FAQ

Q How Do I Get Financial Aid?

Complete the FAFSA every year and list our school code, 004508, listed as University of Colorado Denver/Anschutz. Then watch your To Do List in UCDAccess for anything else we need. Apply for Aid walks through every step.

Q When Should I Apply?

The FAFSA opens by Oct. 1 each year and covers the fall, spring and summer that follow. It uses tax information from two years earlier: the 2027-2028 FAFSA covers fall 2027 through summer 2028 and asks for 2025 taxes.

Some aid is offered first come, first served, so apply early.

If you start in spring or summer, you need two FAFSAs: the current year's for your first spring and summer, and the next year's for the fall after. See Important Dates for the full timeline.

Q What Is an FSA ID?

Your FSA ID is the username and password you use to sign in to StudentAid.gov, sign your FAFSA and sign your loan documents. Anyone who contributes information to your FAFSA needs their own.

Q What Should I Have Ready Before I Start the FAFSA?

The Preparing for the FAFSA video series from Federal Student Aid lists the information and documents to gather first.

Q What Forms Do I Need to Finish My Application?

Once your FAFSA reaches your student record, check the To Do List in UCDAccess. It lists every document we still need. Next year's FAFSA reaches your record in January. If you file during the school year, check about a week after you submit. The forms themselves are on our Forms page.

Q Am I an Independent Student?

Graduate and professional students are independent on the FAFSA. You are also independent if you are 24 or older, married, supporting a child or other dependent for more than half of their support, serving on active duty for purposes other than training, or a veteran. See Dependency Status for the full list.

Q What Is the FAFSA Submission Summary?

It is the summary of the information you reported on your FAFSA, and it replaced the old Student Aid Report. Check it for mistakes. If something is wrong, log back in to your FAFSA and correct it.

Q What Is the Cost of Attendance?

Your cost of attendance is our estimate of a year of your program. It has two parts. Billed to Your Account covers tuition and fees. Estimated, Not Billed covers housing and food; books, course materials, supplies and equipment; transportation; health care; and personal costs.

We use the Colorado Department of Higher Education's budget guidelines for the estimated costs.

Q What Is the Student Aid Index?

The Student Aid Index (SAI) is a number calculated from your FAFSA that we use to decide how much federal aid you qualify for. The Federal Student Aid Estimator can estimate yours.

Q How Is Financial Need Calculated?

Your cost of attendance minus your Student Aid Index. Need decides your eligibility for grants, work-study and need-based loans such as the Subsidized Direct Loan for undergraduates and the Medical Center Student Loan for professional students.

Q How Much Aid Will I Get?

It depends on your FAFSA information, the funds available and our awarding policy. See How Aid Is Awarded. UCDAccess does not keep old versions of your offer, so save a copy each time it changes.

Q How Many Classes Do I Need to Take?

At least half time: six credit hours for undergraduates, three for graduate students and five for health professional students. The Colorado Graduate Grant requires at least four credit hours.

Q Why Is My Aid Less Than Last Year?

Your FAFSA uses tax information from two years earlier, and that can change from year to year. Changes in the funding the university receives can also change your offer, and applying late can mean missing need-based aid you would otherwise have received.

Q Why Was My Aid Reduced After I Got My Offer?

Federal rules do not let your aid exceed your financial need or your cost of attendance. When it does, it is called an overaward, and we have to reduce your aid to correct it. Tell us about any scholarship, grant or other help that is not already on your offer.

Q I Am Transferring. What Do I Do?

Coming to CU Anschutz: add our school code, 004508, listed as University of Colorado Denver/Anschutz, to your FAFSA and cancel any aid at your previous school.

Leaving CU Anschutz: tell us so we can cancel your aid here, and ask your new school's financial aid office how to apply.

Q Is There Aid for International Students?

Contact International Admissions for options.

Q When Will I Receive My Aid?

Aid pays out about a week before your semester starts. Your academic calendar lists the first day. The full timing rules are on Disbursement and Refunds.

Q How Do I Know If All My Aid Has Paid?

Your account in UCDAccess lists the aid that has paid. Compare it with your offer. If something has not paid, check your To Do List for missing items, or follow the steps on Help and Resources.

Q Will I Get a Refund?

Whatever is left after your university bill is paid goes to you from the Bursar's Office: by direct deposit if you have set it up, or by paper check to the mailing address in UCDAccess. Paper checks are mailed once a week, from an off-campus location. Questions about your refund go to the Bursar's Office.

Q Why Hasn't My Aid Paid?

The most common reasons:

1 You are not registered, or not for enough credits. Most aid requires at least half time, and the Pell Grant adjusts to your enrollment. 2 This is your first loan at CU Anschutz and you have not finished entrance counseling and your Master Promissory Note at StudentAid.gov. 3 Your scholarship requires full-time enrollment, or the donor has not sent the money yet.

If an outside donor has sent your scholarship, tell us the donor's name, the amount, the address it was mailed to and the date.

Q What If I Drop a Class During Add/Drop After My Refund?

Your Pell Grant (undergraduates only) may be adjusted, your cost of attendance drops to match the lower tuition and your loans may be reduced. Watch your university account for a bill and pay it right away to avoid a service charge. You must stay at least half time to keep most Direct Loans, PLUS Loans and private loans.

Q What If I Drop a Class After Add/Drop?

Your cost of attendance and aid usually do not change, but the course gets a W grade, which can affect your Satisfactory Academic Progress.

Q What If I Drop All My Classes?

We are required to calculate how much federal aid you must return, and whether any state and university aid must be returned too. Talk to us before you drop, and read Impacts of Withdrawing.

Q What Is the Difference Between Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans?

On a Subsidized Loan, the government pays the interest while you are in school, for six months after you leave and during deferment. Only undergraduates with financial need qualify.

