Submitting a FAFSA

You must submit a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to apply for all federal student and parent loan programs, most need-based grants, and the Federal Work-study program. Several federal loans don't require financial need, but still require the FAFSA. Most scholarships don't require or consider FAFSA data, but a few need-based scholarships do require it.

You must submit a 2024-2025 FAFSA to apply for aid for Fall 2024, Spring 2025, and Summer 2025.

Apply online now at fafsa.gov. TU's FAFSA Code is 002099.

The 2025-2026 FAFSA will become available on December 1, 2024. Submit it to apply for aid for Fall 2025, Spring 2026, and Summer 2026.

FAFSA Help 

For FAFSA help, contact the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 1-800-4FED-AID or Live Chat, or watch the help videos below. Their hours are Monday 8 am - 9 pm, Tuesday-Wednesday 8 am - 8 pm, and Thursday-Friday 8 am - 6pm.

If you need additional help, please contact us.

To apply for other types of aid, go to Applying for Aid.

FAFSA Eligibility Requirements

  • You must submit a new FAFSA every year.
  • Each FAFSA applies to one academic year (Fall-Spring-Summer).
  • You can submit it before you are admitted to TU.
  • FAFSA Applicants must meet all these Federal Eligibility Requirements.

Undocumented and DACA students can't submit a FAFSA, but if you qualify for in-state tuition status, you should submit a Maryland State Financial Aid Application (MSFAA).  See Undocumented Students.

FAFSA Submission Deadlines

For priority consideration for need-based grants from TU submit your FAFSA by these TU deadlines:

  • For freshman admission applicants and all current/returning TU students, we have extended our priority deadline to March 1, 2025.
  • March 1, 2025 for transfer admission applicants
The Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC) offers many state grants and scholarships for Maryland residents. Their application deadlines vary and many of them require additional MHEC aid applications. Follow these state aid instructions. To apply for MHEC's GA and EA Grants, you must submit a 25-26 FAFSA by March 1, 2025. For more information, see GA Grants and EA Grants.

Our priority deadline for need-based grants from TU was June 1, 2024, but we will continue to award TU grants to late applicants as long as funds are still available. Please apply now!

The Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC) offers many state grants and scholarships for Maryland residents. Their application deadlines vary and many of them require additional MHEC aid applications. Follow these state aid instructions. To apply for MHEC's GA and EA Grants, you had to submit your 24-25 FAFSA by June 1, 2024. If MHEC requested additional documentation, you had to submit it by June 15, 2024. For more information, see GA Grants and EA Grants.

FAFSA Tips

  • The FAFSA will automatically retrieve most federal tax return data directly from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).  
  • Students and all their FAFSA data contributors must consent to share IRS data even if they didn’t file a tax return.  
  • FAFSA data contributors include parents of dependent students and spouses of married students. If your parents filed separate tax returns both parents must be contributors.  
  • All students and every FAFSA contributor must each create their own Federal Student Aid (FSA) ID and must use it to submit their data and their consent.
  • If one of your FAFSA data contributors (parents or spouse) doesn't have a social security number, carefully follow these instructions (revised May 6) from the Department of Education. 
  • If a student's parents are separated or divorced, the rules about which parent's data students must report on your FAFSA have changed from the parent the student lived with most to the parent who provides the most financial support.
  • The new FAFSA will calculate a Student Aid Index (SAI) value for each student, and we will use it to determine eligibility for most need-based aid programs. (The SAI is replacing the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) value from the old FAFSA.)

FAFSA Instructions

1) Creating an FSA ID

If you are a first-time applicant, you (the student) and your FAFSA Contributors must each create your own Federal Student Aid (FSA) ID.

For dependent students, at least one parent must create an FSA ID. 

If your parents didn't file a joint federal tax return, then both parents must create their own FSA ID. If you are an independent married student and you didn't file a joint federal tax return with your spouse, then your spouse must also create an FSA ID.

2) Submit your FAFSA

  • Apply online now at fafsa.gov.
  • TU's FAFSA Code is 002099.
  • If you already applied, but didn't list TU's code, return to fafsa.gov to add it.
  • Use the Help Services below.  

3) Check your FAFSA Status

If you already submitted a FAFSA, please check your status online. If your FAFSA was successfully "processed," you should still review the accuracy of all the data on your FAFSA Information Summary. If your FAFSA isn't complete, follow the instructions to correct it.

4) Correcting FAFSA Errors

If your submitted FAFSA isn't complete or has errors, follow these correction instructions.

5) Submit additional documents to TU

  • After we receive your FAFSA data, we may need to request additional documents from you. If we do, we will email you and add them to the To Dos list on your Towson Online Services Student Dashboard.
  • Please submit all requested documents within 2 to 3 weeks.
  • For new students, we can prepare a tentative aid offer before you submit your documentation, but these offers could change after we receive and process your documents.
  • For returning TU students, we can't offer you any aid until you submit all required documents.

6) What's next?

We use the FAFSA data to determine eligibility for need-based grants and federal loans. If we don't need any additional documents, you should receive your award notification by email within two weeks.

FAFSA Help Services

For all FAFSA questions, contact the Federal Student Aid Information Center Monday - Friday 8 am to 10 pm or Saturday 11 am to 5 pm (ET) at 1-800-4FED-AID or Live Chat.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Follow these instructions to check your status online.

  • If your status is "Draft" or "Action Required," your application is not complete, and you must make corrections.
  • If your status is "In Progress" or "In Review," the U.S. Department of Education is still processing your application.  Check back in 3 to 5 days to confirm if it changes to "Processed" status.
  • If your status is "Processed," your FAFSA application is complete and has been fully processed.
If your status on the FAFSA web site is "Draft" or "Action Required", follow these correction instructions to complete your FAFSA online.

A FAFSA contributor is parent, stepparent, or spouse who must submit supporting data and consent to share their federal tax return data with the FAFSA processor.  When students complete the student section of the FAFSA, they must provide the names and contact information for their supporting contributors.  Then, Federal Student Aid (FSA) will send an email to each contributor asking them to complete their sections.  Each contributor must create their own FSA ID that they must use when they login to complete their section.

If you are dependent student and your biological or adoptive parents are still married to each other, list both of them on your FAFSA.  

If your parents are divorced or separated, you must list the parent who provided the most financial support. Compare the total financial support provided by each parent and count all child support payments with the parent who pays them. If your parents are unmarried but still living together, you must report both of their data. 

If the parent who meet the rules above is remarried, you must also list that stepparent's data.

For more information, review these federal guidelines.

The Student Aid Index (SAI) is a new financial need measure that we will use to determine your eligibility for need-based financial aid programs. Starting with the 2024-2025 FAFSA and all future aid years, the SAI will replace the Estimated Family Contribution (EFC) which was used in a similar way. They have also changed the formulas that they will use to calculate the SAI values.