Career & Tools

It's that time of year again! Every U.S. graduate student needs to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) by March 2, 2021 to qualify for fellowships, scholarships, block grants, or federal student loans at UCSB. The FAFSA form may also be used to show eligibility for other assistance programs such as work study (which can make you eligible to receive Calfresh). Read on to learn more!

By Chava Nerenberg, Graduate Programming Assistant
Thursday, February 25th, 2021 - 8:30am


It's that time of year again! Every U.S. graduate student needs to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) by March 2, 2021 to qualify for fellowships, scholarships, block grants, or federal student loans at UCSB. Even if you do not believe you will receive aid, the FAFSA form may be used to show eligibility for other assistance programs such as work study (which can make you eligible to receive Calfresh).

Information you will need to complete the FAFSA:

  • Social Security number

  • Driver's license number (if you have one).

  • Alien Registration number (if you are not a U.S. citizen).

  • Your federal income tax returns, W-2s, and other records of money earned. (Note: you may be able to transfer your federal tax return information into your FAFSA using the IRS Data Retrieval Tool)

  • Records of your untaxed income (such as child support received, interest income, and veteran's noneducation benefits, for you, and for your parents if you are a dependent student)

  • Information on cash (e.g., savings and checking account balances; investments, including stocks and bonds and real estate, etc)