In order to conserve financial and natural resources, the Office of Financial Aid no longer issues paper award letters for returning students. Notification of financial aid decisions will be sent to students' Colgate e-mail accounts.
All U.S. citizens and eligible noncitizens* receiving financial aid must reapply annually in order to continue to be considered for assistance. Students who have not previously received financial aid are welcome to apply as well. Unless the Office of Financial Aid informs you otherwise, application requirements are as follows:
1.) CSS PROFILE
The CSS PROFILE is completed and submitted online at www.collegeboard.com/profile by April 1st. If you completed the PROFILE electronically last year, your user ID and password will be valid for this year’s application as well. Colgate’s code for the PROFILE is 2086.
Please use the "Explanations/Special Circumstances" section of the PROFILE to provide information about any special circumstances about which you feel the Office of Financial Aid should be aware.
Noncustodial PROFILE (if applicable)
Information must be provided by each living biological or adoptive parent. If your biological or adoptive parents are divorced, separated, or were never married to each other, then the custodial parent (i.e., the parent with whom you more often reside) completes the PROFILE, and the noncustodial parent completes the Noncustodial PROFILE. The Noncustodial PROFILE process begins after completion of the custodial parent's PROFILE. Filing instructions will be provided by CSS electronically.
2.) Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)
The FAFSA is completed and submitted online at www.fafsa.ed.gov after January 1st and before April 1st. Parent(s) and student must have a U.S. Department of Education PIN. The federal PIN is your electronic signature. Students who have previously received federal financial aid were issued a PIN by the U.S. Department of Education. At least one parent must also have a PIN. If you do not have a PIN or have forgotten it, you may apply for a new PIN by visiting www.pin.ed.gov. Colgate's code for the FAFSA is 002701.
3.) Tax Returns
In order to be considered for financial aid, you and your parent(s) are required by April 1st to submit current tax documents to the College Board's IDOC imaging service. This submission must be accompanied by an IDOC Cover Sheet, which the College Board will make available to you once you have completed your PROFILE. If you misplace your Cover Sheet, you can print a copy from https://idoc.collegeboard.com/idoc/index.jsp. The following documents are required:
4.) Verification of Child Support Received (if applicable)
If your biological or adoptive parents are divorced, separated, or were never married to each other, and your noncustodial parent provides Child Support payments to your custodial parent, then your custodial parent should complete a Child Support Verification Statement. The completed form should then be sent directly to the Office of Financial Aid.
Your financial aid application will only be reviewed once all required documents have been received. Providing false information in order to obtain financial aid will result in the cancellation of any aid.
* Generally, you are an eligible noncitizen if you fall into one of the categories noted here. If you are neither a citizen nor an eligible noncitizen, please visit our web pages for returning students who are Canadian Citizens or International (Non-Canadian) Citizens.