Financial Aid FAQs

Financial aid is assistance provided to students to help cover the costs associated with attending college. This aid can come in the form of grants, scholarships, loans, and work-study opportunities.

To apply for financial aid, you must complete a FAFSA or California Dream Act Application. If you need assistance applying, you can come into our office and get help!

No, you cannot receive aid at more than one college for the same enrollment period. Cypress College does not honor consortium agreement requests from other colleges and universities. However, Cypress College only accepts consortium agreements that list Cypress College as the secondary institution, while the other college/university is listed as the primary (the school that disburses out aid). There is an automatic consortium in place with Fullerton College.

If you are applying for aid or completing your financial aid file, you can wait to pay the fees until you have completed it. You will not be dropped for nonpayment; however, you will receive a hold on your account (will prevent you from being able to register for classes in the future) until the balance is paid.

Cypress College offers one-month winter intersession online classes, and financial aid is available to eligible students. Financial aid is limited to one school per semester. Winter intersession disbursements are considered part of spring semester. Students are ineligible to receive spring aid at another institution if they receive winter disbursement at Cypress College. Find additional information on Financial Aid during winter intersession here.

You should apply as soon as possible once the application opens on October 1 of the prior academic year that you will attend. You must apply for financial aid each academic year.

The priority deadline for financial aid is March 2 each year, which is the Cal Grant priority deadline. However, you may continue to apply for Federal Aid at Cypress College through the end of the academic year provided you are still enrolled. If you plan to take classes in the fall semester at any California college or university, always complete your financial aid application on or before March 2.

Cal Grants are for students pursuing an undergraduate degree or vocational or career training and do not have to be repaid. In addition to meeting the financial criteria and Cal Grant requirements, you must:

• submit verified Cal Grant GPA by the deadline
• be a U.S. citizen or eligible noncitizen or meet AB540 eligibility criteria
• be a California resident for 1 year
• have family income and assets below the minimum level criteria
• be enrolled at least half time
• not be incarcerated

Almost all funds are available to students who attend college at least half-time. Some institutions, however, give preference to full-time students. Some programs are available for less than half-time attendance.

CPOS applies to federal financial aid programs, including the Federal Pell Grant, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG), Federal Direct Loans, and Federal Work-Study.

It also impacts eligibility for state financial aid programs, such as the Cal Grant, Student Success Completion Grant (SSCG), Chafee Grant, and Middle-Class Scholarship.

CPOS does not impact the California College Promise Grant (CCPG).

When we go live, you can log in to MyGateway using your credentials and following the steps below:

• Log in to myGateway.
• Select Student Tools and then Financial Aid.
• Under the Home tab, review your CPOS information to see:
  • Which courses count toward your financial aid.
  • Which courses do not count.

You can also check your CPOS status in DegreeWorks:

• Log in to myGateway.
• Select Shortcuts, then DegreeWorks.
• Enter your student ID number and press Enter.
• Click on the What If audit.
• Review your audit to see which courses apply to your program of study.

Courses that fulfill your major, general education, or required electives typically count toward CPOS. If those requirements are already complete, additional courses may not be eligible for financial aid.

If you believe a course should count toward your program of study but does not, contact the Financial Aid Office to discuss your situation. A Course Program of Study (CPOS) Petition may be needed to determine whether the course can be considered for financial aid eligibility.

After you register for classes, you will be notified that your Course Program of Study (CPOS) Audit is available on myGateway. Review your audit to see whether your enrolled courses count toward your program of study and make any necessary changes before the financial aid freeze date.

Your CPOS audit will run weekly until the freeze date. If you change your major, add or drop a class, or make other enrollment changes, your audit will run again, and your financial aid eligibility may change.

It is important to finalize your class schedule before the financial aid freeze date, as your enrollment on that date will determine your eligibility for the federal and state financial aid programs. Be sure to review the Financial Aid Disbursement Schedule for each term’s freeze date.

Review your DegreeWorks audit to see how your courses apply toward your program of study and identify any courses that may not count for financial aid eligibility.

We recommend meeting with an academic counselor to ensure your education plan and major are up to date and that you are enrolled in courses required for your program of study at Cypress College.

While you may take courses for transfer, career, or other goals, financial aid eligibility requires that courses apply to your declared program of study. A counselor can help you review your options and make any necessary schedule adjustments.

Your Federal and state financial aid will be adjusted based on courses that apply to your program of study. Courses that do not meet CPOS requirements may still be covered by the CCPG fee waiver if you are eligible.

Major changes are processed through Admissions & Records. Students are required to submit a “Personal Information/Major Change Request” form. It is also advisable for students to schedule an academic counseling appointment prior to requesting a major change.

Your enrollment at the financial aid freeze date will determine your aid eligibility. Major changes made after the freeze date will be considered for the next term.

After the freeze date, your aid eligibility can be adjusted for no-shows, official withdrawals, or unofficial withdrawals. Review our Policies, Appeals, and Important Information for details.

