FAFSA Priority Deadline

That’s great!  This message was sent to all continuing students.  We still encourage you to review the rest of the information in this communication as it can be helpful as you plan your financial future.

You can still submit your FAFSA and you will be considered for financial aid, but it’s important you do this as soon as possible to be considered for all available funds.  Some funds are limited and awarded on a first-come, first-served basis so act quickly!

Financial aid awards will be released sometime in the summer.  You will receive an award letter via e-mail once your aid package is released.

New FAFSAs are starting to be loaded into CaneLink for the 2021-2022 academic year.  You can check to see if your FAFSA is marked as “Received” in your “Documents and Messages.”  Click here to see how to view this information, and be sure to change the year to 2021-2022 in the upper-right drop-down menu.  It can take up to 15 business days for your FAFSA to load once you successfully complete it at https://studentaid.gov/.

The first thing you should do is check to be sure you submitted the 2021-2022 FAFSA at https://studentaid.gov/, not the 2020-2021 FAFSA.  Next, review your FAFSA to make sure you used the correct school code:

• Undergraduate = 001536
• Graduate (includes Nursing and non-MD Medical graduate programs) = 001536
• Medical (only for MD students) = E00533
• Law = E00532

Wait 15 business days after you successfully submitted your 2021-2022 FAFSA with the correct school code and it should load into CaneLink within that time.

You will receive a Student Aid Report (SAR) from the government within a month of when you complete the FAFSA.  The SAR is essentially a summary of the information you listed on your FAFSA application, but it may not display information you uploaded from the IRS data retrieval tool.

Your SAR will specify if you were selected for federal verification and, if you are, the University may request that you submit additional forms, tax documents, etc. to confirm your financial aid eligibility.  Verification does not suggest you did anything wrong; this is a normal, often random process by which the University is required to confirm the information you presented on your FAFSA application.

If you see on your SAR that you have been selected for verification, prepare now for any document requests by gathering all hard copies of your 2019 tax documents and keep an eye out for further communication by the University, and monitor your “Documents and Messages” in the “View Financial Aid” portion of CaneLink for the 2021-2022 academic year.  This will ensure timely compliance with any requests.

No, your SAR does not provide you with award amounts.  The SAR provides Expected Family Contribution (EFC), which is used by the University to determine your aid eligibility.  Your awards will be determined later and communicated to you later via an e-mailed award letter.

Even if you are not selected for verification, you may be asked to submit additional documents to determine your full aid eligibility.  It is important you submit all requested documents in a timely fashion and via the means specified in your “Documents and Messages” under your CaneLink “View Financial Aid” section to ensure timely review and the successful completion of your financial aid package.

You must wait for your 2021-2022 financial aid award letter to be released so you can fully-understand your financial aid package.  If at that point you have any questions or concerns, contact ’Canes Central via any of the means listed at www.canescentral.miami.edu/contact/ to discuss your options.

Continuing students who previously completed a CSS Profile do not need to submit a new Profile for 2021-2022; however, continuing students who are applying for financial aid for the first time must complete the CSS Profile when they submit their FAFSA.