Applying For Financial Aid

Application Process for Financial Aid

You must have a high school diploma, a recognized equivalent such as a General Educational Development (GED) certificate (certificates of completion do not qualify a student for financial assistance) or a homeschool education (secondary level as defined by state law) to be eligible to receive financial aid.

You must complete the following in order to be considered for financial aid:

  1. Apply for admission to the college. Procedures for application for admission are found in the ADMISSIONS section. An estimated offer of financial aid will be given to you, but it isn't official until your acceptance is finalized.
  2. Complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).The paper FAFSA is available from high school guidance counselors or the GCC Financial Aid Office. You are strongly encouraged to apply online with FAFSA on the WEB (www.FAFSA.gov) and obtain a FSA ID, made up of a user name and password, which can be used throughout the federal aid process. The processing time of the FAFSA is approximately six weeks. If you do not receive the results - a Student Aid Report (SAR) - within this timeframe, please call 1-800-433-3243 to check on the processing.  The FAFSA can be submitted after October 1 for the following fall and must be filled out with prior tax year information. (Michigan Competitive Scholarship - The FAFSA must be submitted by March 1 of each year to be considered for this scholarship.)   
  3. Review the SAR. This report contains the information you provided on the FAFSA. If the SAR is correct and GCC is listed as a college choice, you need to retain it for your records. If it is incorrect or GCC is not listed as a college choice, you need to go back online to the FAFSA website and make the necessary corrections. You will also be asked to sign the form with your FSA ID and your parent's FSA ID, if applicable. After all corrections are made and the form is signed, submit the form electronically to the FAFSA Processing Center. Do not mail a paper SAR back to the FAFSA Processing Center. Mailing the SAR is a timely process.
  4. Submit all requested documentation to the GCC Financial Aid Office. GCC may be requesting additional information needed to complete the processing of your application. Documentation may include your and your parent IRS federal income tax return, child support payments, family member verification, etc. You will receive a letter from the Financial Aid Office (pending file completion) after the FAFSA has been submitted indicating what is needed to complete the file. (After the fourth letter, your file will be placed on hold and no further correspondence will be received from the Financial Aid Office until you contact GCC.) If any corrections need to be made to the original FAFSA information, the GCC Financial Aid Office will make the corrections, based on the submitted data and will resubmit the corrections to the Central Processing System. Upon receipt of the corrected information, the financial aid file will be reviewed and a financial aid proposal will be calculated and sent to you in the mail. This process normally takes about 15 business days. Failure to submit all requested documentation will result in the forfeiture of your financial aid eligibility.  No file review will take place until you have submitted the required documentation, so you are encouraged to complete the process as soon as possible.
  5. Apply for a student loan, if applicable. You may be eligible to apply for a student loan. To apply, you must fill out and submit a Master Promissory Note online, submit the Federal Direct Loan Request Form to GCC and participate in an entrance interview. Student loan materials can be obtained in the GCC Financial Aid Office or online at gogebic.edu. Visit studentloans.gov for additional information.  No loan can be processed after the student is no longer enrolled.
  6. Submit a college work-study application. College work-study application materials will be mailed to all eligible students with their award letter. These materials must be completed and returned to GCC according to the set deadline date. You will receive your job placement in July.
  7. Provide notification to the GCC Financial Aid Office, if applicable. You must promptly notify GCC of any outside scholarships, grants, loans or other types of student aid received or expected to be received. Financial aid packages may need to be revised based on the receipt of additional awards.
  8. Apply for a GCC scholarship. Gogebic Community College offers a wide range of scholarships and awards to both freshman and sophomore students. Criteria and award amounts vary. Applications are submitted online through the Academic Works website. The typical application period is from December 1 through March 15. The scholarships awarded in the spring are to be used for the following academic year. To apply for scholarships, you must be accepted to GCC and have been issued a Student ID number. You also have the capability to view all available scholarships as well as the scholarship criteria. Please note you only need to fill out one application for all scholarships. The process automatically selects and sorts your application information according to the eligibility criteria of the individual scholarship. You will be notified via your GCC e-mail, if you are selected to receive a scholarship. This notification is normally sent out within three weeks of the scholarship application deadline. If you do not receive a scholarship during the first round of awarding, your application is stored in the data base for the entire academic year. Scholarships are awarded on a continual basis as new scholarships are received. Click on http://gogebic.academicworks.com to access the scholarship application.

An applicant who has completed their file by March 15 will be given first consideration for available awards. You may generally expect to be offered a financial aid package fifteen business days after the file becomes complete. You may apply for financial aid after the deadline and will be offered aid based upon remaining available funds.

Deadline Dates

  1. The deadline date for the receipt of the 2019-2020 FAFSA by the Department of Education is June 30, 2020. 
  2. GCC's priority deadline date for campus-based financial aid is March 1 or earlier depending on the depletion of funds.
  3. GCC must receive a SAR or ISIR with an official EFC while you are still enrolled in order to make a Title IV disbursement. 
  4. The Pell Grant deadline date for submitting verification documents is 120 days after your last date of enrollment or September 21, 2020, for the 2019-2020 academic year, whichever is earlier, but the GCC Financial Aid Office needs to have valid ISIR/SAR information by your last date of enrollment, except for a student meeting the conditions for a late disbursement   A valid ISIR/SAR is one in which all information is accurate and complete. 
  5. The deadline date for completing the verification process for federal student loans and campus-based funding is 10 days prior to your falling below half-time status or 10 days before the student's last date of enrollment.  Verification is complete when all requested documentation has been received and a valid ISIR/SAR is on file.  Failure to submit all requested documentation will result in the forfeiture of your financial aid eligibility.  No file review will take place until the required documentation has been submitted, so you are encouraged to complete the process as soon as possible.  
  6. Your loan origination records are not submitted to COD until entrance counseling has been completed and received.  Your MPN must also be completed and received before records are exported to COD. Student loans cannot be processed after you are no longer enrolled if the above documents have not been completed and submitted.
  7. The summer school application priority deadline date is April 30.
  8. The deadline date for the first round of institutional scholarships is March 15.  After this time, the deadline date becomes rolling.  Normally, the next deadline is June 15 and October 15 for all scholarships not yet awarded.
  9. The deadline date for the Michigan Competitive Scholarship is a FAFSA receipt date, by the State, of March 1.