Yes. If you are enrolled in an eligible program, English as a Second Language (ESL) courses count toward federal financial aid eligibility. 

If your program lists specific electives, only those courses will count. If your program does not have a specific list, any degree-applicable course may count as an elective, if there is still room in your program for additional elective units.

A degree typically requires 60 units. If you have already fulfilled all major preparation and general education (GE) requirements, there may not be room for additional electives. However, if space is available, those courses will count toward your program and may be considered for your financial aid eligibility.

Only courses in your program of study count for financial aid. However, even if you are not enrolled full-time, you may still be eligible for federal and state aid programs that generally require a minimum of six units, such as the Pell Grant, loans, Federal Work-Study, Cal Grant, and Chafee Grant.

For example, if you only have six units remaining to graduate, those six units will be the only ones to count towards most federal and state eligibility.

You may also receive the California College Promise Grant (CCPG) fee waiver, if eligible, which will continue to waive your enrollment fees for any course.

First, confirm that your program of study and catalog year are correct in DegreeWorks. If the information is accurate and a course is still not counting, submit a CPOS Petition to the Financial Aid Office.

You must obtain counselor approval and have the course added to your Comprehensive Student Education Plan (CSEP) before submitting the petition. The Financial Aid Office will review the request and determine if the course can count toward your financial aid eligibility.

If at least 12 units count toward your program of study, you are still considered full-time for financial aid purposes and can receive full eligibility for federal and state grants based on 12-unit enrollment.

However, for programs like the Student Success Completion Grant (SSCG), which awards the full $4,000 for 15 or more program of study units, you will not receive the full amount. In this example, only 12 eligible units count, so your SSCG award for the term would be $1,298, assuming you are Cal Grant eligible, meet all other grant requirements, and funding is still available.

The 3 units that do not apply toward your program of study may still have enrollment fees waived through the California College Promise Grant (CCPG), if you are eligible. However, those units will not be counted toward other financial aid programs, such as the Pell Grant, Cal Grant, or SSCG at the higher award level.

Before the semester starts: Speak with a counselor. You may want to drop the classes that don’t count and enroll in ones that do or discuss whether you are eligible to submit a CPOS petition.

After the semester starts and at the freeze date: Your financial aid will be adjusted for the classes that don’t count, and you will be locked in for the units that are eligible for your program of study. However, if you are eligible, the California College Promise Grant (CCPG) will still cover your fees for the other classes.

You will not be considered for other financial aid besides the California College Promise Grant (CCPG). If you don’t qualify, you can use a Payment Plan to make college more affordable.

If you want to receive financial aid in future terms, be sure to maintain your GPA and class completion rate, or you may lose eligibility. Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) will still evaluate all cumulative coursework, regardless of whether the units count toward your program of study or if financial aid was received.

Yes, if they are required for your program of study. A prerequisite can fulfill a general education area, major preparation, or elective requirement.

Prerequisites can also be considered remedial courses for financial aid purposes. If a class does not fulfill one of the areas above, you can receive financial aid for only up to 30 units of these types of courses (including any remedial or preparatory courses from all colleges you’ve attended).

If you have not reached the regulatory limit for payment of remedial courses for 30 semester units, they may be included.

In some cases, a prerequisite may be classified as remedial if it could not otherwise fit into your program of study. Depending on how your degree audit reflects the course, you may need to submit a CPOS petition.

Yes, if they are required for your Cypress College program of study on file with Admissions and Records. However, if the course does not fulfill a requirement in your program, the units will not count toward your financial aid eligibility. All courses may still be covered by the California College Promise Grant (CCPG) fee waiver, if you are eligible.

You may meet with a counselor and submit a CPOS petition, but there is no guarantee it will be approved if there is no documentation showing that the course is required for your program of study at Cypress College.

If you are participating in a specialized program, it is important to meet that program’s enrollment and participation requirements. CPOS is a financial aid requirement and may be different from the enrollment requirements of other campus programs or support services. For example, you may be enrolled in 12 units, but only 9 units may count toward your financial aid Program of Study. This does not necessarily mean you are no longer meeting the enrollment requirements of another program. Be sure to check with each program or support service directly to confirm that you are meeting all its specific requirements. 

Yes, you can appeal. To do so, you must initiate a CPOS petition with the Financial Aid Office. The petition requires a counselor’s signature and documentation verifying that the course(s) in question are part of your program of study at Cypress College. 

The petition must be submitted before the freeze date and must include an updated education plan showing the course(s) as part of your program. 

We expect a high volume of petitions, so while all submissions must be made before the freeze date, processing may occur afterward due to the anticipated number of requests. 

If you are waitlisted for a course, it will not be reviewed for CPOS eligibility until you are officially enrolled. You must register for the course before the financial aid freeze date for it to be evaluated and potentially count toward your financial aid eligibility. 

To know if you will receive financial aid, students can look at their Financial Aid Offer. For each academic year the student applies for financial aid, they will receive a Financial Aid Offer. This letter will outline the financial aid you may be eligible to receive. Most financial aid grants are typically accepted on your behalf, unless stated otherwise.

