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Guide for completing the FAFSA for non-US citizen students

While non-US citizens who attend Michigan State may not be eligible for federal grant and loan programs provided through the FAFSA application, some tuition assistance provided by organizations use the results from the FAFSA to help determine a student’s eligibility. This information may be used to determine eligibility for need or merit-based tuition assistance even when the FAFSA is incomplete for federal purposes. MSU students are encouraged to fill out the FAFSA application to ensure potential eligibility for the greatest number of financial aid opportunities.

Identification

  • Only DACA students with a Social Security number (SSN) can fill out the FAFSA. If you have DACA status, you can apply to get an SSN if you don’t have one already.
  • Parents without an SSN should use the number 000-00-0000 when asked for their SSN. Even though non-US citizens often have an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN 00-0000000), they cannot use that in place of an SSN.

Income

  • Students must include income information on the FAFSA about their parents’ income and taxes for the requested period, along with the students own income.
    • DACA students can link to those details directly through the IRS data retrieval tool or manually input the figures.
    • Nontax filing students and parents should report any earnings, tips, or winnings on the FAFSA for the asked reporting period.

Citizenship Questions

  • The FAFSA will ask the student if they are citizen. DACA students and non-US citizens should answer no for that question.
  • The FAFSA will ask for your parents’ SSNs, but it won’t ask if your parents are US citizens.

Signatures

  • DACA students who have an SSN will be able to sign the FAFSA application electronically
  • Parents and students who do not have an SSN will not be able to sign the FAFSA electronically. They will have to print out the signature page of the FAFSA, sign it by hand and mail it to the Federal Student Aid Programs address provided.

School Code

  • Students may select up to as many as 10 schools to send the results of the FAFSA application.
  • The MSU school code is 002290.

What Happens Next?

  • The FAFSA information will be sent to each listed school for consideration of financial aid assistance.
  • The FAFSA application will be considered incomplete, and the school may ask for follow-up documentation.
  • Follow-up with the Office of Financial Aid for next steps and options beyond those offered in any initial estimated financial aid award letter.