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Financial Aid Timeline

FALL OF YOUR SENIOR YEAR:

• Review the cost of attendance at CUA, use a College Tuition Cost Calculator to help understand the cost and how much you will need to finance.
• CUA offers a variety of scholarships. There are two awards with specific deadlines that also require separate forms. Be sure to submit the $1000 Alumni Grant and $3000 Parish Scholarship forms on time.
• Start to research scholarship opportunities from sources other than CUA. There are a lot of organizations and businesses who offer scholarship money to college students. FastWeb and College Scholarships.org are two good sites to begin your search.

AFTER JANUARY 1st:

• File the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) after January 1, but before the priority deadline of February 15th. CUA encourages all students to use the FAFSA to apply for aid. Be sure to designate CUA on the FAFSA application by using CUA's code, 001437.
• Carefully review your FAFSA information for completeness and correctness. Having the wrong date of birth, Social Security Number, incomplete tax data, missing signature(s) or using can slow down the process of determining eligibility for financial aid.

FEBRUARY

• You may receive notification from CUA's Office of Financial Aid which indicates you are selected for verification. Verification is a review process in which the Office of Financial Aid determines the accuracy of the information provided on the student's FAFSA. The U.S. Department of Education selects approximately 30% of aid applicants for verification. The Catholic University of America selects another 10 to 20% of our freshmen students for federal and institutional verification.
• Participation in the verification process is not optional. If you are selected, please complete the necessary steps immediately. If the student does not submit the requested documentation, the student will not be eligible to receive federal or institutional need-based financial aid and parents of dependent student will not be eligible to receive a PLUS loan.

LATE MARCH

• Should you be eligible for CUA academic scholarships, you will be notified by mail in late March. Additionally, you will be able to log onto Cardinal Station and view your scholarships online in the Financial section of your account.
• If you submitted a correct and complete FAFSA and are eligible for federal or CUA need-based aid, you will be notified by mail in late March. Additionally, you will be able to log onto Cardinal Station and view your financial aid online in the Financial section of your account.

MAY

• When you are ready to accept your CUA financial aid award package, you will need to log onto Cardinal Station and accept your awards.
• CUA offers you the flexibility of monthly payments rather than paying in one or two large payments. The opportunity to make smaller payments on a monthly basis may allow you to minimize the amount you need to borrow in student loans. This optional interest-free monthly payment plan divides tuition and other expenses into eight or ten smaller monthly payments spread out over the year.