Financial Aid
2026-27 FAFSA Application Deadlines
Federal Deadlines
The FAFSA form must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. Central time (CT) on June 30, 2027. Any corrections or updates must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. CT on Sept. 12, 2027.
College and Career/Trade School Deadlines
Each college and career/trade school may have its own deadline. Check with the school you’re interested in attending. You may also want to ask about the school’s definition of an application deadline. For example, the deadline could be the date your FAFSA form is processed or the date the school receives your processed FAFSA data.
State Deadlines
Each state has its own deadline. See the listing below. Visit your state higher education agency's website for the most up-to-date state deadline.
Applications
Financial Aid Questions
If you’ll be attending a California Community College in the fall and you missed the March 2 Cal Grant application deadline, you have a second opportunity to apply for a Cal Grant by September 2. Since the number of awards available in September is limited, you should try to meet the March 2 deadline.
If you receive a Cal Grant A but decide to attend a California Community College first, your award will be held in reserve for up to two years until you transfer to a four-year college (as a Cal Grant recipient, your community college fees will be waived and community colleges don’t charge tuition). Be sure to inform the California Student Aid Commission of any address changes during this time. When you’re ready to transfer, be sure to notify the Commission so that your Cal Grant eligibility can be re-evaluated. Also, let your new college know that you have a Cal Grant A Reserve Grant.
If you receive a Cal Grant B, you can use your $1,672 living allowance to help pay for books and other community college costs. (If you do, however, keep in mind that you’ll be using up Cal Grant eligibility that you may instead want to save if you’re planning to transfer to a four-year college.)
If you’re pursuing a career or technical education, you can use your Cal Grant C award to pay for books and supplies at a community college.
If you didn’t receive a Cal Grant for community college, you may qualify for a Cal Grant Transfer Entitlement award to attend a four-year college.
Pell Grants are federal grants and Cal Grants are state grants. Both are for students with financial need. Some Cal Grants have a minimum GPA requirement while federal Pell Grants do not. You could qualify for both a Pell Grant and a Cal Grant.
To apply for a Pell Grant, you must submit the FAFSA. For the Cal Grant, you must submit both the FAFSA or CADAA and your verified Cal Grant GPA by the March 2 Cal Grant deadline.
Yes, you will need to submit the FAFSA every year to remain eligible for federal student aid. After filling it out the first time, you can submit a renewal FAFSA in subsequent years. The website will automatically fill in most of your information from the previous year.
You just need to double-check that everything is still correct. You can also start from the beginning if you need to make significant changes.
The IRS Data Retrieval Tool (IRS DRT) allows students and parents who filed a U.S. tax return with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to access the IRS tax return information needed to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) form and to transfer the data directly into their FAFSA form.
Yes, still complete your application because you can still be considered for other aid such as the California College Promise Grant (formerly known as the BOG fee waiver) at community colleges and institutional grants at some CSU and UC campuses. Keep in mind that students who apply after the March 2 deadline will not be considered for Cal Grants or the Middle Class Scholarship, therefore you should submit your CADAA by March 2 in future years. The CSAC has junior and senior financial aid checklists to help you plan and meet important deadlines. To view the financial aid checklists, please visit: www.csac.ca.gov/pod/financial-aid-checklist.