Apply for Aid

The financial aid application process varies depending on what type of financial aid you want, your citizenship status, and whether you are a prospective or returning Grinnell student.

Merit Scholarships

Dec. 1 is Grinnell’s priority deadline for merit scholarships. Only the Common Application or the QuestBridge Application must be submitted by this deadline for priority consideration. No separate scholarship application is required. Merit scholarship eligibility is determined based on the application for admission.

Need-Based Financial Aid

*The 2025-26 FAFSA is expected to open to the general public on or before Dec. 1, 2024. Due to its delayed opening, Early Decision I applicants to the College should submit the FAFSA by Jan. 5, 2025. Find more details under “Guidance for Completing FAFSA and CSS Profile” and “How Grinnell Uses the FAFSA” below.

For prospective students, financial aid deadlines correspond with admission deadlines. See below for a step-by-step guide on applying for need-based financial aid at Grinnell College.

How to Apply for Need-Based Financial Aid

The table below provides an overview of what is required to apply for need-based financial aid. Click on the status that applies to you for more information.

 

Returning international and domestic noncitizen students do not reapply for need-based financial aid since their aid is automatically renewed annually.

Consideration for Federal and State Aid Only

Prospective students who submit only the FAFSA will be considered for the following types of financial aid:

• Iowa Tuition Grant
• Federal Pell Grant
• Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant
• Federal Subsidized Direct Loan (if requested)
• Federal Unsubsidized Direct Loan (if requested)
• Federal PLUS Loan (if requested)

Guidance for Completing FAFSA and CSS Profile

The 2025–26 FAFSA and CSS Profile use income from two years prior (2023) for determining need-based aid eligibility. The CSS Profile is available on Oct. 1, 2024, and the FAFSA is expected to be widely available on or before in Dec. 1, 2024.

Due to the FAFSA’s delayed opening, Early Decision I applicants to Grinnell should submit the FAFSA by Jan. 5, 2025; all other requirements are due on Nov. 15, 2024. In the meantime, Grinnell is using the 2025-26 CSS Profile and 2023 tax documents to determine financial aid eligibility for Early Decision I applicants. Financial aid eligibility does not change upon receipt of the FAFSA unless the FAFSA contains information that conflicts with the CSS Profile. If that happens, the Office of Financial Aid will reach out to the applicant to resolve conflicting information.

If you have completed a FAFSA prior to 2024-25, you will notice some changes. Some of the most significant changes are summarized below:

• All contributors to the FAFSA must have an FSA ID to access the form. Contributors without Social Security numbers will be able to set up an FSA ID when the FAFSA becomes available. Keep in mind that the FSA ID can still take up to three days to be verified, so it is a good idea to create the FSA ID well in advance of completing the form. Creating and Using the FSA ID (PDF) and the Federal Student Aid website provide additional guidance. Contributors are also required to set up multi-factor authentication.
• Upon logging in with their FSA ID, each individual will only be presented with questions that pertain to them. For example, dependent students will no longer have access to the parent section of the form and vice versa.
• The IRS Data Retrieval Tool is replaced by Direct Data Exchange. Most income questions on the FAFSA are transferred directly from the IRS via the Direct Data Exchange. If you are a U.S. tax filer, you are not presented with income questions that can be answered with your IRS data.
• If a dependent student’s parents are divorced, separated, or were never married, their custodial parent is now the parent who contributed the most financial support in the past year instead of the parent with whom the student lived the most in the past year. Grinnell will continue to consider both parents’ circumstances when determining institutional financial aid eligibility unless a noncustodial parent waiver is granted.
• The Estimated Family Contribution (EFC) is replaced by the Student Aid Index (SAI). The SAI is the new federal measure to assess ability to pay for college. Grinnell College continues to determine an institutional family contribution for each student based on the College’s own policies and procedures, and each student’s full demonstrated need (the difference between the cost of attendance and family contribution) continues to be met with student employment, grants, and scholarships. The institutionally determined family contribution is unlikely to be the same as the federally determined SAI.

Tax data should come directly from your 2023 federal tax documents. Help text is available in both forms for additional guidance. All contributors to the FAFSA are required to provide consent to share their data with the entities the student indicates (i.e., schools) on the FAFSA. After providing consent, Direct Data Exchange automatically transfers tax information directly from the IRS for most contributors who are U.S. tax filers. If you are not a U.S. tax filer, you must manually enter your income data.

If you are experiencing special or unusual circumstances, please feel free to provide additional information and documentation directly to the Office of Financial Aid using our secure site.

The household size and number in college questions refer to the 2025–26 school year. All other information requested on the CSS Profile and FAFSA, including marital status and assets, should be reported as of the date the application is submitted.

How Grinnell Uses the FAFSA

Grinnell College uses its own need analysis formula guided by institutional policies to determine institutional financial aid eligibility. A key difference between the FAFSA and Grinnell's need analysis approach is that Grinnell continues to consider the number of dependent household members enrolled full time in an undergraduate program when determining institutional need-based aid eligibility. As such, the institutionally determined family contribution is unlikely to be the same as the federally determined SAI.

Grinnell meets the difference between the cost of attendance and an institutionally determined family contribution with financial aid from institutional, state, federal, and private sources. As such, for students receiving institutional need-based financial aid, any change in federal aid eligibility (e.g., Federal Pell Grant) after an initial notification of financial aid eligibility would result in an adjustment to an institutional grant so the total amount of financial aid does not change. In other words, the amount the family is expected to pay would stay the same.