On an Unsubsidized Loan, interest starts when the loan pays out. About four weeks later, your loan servicer sends a statement with your rate, the amount borrowed and its contact information. Keep it.

Subsidized Loans first paid out between July 1, 2012, and July 1, 2014 do build interest during the grace period.

Q How Do I Accept Only Some of My Loans?

Follow the steps on Accept Your Aid.

Q Why Do I Have to Do Entrance Counseling and a Master Promissory Note?

The U.S. Department of Education requires both before your first Direct Loan at CU Anschutz, and you complete them at StudentAid.gov. Counseling covers your rights, interest, repayment and what happens if you default. The Master Promissory Note is your legal promise to repay. You sign it with the same FSA ID you used for your FAFSA. See Loan Requirements.

Q Can I Increase My Direct Loans?

We offer up to your annual limit, as long as your total aid stays within your cost of attendance. Loans cannot go above the annual limit. If you accepted less than you were offered, send the Loan Adjustment Form from our Forms page to request the rest.

Q Why Hasn't My Direct Loan Paid?

1 You must be enrolled at least half time. 2 You must finish entrance counseling and your Master Promissory Note at StudentAid.gov.

Q Why Hasn't a PLUS Loan Paid?

Grad PLUS ended for new borrowers on July 1, 2026. If you borrowed it before then, you must be enrolled at least half time and have finished entrance counseling and the Master Promissory Note. See Federal Loan Updates.

For an undergraduate's Parent PLUS Loan, the student must be enrolled at least half time, and the parent must complete the PLUS application and Master Promissory Note at StudentAid.gov using the parent's own FSA ID.

Q Where Can I See All of My Federal Loans?

Log in to StudentAid.gov. It lists every federal loan from every school you have attended.

Q Why Do I Need Exit Counseling?

The U.S. Department of Education requires exit counseling when you graduate, leave or drop below half time. It gives you your servicer's contact information, where to send payments and your repayment and consolidation options. Institutional loan borrowers find exit counseling on Student Debt Management.

Q When Will My Private Loan Pay Out?

After we certify it and your lender processes it, ask your lender when the money will be released. It reaches your university account about three days after release, and the Bursar sends you anything left after your bill is paid. Federal law gives you a window to cancel a private loan after you receive its final disclosure; your lender's disclosure lists the deadline. See Applying for Private Loans.

Q Why Hasn't My Institutional Loan Paid?

1 You must be enrolled at least half time. 2 You must finish the entrance counseling and promissory note listed on Student Debt Management.

i A Refund From Loans Is Borrowed Money

Money refunded to you after your bill is paid usually comes from your loans. You repay it with interest, so it ends up costing more than you received. Borrow only what you need to cover your cost of attendance.

i Aid Covers More Than Tuition

Your aid can pay for every education-related cost, including housing, food, transportation and personal expenses. Count all of them when you decide how much to accept.

i Each Kind of Aid Comes With Its Own Terms

Grants such as the Pell Grant do not have to be repaid as long as you meet attendance and academic standards. Work-study is earned through a job. Loans must be repaid after you leave school.

i You Repay More Than You Borrow

Interest builds on many loans while you are still in school, and it keeps building after you leave until the loan is paid off or forgiven. Borrowing $20,000 means repaying more than $20,000.

i Loans Count as Financial Aid

Federal loans are part of your aid offer because they reduce what you would otherwise pay out of pocket. For help managing what you borrow, see Money Matters.

Q How Do I Find Scholarships?

Most CU Anschutz scholarships come from the schools and colleges, and each runs its own scholarship process. Check with yours:

1 School of Dental Medicine 2 School of Medicine 3 College of Nursing 4 Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences 5 Colorado School of Public Health

Q When Will I Know If I Got a Scholarship?

The donor or your program notifies you in writing. If you applied to your school or program, ask them when they notify applicants.

Q I Got a Scholarship From Outside CU. What Do I Do?

Tell us about any scholarship, grant or other aid that is not on your offer. Tell the donor you are attending CU Anschutz and ask them to send payment to the Financial Aid & Scholarships Office. Scholarships from your own program also come to us, and we usually process them in the second month of the semester.

Q Is My Scholarship Renewable?

Most scholarships are one-time awards. Your award letter says if yours renews. If you are not sure, ask the donor or the program that awarded it.

Q My Income Is Lower Now Than on My FAFSA. What Can I Do?

We review special circumstances one student at a time. Send the forms listed there, or contact us to see if you qualify.

For graduate and professional students, a review can change your loan eligibility, not grants.

Q How Long Does an Income Review Take?

Up to six weeks. We review throughout the year, but the final deadline to appeal is 45 days before the last day of the semester. All appeal decisions are final.

University funds for approved requests run out by Nov. 15 for fall, April 15 for spring and July 15 for summer. After those dates, an approved request cannot add university aid, so apply early.

Q How Do I Get a Work-Study Job?

You need a work-study award first. Complete your FAFSA and send the Work-Study Authorization Form from our Forms page. Once you are awarded, find openings on the Handshake job board, and when you are hired, complete the forms listed under Student Employment Policies.

Q Am I Eligible?

Work-study is based on financial need and our awarding policy, and it is offered first come, first served. Your total aid cannot exceed your cost of attendance, so your loans may be reduced to make room for a work-study award. If you already accepted all of your aid, contact us to reduce a loan.

Q How Many Hours Can I Work?

Up to 25 hours a week while classes are in session (20 is recommended), and up to 40 hours a week during breaks, within the amount of your award. Plan a schedule with your supervisor so your award lasts the whole year.

Q Where Do I Find Other Student Employment Answers?

The Student Employment site has the full handbook.