Application Procedure
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is the starting point for financial assistance from federal, state of Illinois, and Bradley University. The FAFSA also serves as the application for federal student and parent loans. You will submit a new FAFSA for academic year you apply for financial assistance. If you are only interested in receiving Bradley University academic scholarships and/or performance-based awards you do not need to complete the FAFSA.
- The FAFSA is always completed online at the U.S. Department of Education website. Do not go to any other web address to submit your FAFSA. Applying for financial assistance is always free so if you are asked to pay you are at the wrong site and should contact the Bradley Financial Assistance Office for guidance.
- If you are applying for financial assistance at more than one school, you still only complete one FAFSA. The results will be delivered to each school that you have indicated via a U.S. Department of Education school code. Bradley University’s School Code is 001641.
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Submit the FAFSA no later than March 1st of the year for which you are requesting assistance. If you apply after March 1st you are at risk of not receiving many types of Bradley University and state of Illinois financial assistance. For accuracy and ease of application you should submit your federal tax return(s) approximately two weeks prior to completing the FAFSA.
Verification
Verification is a review process in which the Office of Financial Assistance is directed by the Department of Education to determine the accuracy of the information provided on the FAFSA. Applications requiring verification are selected by the Federal processor. Selection may be random or as the result of missing, inconsistent, or seemingly incorrect information. At Bradley about 30-35% of all FAFSA applications are selected for Verification.
If selected, we will notify you (student) and ask that you provide Bradley’s Office of Financial Assistance various documents including a Verification Worksheet.
- A downloadable Verification Worksheet is available here.
You will be asked to send information directly to the university. Generally Bradley completes Verification prior to making a financial assistance award so your initial award will not change. In the unlikely event that your award was made prior to Verification and the information you provide differs from the information reported on your FAFSA, financial aid could be reduced or cancelled. If you have been selected for verification and you have requested a special consideration review, you must complete verification before the review can be considered.
