Financial Aid Process

Apply for admission to Governors State University if you are not already an admitted student. We cannot process your financial aid application until you are officially admitted to the university and in a financial aid-eligible program. Please submit your application as soon as possible. 

Note: You can still complete your FAFSA and add our school code even if you have not yet been admitted; however, we will not be able to receive your FAFSA results or create your Award Letter until you have been admitted to the university.

To process your FAFSA, your social security number must be added to your student account. Please contact the Office of Admissions at admission@govst.edu for the steps to edit your personal information. 

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is administered by the U.S. Department of Education. Completing the FAFSA each year is a vital step in making college more affordable, as the FAFSA is your application for financial aid at Governors State University and determines whether you qualify for grants, loans, work-study and some scholarships. 

The FAFSA is available on October 1 each year. You are encouraged to complete your FAFSA as soon as possible to ensure that you are maximizing the amount of aid that you are eligible to receive.

Important Tips:

• Governors State University's school code is 009145. To have your FAFSA data sent to Governors State University, this code must be included on the FAFSA.
• File the FAFSA each year you plan to attend.
• To process your FAFSA, your social security number must be added to your student account. Please contact the Office of Admissions at admission@govst.edu for the steps to edit your personal information.
• You do not have to be admitted to the university to submit the FAFSA.

Before filling out the FAFSA:

• If you do not already have one, create a StudentAid.gov account—and remember your username and password so you can access and submit your FAFSA
• If you are required to add contributors to your FAFSA, you will need to know their full legal name, date of birth, Social Security number (if they have one), and email address to add/invite them. 
• If your parent(s) or spouse will need to contribute to your form, make sure each contributor creates their own StudentAid.gov account. All users/contributors must have an FSA ID and password to fill out the FAFSA, even those without a Social Security Number (SSN).
• If you’re a dependent student, use the Who’s My FAFSA Parent? wizard to identify which parent(s) will be a required contributor on your form.
• Determine your dependency status and whether your parent(s) or spouse will be required to contribute information on your FAFSA form.
• Learn about the documents you may need to fill out the FAFSA form.

Additional Helpful Links:

• Federal Student Aid - Filling Out the FAFSA Form 
• Federal Student Aid - Video Resources
• GovState FAFSA/Alternative Application Information Webpage
• GovState Financial Aid Process Webpage

Please Note: If you are an Illinois resident but are ineligible for federal aid as an undocumented student, you can still apply for state assistance. The Retention of Illinois Students & Equity (RISE) Act became law in January 2020. Find out whether you should complete the Alternative Application for Illinois Financial Aid instead of the FAFSA.

After you submit your FAFSA, the U.S. Department of Education will provide you with your FAFSA Submission Summary. The FAFSA Submission Summary is a paper or electronic document that lists answers to the questions on the student’s FAFSA form and gives basic estimates about the student’s eligibility for federal student aid. It is not a financial aid offer.

If the FAFSA form is complete and processed successfully, a Student Aid Index (SAI) will be included on the FAFSA Submission Summary. The SAI is an index number that colleges and career schools will use to calculate how much financial aid the student is eligible to receive. The SAI is not the amount of money a family will have to pay for college or the amount of federal student aid the student will receive. The SAI is subject to change with updates or corrections to the FAFSA form. Learn how aid is calculated.

Students can view or print their FAFSA Submission Summary by

1. logging in to StudentAid.gov using their FSA ID (account username and password);
2. selecting their processed FAFSA submission from the “My Activity” page, which will bring them to the Status Center “Details” page; and
3. selecting “View FAFSA Submission Summary.”

Typically, the student will be able to access the FAFSA Submission Summary within one to three days of filing the FAFSA form. Learn what to do if the student didn’t receive their FAFSA Submission Summary within one to three days.

The FAFSA Submission Summary is not a financial aid offer. A financial aid offer tells the student what type and amount of financial aid they can receive at a particular college or career school. Most schools will wait to send an aid offer only after they accept the student for admission.

Important: Make sure your FAFSA Submission Summary is correct and complete. If you notice that you need to make a correction, follow these instructions to review and correct your FAFSA. If you have a unique situation, please contact The Office of Financial Aid at faid@govst.edu or 708-534-4480

A Financial Aid Award Offer will be sent to the student. The award letter outlines all financial aid, for which the student is eligible during the academic year. Be sure to monitor your GovState email account for updates and financial aid award notifications.

After receiving your Financial Aid Award Offer, you can review it online through GovState Self-Service, accessible from the myGSU portal. 

If you are planning on borrowing student loans, you need to:

• Accept the loans through your myGSU portal.
• Complete Entrance Counseling at StudentAid.gov
• Complete Master Promissory Note at StudentAid.gov
• Complete the Annual Student Loan Acknowledgment at StudentAid.gov

If you do not want loans, you can reject them through your myGSU portal.

If you want a reduced amount in loans, you can complete the Financial Aid Revision Form.

If there have been significant changes in your family's financial situation since the tax year used on the FAFSA, the Office of Financial Aid & Scholarships may be able to re-evaluate your Student Aid Index (SAI) through the Special Circumstance/Professional Judgment process. If you have a unique situation, please contact The Office of Financial Aid & Scholarships at faid@govst.edu or 708-534-4480.

You might see a note on your FAFSA Submission Summary saying you’ve been selected for verification; or the Office of Financial Aid & Scholarships might contact you to inform you that you’ve been selected. Verification is the process the school uses to confirm that the data reported on your FAFSA form is accurate, and is a federally mandated program to ensure accuracy in the administration of federal financial aid. If you’re selected for verification, your school will request additional documentation that supports the information you reported. 

If you are selected for verification, we will notify you via your university email address if additional documentation is needed to complete your financial aid file. Be sure to submit any requested items promptly. Your financial aid application will be incomplete until all requested verification documents have been submitted.

Examples of additional documentation include student or parent federal taxes, federal w-2’s, child support, untaxed income, etc. This is not an exhaustive list but just some examples. If you are required to provide your taxes, you must provide a signed copy of your IRS 1040 or Tax Return Transcript. For more information on requesting an IRS Transcript visit IRS Get Transcripts. 

Students can upload documentation to the Financial Aid Office directly through the GovState Self-Service platform, accessible from the myGSU portal. 

Important Notes:

• Requested items needed for verification will be listed in the Checklist task in myGSU under financial aid.
• Once verification is complete, your Checklist will be updated.
• Governors State will calculate your financial aid package based on the results that were determined through the verification process. 
• Failure to complete the verification process before the close of the academic year can result in the cancelation and/or return of financial aid funding.

View my award letter