Financial Aid Frequently Asked Questions

No. But since many scholarships are based on financial need, and we use the FAFSA (or the Alternative Application) to determine need, you will be precluded from any scholarship that has need as a requirement of eligibility.

If you are not eligible for FAFSA, you can use the Illinois Alternative Application for Financial Aid. If you are not eligible for that, we have a paper application you can use. However, you cannot use the paper form unless you are unable to use the other two forms.

If you are not sure which application you should complete, please visit the Alternative Application for Illinois Financial Aid and utilize their pre-screening questions to help direct you, or contact a Financial Aid Specialist here at CLC.

“FAFSA” actually refers to just the application itself, not the aid that the federal government gives. No one is ineligible to complete the application based on income alone. In such cases, students will still need to complete the FAFSA in order to be considered for need-based scholarships.

You may be pleasantly surprised to learn that, no, this does not necessarily exclude you from need-based scholarships. Many of these scholarships take into account the fact that there is a category of families all over the country who do not qualify for grants, but still are not able to afford the high cost of tuition. Because of this, students whose EFC (Estimated Family Contribution) falls into that category are considered by CLC to have high need, and are absolutely considered for need-based scholarships.

Applications are accepted early.

• Priority application deadline for Fall semester: June 30
• Priority application deadline for Spring semester: December 17

Applications may continue to be accepted after these dates for consideration as funds allow. Some scholarship opportunities may have more specific deadline dates. Students can expect to hear back about scholarship awards after the Fall and Spring census periods.

Students can expect to hear back about scholarship awards after the Fall and Spring census periods.

No, and it would benefit you to do the scholarship application as soon as possible. However, your FAFSA (or other requirements) will need to be completed in order for the awarding to be done. If it is not completed by April 1^st, your application may be considered incomplete and therefore not given the deadline priority.

Each scholarship has its own set of awarding guidelines set down by the donor. Some pay for tuition costs exclusively, and will be reduced if your course load ends up being less than it was when you were awarded. Some scholarships allow for their funds to cover books and other expenses, while others allow for the funds to be refunded out to the student to cover “any educational expense.” All of these details should be posted in the detail page of the individual scholarship, but if you have any questions or concerns, please to not hesitate to reach out to us at scholarships@clcillinois.edu.

Generally, outside scholarship checks are added to students’ accounts within 48 hours of receiving them. If it is not on your account, it is likely that we have not received it yet. If you have not done so already, please contact the organization that has offered it to you. We cannot reach out to the organization on your behalf.