All students seeking financial aid should file the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) by visiting https://studentaid.gov/h/apply-for-aid/fafsa. This application is used to determine eligibility for all federal aid, including: Pell Grants, College Work-Study, and the Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (SEOG). It also is used to determine eligibility for the North Carolina Community College Grant, the North Carolina Education Lottery Scholarship, and the North Carolina Longleaf Commitment Grant. There are no fees charged to process this application.

Students must complete a separate FAFSA application for each new academic year.

To be eligible to receive a Federal Pell Grant and most other types of federal student aid, a student must:

• Have financial need;
• Have a high school diploma, GED®, HiSET, graduation from a home-school, or equivalent;
• Be enrolled in a Pell eligible certificate/degree program;
• Be a U.S. citizen, permanent resident, or other eligible classification of non-citizen;
• Have a valid social security number;
• Have and maintain satisfactory academic progress;
• Register with Selective Service, if male between the ages of eighteen (18) and twenty-five (25). This is a requirement to receive all state grant awards.
• Certify by signing a FAFSA that federal student aid funds awarded will be used only for the cost of attending an institution of higher education;
• Certify by signing a FAFSA that you are not in default of any federal student loan and that you do not owe a repayment of any federal student aid grant or have satisfactory arrangements to repay it;
• Certify by signing a FAFSA that you will notify your college if you default on a federal student loan and that you will not receive a Federal Pell Grant from more than one college for the same period of time.

Students under the age of twenty-four (24) need to provide parental information unless they fall into one of the following categories:

• Are married
• Will be working on a master’s or doctorate program at the beginning of the school year in which they are applying for aid
• Are currently serving on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces for purposes other than training;
• Are a veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces
• Now have or will have children who will receive more than half of their support from the student between July 1 and June 30 of the award year in which they are applying for aid
• At any time since turning the age of thirteen (13), both parents were deceased, the student was in foster care, or was a dependent ward of the court
• Are an emancipated minor as determined by the court in the student’s state of legal residence
• Are in legal guardianship by someone other than the student’s parents as determined by a court in the student’s legal state of residence
• Are an unaccompanied youth who is homeless or at risk of being homeless as determined by a school district liaison, a director of an emergency shelter or housing program funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or a director of homeless youth center or transitional living.