You’ve filed your FAFSA—now what?
To make sure you get your financial aid on time, you’ll want to follow the steps on this page after filing your FAFSA each year. Making sure you check off these tasks will help ensure your success at IU Fort Wayne.
Review the status of your FAFSA three to five days after you submit it. Make any necessary corrections as soon as possible to make sure your financial aid is processed quickly and accurately.
Be sure to avoid these common mistakes:
- Switching two numbers (for example, “$1,200” instead of “$2,100”)
- Adding too many or too few zeroes to a number
- Listing your parents’ income as yours (and the other way around)
- Forgetting to have your parent electronically sign the application with their FSA ID
Your FAFSA will be processed with the information you provide, so make sure everything is correct.
In some cases, you may need to make specific changes to your FAFSA to meet eligibility requirements for awards from the state. Check ScholarTrack for details.
You may be asked to verify the information you provided on your FAFSA before you can be declared eligible to receive financial aid. If you’re selected for verification, we’ll contact you by mail, email, and your To Do List and tell you what you need to do.
The most common verification tasks are submitting a tax return transcript or a verification of nonfiling letter.
Get your transcripts or letter from the IRS
Be sure to complete verification as quickly as you can and turn in all required documents at the same time to avoid delays with your financial aid. We’ll process your file within three weeks after we have all of your documentation.
Email is our primary way of communicating with you. Make a habit of checking your university email on a regular basis—if you miss a crucial message, it could delay your aid.
Get familiar with your aid package and your cost of attendance (COA). If you receive more funding after your award package has been put together, and that funding causes your aid total to exceed your COA, your award package may change. Remember, you can never be awarded more than your COA—and your aid can change even if it doesn’t exceed your COA.
Monitor your To Do List regularly to keep track of issues related to your FAFSA. Anything that shows up on your list must be completed in order for you to receive financial aid. Be sure to check the list regularly and turn in all requested documents as soon as possible—most forms take at least ten business days to process.
If you want to let a parent, spouse, sponsor, or other person to be able to check on your financial aid, you can grant them access.
Signing a Title IV authorization allows your Title IV financial aid such as Federal Pell Grants and Federal Direct Loans to go toward charges other than tuition and fees (for example, your parking permit or meal plan). We strongly recommend that you complete this authorization.
If your financial aid is greater than your bursar bill, you’ll be sent a refund for the difference. With direct deposit, you’ll get that money faster.
Grants and scholarships are automatically accepted on your behalf since they represent money that you don’t have to earn or pay back. You must manually accept, reduce, or decline all other awards—otherwise, they won’t be applied to your bursar bill.
If you accept part or all of a Federal Direct Loan, you’ll need to complete the entrance counseling and sign a master promissory note (MPN).
Complete the Entrance Loan Counseling and the Master Promissory Note
Start your financial wellness journey
IU’s MoneySmarts website helps you protect yourself from debt. Set up your budget with the online budget calculator, read up on your credit score, check out money podcasts, and much, much more.
You can also take online courses through MoneySmarts U to learn about money at every stage of your college career. You’ll discover how to sort through credit card offers, plan for living expenses, decide what to do with work income, and figure out how to prepare for your financial future.
