The Financial Aid Office at Wharton County Junior College operates with the goal of providing students with financial assistance through scholarships, grants, loans, and on-campus employment (Work-Study).  Every student should apply for financial aid, and the Financial Aid staff is here to help!

The school code for all WCJC campuses is 003668.  Students should monitor important dates and start early completing financial aid requirements.

FAFSA applications for academic years 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 are open for completion!  For academic semesters Spring 2021 and Summer 2021, complete the 2020-2021 FAFSA.  For academic semesters Fall 2021, Spring 2022, and Summer 2022, complete the 2021-2022 FAFSA.

5 Steps to Financial Aid

Step 1:  Complete and submit your application to WCJC through Apply Texas using these steps.

Step 2:  Create an FSA ID.  This username and password is your key to the Federal Student Aid's online systems, so write it down and keep it safe!  The FSA ID video describes the steps to set up your FSA ID.

Step 3:  Log in to studentaid.gov to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).  You will provide income data for the prior-prior year, so for the 2020-2021 academic year, you will need to provide data from the 2018 federal income tax return.  For the 2021-2022 academic year, you will provide data from your 2019 tax return.  The FAFSA tutorial video can help you through the online application.

• Your dependency status determines whose information you must report on the FAFSA.  If you are a dependent student, you'll need both your parents' information and your own.  Independent students will only need to provide information for themselves.  
• To complete the FAFSA, you are highly encouraged to use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool (DRT) to transfer tax return information directly from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).  Using this tool will cut down on errors and will result in a much faster processing time for your financial aid award.  The IRS Data Retrieval Tool video explains this retrieval method in more detail. 

Step 4:  Monitor your financial aid status by checking your Online Services account. 

If the Department of Education chooses your file for verification, you may be required to submit additional documentation to the WCJC Financial Aid Office in order to continue the processing of your aid. More information about the types of documents that may be required can be found at Financial Aid Forms.

The Financial Aid Office will also communicate with you through postal mail, so it is important to notify the Office of Admissions and Registration of any changes to your mailing address.

Financial aid eligibility is determined for only one year at a time. Students must complete steps 3 and 4 prior to every year of enrollment.  Processing of a financial aid application takes about 3 weeks. 

Step 5:  Apply for scholarships!  Through the generosity of donors, WCJC students have the opportunity to apply for several scholarships. This "gift aid" helps students achieve their educational goals at less personal cost.