Applying for Financial Aid

Federal Student Aid and the FAFSA

Many students will need to apply for Federal Student Aid to assist in financing their South Dakota Mines education. The first step in applying for federal financial aid is to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). South Dakota Mines does not use a priority awarding date for filing the FAFSA, but students and parents are encouraged to complete the FAFSA as soon as possible after October 1 prior to the academic year that attendance at South Dakota Mines will begin (for example: complete the 2025-2026 FAFSA as soon as possible after October 1, 2024). Early submission of your FAFSA may improve (but in no way guarantees) your opportunity to be offered Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG) and/or Federal Work-Study. All other Federal Aid Programs at South Dakota Mines (Pell Grant, Subsidized and Unsubsidized Direct Loans, Direct Parent PLUS Loan and Direct GRAD PLUS loan) are awarded without consideration of when a student files their FAFSA.  

1. Check out this video from Federal Student Aid: How to Fill Out the FAFSA Form.
2. Get a Federal Student Aid FSA ID at https://studentaid.gov/fsa-id/create-account/launch. All students who do not already have a FSA ID, as well as one parent for dependent students, are required to apply for their own FSA ID. This will be used as an electronic signature on the online FAFSA. (If you lose or forget your FSA ID, you can go to the FSA ID website and request that it be sent to you again.)

   Then:

3. Go to https://fafsa.gov to submit your application online. Though pdf and paper options are available on the FAFSA web site, we strongly recommend applying online.
4. Our school code for the FAFSA is 003470.

Award Start Dates

In order to be offered federal aid of any kind, students must have been fully accepted for admission to South Dakota Mines.

The tentative date for informing incoming freshman of their Federal Student Aid award is in March (all other students are awarded following the spring semester) and on a rolling basis thereafter. However, depending on when the South Dakota Board of Regents meet following the state legislative session in order to set Tuition, Fee, Room and Board rates for the coming year, the start date for awarding may be earlier or later.  Processing of aid offers for continuing and transfer students begins in early June after spring grades have been finalized and Federal Student Aid Satisfactory Academic Progress is evaluated. Aid offers will be processed when your financial aid file is considered complete and ready for aid packaging.

Verification

Your application for Federal Student Financial Aid may be selected by the U.S. Department of Education or South Dakota Mines for review in a process called “verification,” which is a systematic means of comparing various financial and informational documents with the FAFSA information you provided. Find information on Verification here.

Finalizing Your Financial Aid Award

If you decide to accept some or all of the financial aid options offered to you, then the next steps you need to take are detailed on our Finalizing Financial Aid webpage.