial Aid homepage at: http://www.unm.edu/~finaid/ 

You may ask a question or search for answers to frequently asked questions at:  http://fastinfo.unm.edu