The California Student Aid Commission (CSAC) has not released the Cal Grant Roster telling schools which students' awards are being renewed. For this reason, a Cal Grant has not been included in award offers. Once CSAC has provided this information, and if you are eligible for a Cal Grant, we will send out a revised award offer notification. In the meantime, if your Student Aid Index (SAI) is 7,000 or below, you may have received a State University Grant (SUG) in place of a Cal Grant. If you are Cal Grant eligible, the SUG will be removed and a Cal Grant awarded in its place. You can log into Webgrants 4 Students to monitor your Cal Grant eligibility.
If you have accepted a student loan for the 2023-2024 academic year and have not yet completed a Master Promissory Note or Loan Entrance Counseling for disbursement, your loan will be canceled on June 30, 2024. If you still need to utilize these funds, you have until June 25 to complete the requirements.
If you submitted the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) for the 2024-2025 academic year, you should receive an acknowledgement or To Do List email from our office beginning April 2024. If you submitted the CA Dream Act Application (CADAA) for the 2024-2025 academic year, you should receive an acknowledgement or To Do List email from our office beginning late May 2024.
There may be some To Do List items to complete in the MyFA Forms Portal. If so, you will receive an email notification from our office. Please submit items as soon as possible. Students will be able to complete the majority of their To Do List items and upload required documents through MyFA Forms. We expect to begin reviewing complete files once the Department of Educations (ED) opens up that ability to schools.
New Students
Newly admitted undergraduate students without eligibility issues can expect a 2024-2025 award offer to be viewable in MySSU starting April 2024. Newly admitted graduate students without eligibility issues can expect to view their award offers starting the week of May 13, 2024. Financial aid award offers are based on the current data Sonoma State University has received from the Department of Education (ED). If ED makes any updates to the information your award offer is based on and your financial aid eligibility changes, you will receive a modified award offer sent to your email. Students who have not submitted all of the requested information by July 1, 2024 will have their financial aid award offers canceled. After July 1, 2024, financial aid will be awarded once the To Do List items have been submitted and reviewed.
Continuing Students (including Extended Education)
Award offers for the upcoming academic year will be sent out toward the beginning of June 2024 after all tasks have been completed and reviewed in MyFA Forms, and all To Do List items have disappeared from your MySSU To Do List.
Are you interested in taking a class this summer but you don't know how to pay for it? Taking summer classes is a great way to make up credits, make up a class you may have dropped, or just get ahead in your coursework and completing your degree. Financial aid may be available to help cover some of your costs. For more information on summer financial aid, go to our Summer Financial Aid page.
2024-2025 FAFSA and CADAA Now Available: The 2024-2025 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and California Dream Act Application (CADAA) is now available. The priority deadline is May 2, 2024 For more information go to our FAFSA Simplification webpage.
Starting Spring 2024 there will be a deadline to submit appeals for Satisfactory Academic Status (SAP). Appeals need to be submitted by the published deadline to receive aid for that specific term. For example, SAP Appeals need to be submitted by May 1, 2024 to be eligible to receive financial aid for Spring 2024. You can find more information about this on the Satisfactory Academic Progress page on our website.
The student loan payment pause is ending for those students who are in repayment. This includes students who were in repayment prior to the pandemic, in school at the start of the pandemic or recently graduated. Interest resumes on September 1, and payments are due in October. Borrowers can lower their payments, even to $0, by enrolling in the new SAVE Plan.
Don't wait until a bill arrives in the mail. Be prepared by doing the following:
- Make sure you know which loan servicer is yours.
- Update your contact information in your profile on your loan servicer's website and in your StudentAid.gov account.
- Consider applying for an income-driven repayment (IDR) plan. An IDR plan can make your payment more affordable, depending on your income and family size. The SAVE Plan, which is the most affordable repayment plan ever, is available now. Borrowers who were signed up for REPAYE Plan will automatically be enrolled in the SAVE Plan.
- Review your auto pay enrollment or sign up for the first time to have your monthly payment automatically deducted from your bank account. To do so, log in to your loan servicer's website or contact your loan servicer directly. If you were enrolled in auto pay before the payment pause and would like to resume when payments resume, you need to confirm your auto pay enrollment with your student loan servicer if you haven't done so already.
Details regarding recent student loan forgiveness is located at studentaid.gov on The Biden-Harris Administration's Student Debt Relief Plan Explained webpage.
Filing the FAFSA is FREE. There are companies that may solicit payment from you to file the FAFSA on your behalf, but in most cases this is a waste of your money. If you are asked to give a credit card number or make any kind of payment to complete or file the FAFSA, beware. More information on filing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid can be found in our How to Apply section of our website.
WebGrants4Students is your portal for Cal Grant, Chafee and Middle Class Scholarship awards. The California Student Aid Commission contacts students via email so it is critical that you keep this information current on your WGS account. California residents and AB540 students are potentially eligible for these programs.
