Eligibility for Federal Aid
To be considered for federal financial aid, you must be a U.S. citizen or an eligible non-citizen admitted as at least a half-time student in a degree program. If you are taking courses but are not yet admitted into a degree program, then you do not qualify for federal or state aid.
- Federal aid recipients must meet Federal Eligibility Requirements.
- To apply for federal funds, you must also complete a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form and all forms required by your individual school.
- Loan borrowers must complete a Loan Entrance Interview.
- In addition, to preserve your aid eligibility, you must maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress.
Updates to the Federal Student Loan Limits for AY26-27
Determination of Financial Need
It is your responsibility to supply accurate and complete information on the FAFSA and to notify your financial aid office immediately of any changes in your enrollment plans, housing status, or financial situation, including information about any institutional or outside scholarships you will be receiving.
Determination of your financial need may be based upon the number of courses for which you register. If you enroll in fewer courses than you initially reported, your financial aid may be reduced or eliminated.
University-administered federal awards are not automatically renewed each year. Continuing students must submit a Renewal FAFSA each year by their financial aid office's deadline. Renewal depends on the annual re-evaluation of your need, the availability of funds, and satisfactory progress toward the completion of your degree requirements.
Full Conditions for Federal Aid Eligibility
In order to be eligible for federal student aid the student must be a U.S. citizen or national or one of the following eligible non-citizens:
- A U.S. permanent resident
- A citizen of one of the Freely Associated States (i.e. the Federated States of Micronesia and the republics of Palau and the Marshall Islands)
- A refugee
- Granted Asylum
- A parolee
- A Cuban-Haitian Entrant, status pending
- A Conditional Entrant (valid only if issued before April 1, 1980)
- A victim of human trafficking
The student is ineligible for federal student aid if they:
- Warrant a Notice of Approval to Apply for Permanent Residence I-171 or I-464
- Have an F1 or F2 visa
- Have a J1 or J2 exchange visitor visa
- Undocumented students
- Undocumented Students who received Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)
Acceptable documentation to verify the student’s citizenship is as follows:
- A copy of the student’s birth certificate showing that the student was born in the United States, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Swain’s Island, or the Northern Mariana Islands
- U.S. passport current or expired
- A certificate of citizenship from INS (N-560 or N-561) which has the certificate number and date of issue.
- A certificate of Naturalization from INS (N-550 or N-570) which must indicate date and certification number.
- A copy of the following State Department documents:
- FS-240 Report of Birth Abroad of a Citizen of the U.S.
- FS-545 Certificate of Birth-Foreign Service
- DS-1350 Certificate of Birth
In order to be eligible for federal and state aid, the student must provide a valid Social Security Number (SSN).
The federal processor of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) verifies that the submitted student’s SSN is correct and that it corresponds to the given student’s name and birth date. If the SSN does not match with the Social Security Administration, (i.e., the number is not found in their database) the FAFSA will be rejected:
- When the SSN has been reported incorrectly on the FAFSA, the student must submit a copy of his or her Social Security card to his or her financial aid office.
- If the student’s name and SSN match but the date of birth differs, the student must make a correction on the Student Aid Report (SAR).
- If the SSN exists in the database but there is a discrepancy regarding the student’s name, the student must make a correction on the SAR.
Students who are in default on a federal educational loan are ineligible for Federal Student Aid.
Too Many Missed Payments
Continuing to miss payments beyond 90 days can lead to something called defaulting on a loan, which has severe penalties if it is not addressed immediately.
- You become ineligible for deferment or forbearance as well as the ability to choose a different repayment plan.
- You become ineligible for additional federal student aid.
- Your credit score is further damaged by the default reporting. Credit scores that are too low can affect your ability to acquire apartments, credit cards, car loans, home loans, and even some jobs.
- Your loan holder may immediately accelerate the due date of your entire unpaid balance.
How to Get Out of Default
One way to get out of default is to repay the defaulted loan in full, but that's not a practical option for many borrowers. The two main ways to get out of default are loan rehabilitation and loan consolidation.
Learn about options for help getting out of default.
Federal regulations (CFR 668.34) require Columbia University to establish, publish, and apply standards of Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) for Federal Title IV financial aid eligibility. The purpose of measuring and enforcing these standards is to ensure financial aid recipients’ progress towards degree completion using both qualitative and quantitative methods in accordance with federal regulations. To be eligible for financial aid (Federal Pell Grant, Federal SEOG, Federal Work-Study, Federal Direct/PLUS loan), students must meet or exceed these standards.
For more information, please see the central SAP policy.
Statement on Data Privacy
The information in your financial aid file may be disclosed to third parties as authorized under routine uses in the Privacy Act notices called "Title IV Program Files" (originally published on April 12, 2004, Federal Register, Vol 59 p. 17351) and "National Student Loan Data System" (originally published on December 20, 1994, Federal Register, Vol 59 p. 65532). Thus, this information may be disclosed to federal and state agencies, private parties such as relatives, present and former employers and creditors, and contractors of the Department of Education for purposes of administration of the student financial assistance program, for enforcement purposes, for litigation where such disclosure is compatible with the purposes for which the records were collected, for use by federal, state, local, or foreign agencies in connection with employment matters or the issuance of a license, grant, or other benefit, for use in any employee grievance or discipline proceeding in which the Federal Government is a party, for use in connection with audits or other investigations, for research purposes, for purposes of determining where particular records are required to be disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act, and to a Member of Congress in response to an inquiry from the congressional office made at your written request.