The Office of University Financial Aid does its best to streamline the freshman application process and determine an initial Financial Aid Award for such students as quickly as possible. To this end, freshman students may obtain an estimate of need-based financial aid eligibility in advance of filing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). This assessment may be modified at a later date as additional information is submitted by the freshman applicant, but it enables the first-year student to have an estimate of the types and amounts of financial aid for which the student will qualify at Case.
The full application process consists of four steps, outlined below.
Step 1: Initial Application
Step 1 consists of completing two web forms, the first called the
Case Financial Aid Form. In order to access the form, you must
first be admitted to the university and have obtained your User ID and Password
from your admission letter. Once you have completed the form, you will
have the opportunity to obtain a Provisional Financial Aid Award.
The Case Financial Aid Form is available in briefCase.
In addition to the Case Financial Aid Form, students applying for need-based
financial aid at Case are required to complete the
Free Application for Federal
Student Aid (FAFSA). Dependent sudents must complete the form with
their parents, while Independent students who are married must complete the form
with their spouses. Most freshman students are Dependent, however full
details regarding this determination can be found under
Dependency
Status.
Our FAFSA school code for all undergraduates is 003137.
Step 2: Required Application Supplements
In the course of processing a student's application, a Case Financial Aid counselor will sometimes find it necessary to request additional information from the student or the student's parents. Should this be the case, the student will be notified by e-mail of the additional documentation requirements. The student can check the status of their application at any time through briefCase.
Step 3: Notification of Financial Aid Eligibility
Once Steps 1 and 2 have been completed, the Office of University Financial Aid will typically notify the student of the initial Financial Aid Award within three weeks. This initial award is based on the data obtained from the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and supersedes any Provisional Award the student obtained in Step 1.
Although this initial Financial Aid Award is determined as quickly as possible for the convenience of first-year students, it is important to remember that Case requires additional paperwork as well (Step 4). The types and amounts of financial assistance given on the initial Financial Aid Award are tentative until all of the additional application requirements have been met. When additional documentation is submitted to the Office of University Financial Aid, the initial award is revised based on the new information. It is not unusual for a freshman student to receive multiple revisions over the course of the application process, as additional documentation is submitted to our office.
Step 4: Other Application Requirements
In some circumstances one or more items of additional documentation (listed below) may be needed for an individual student's financial aid application. In such cases, the Office of University Financial Aid will request the documentation from the student by e-mail and U.S. mail. Please do not submit any of these items unless they are specifically requested by the Office of University Financial Aid:
Students can check their progress in this four step process on-line through
briefCase.