You can check your financial aid status in myGateway. Log into myGateway. Once you are on your myGateway dashboard, click “Student Tools” under the “Tools” section on the left-hand side. This will take you over to WebStar. On the WebStar main menu click on “Financial Aid.” Next, click on “My Overall Status of Financial Aid.”

You can always come into the office or call us to check on your financial aid status. Our office hours are listed on the main Financial Aid page.

Each semester Financial Aid has a disbursement schedule. If your financial aid file is complete and you are in good SAP standing, then BankMobile will receive your first disbursement the first Friday of the semester. If your BankMobile preference is set to deposit to another bank account, you will receive the disbursement within two business days.

If you have already completed your financial aid application and file, check the Student Success checklist in myGateway.

Access this by:

• Clicking on “CC Tools” in the navigation bar in myGateway
• Clicking on “Charger Experience”

If you have questions regarding your checklist, please contact the Charger Experience Team. If your financial aid file is incomplete, you may need to complete additional required documentation through our online software called Student Forms.

If your income (or your spouse’s or parent’s) or employment has been impacted or you have a special circumstance related to your income that the financial aid office should be aware of, you may be able to request an appeal to use your more recent income.

This appeal is called a Professional Judgement Appeal. The purpose of this appeal process is to evaluate any special circumstances that may have impacted the amount or type of aid a student may be eligible to receive. These decisions happen on a case-by-case basis. Students will need to complete verification prior to completing a Professional Judgement Appeal.

Before you request an appeal, log in to the Student Forms website and check to make sure you’ve completed verification. If you have not yet completed Verification, and do not see that option when you log in, please contact your designated Financial Aid Technician.

How to request the appeal:

Once we have received your financial aid application, you may request the appeal by logging in on the platform and clicking the blue “Manage Request” button at the upper right corner and select “Professional Judgement: Special Circumstance – EFC/SAI Appeal.”

You will need to provide a brief explanation of your situation and upload supporting documentation.

Please note that any student requesting an Income Adjustment Appeal will need to complete verification before their appeal can be processed.

Once all information is complete and submitted, your Financial Aid Technician will review and may request additional clarification or items if needed in order to complete the appeal.

Yes, students on financial aid warning are provided ONE semester to improve their academic performance before being disqualified for financial aid. Students who have exceeded the maximum timeframe are automatically disqualified and do not receive a warning semester.

Students may select an Excused Withdrawal (EW) with a refund via myGateway. For Financial Aid purposes, EW’s are treated similarly to a Withdrawal (W) from a class and will impact your Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP).* Receiving an EW will directly impact the completion rate portion of your SAP since you attempted the class and did not complete it. For more information on how your SAP is calculated, please review the SAP link provided above.

Students who are disqualified due to SAP, whether it is because of GPA below 2.0, completion rate below 67%, and/or reaching the maximum timeframe, are encouraged to submit an SAP appeal. COVID-19 extenuating circumstances can be considered via an SAP appeal if they happened during spring 2022 and after. Please see our Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy page for more information about (SAP).

*Important note: Cypress College has a COVID-19 SAP exemption for W and EW grades earned during the spring 2020 semester through end of fall 2021. W and EW grades earned during the exemption period are excluded from the 67% completion Rate and Maximum Timeframe calculations. W and EW grades earned before or after the exemption period will still count against you when SAP is calculated.

If you are applying for aid or completing your financial aid file, you can wait to pay the fees until you have completed it. You will not be dropped for nonpayment; however, you will receive a hold on your account (will prevent you from being able to register for classes in the future) until the balance is paid.

If you qualify for the CCPG (fee waiver) after you’ve already paid for your enrollment fees, you will receive a reimbursement check in the mail from the Bursar’s office. Each semester, refunds are processed automatically after the last day to drop classes with a refund (this usually is around the same date as the financial aid freeze date). If any issue arises and you do not receive your refund, please check directly with the Bursar’s office.

Please ensure that your mailing address is up-to-date in myGateway.

There could be several reasons why your California College Promise Grant (CCPG) hasn’t posted:

• You haven’t submitted a FAFSA/CADAA application for the current academic year.
• You forgot to add Cypress to your FAFSA or CADAA.
• The class(es) you registered for are at Fullerton College – if this is the case, you just need to add Fullerton to your FAFSA or CADAA and resubmit so that they can post the CCPG for you.
• If you see an “F” next to a course number, that is a Fullerton course. (Ex: Math 40 F)
• If you see a “C” next to a course number, that is a Cypress course. (Ex: Math 40 C)
• You have been disqualified. Get information on the standards and how to regain eligibility here.

Please note for summer registration: The CCPG posts to eligible student accounts within 48 hours after the student registers for a summer course. Students will not be dropped for nonpayment while waiting for the CCPG to post to their account.

The California College Promise Grant (CCPG) fee waiver works a bit differently during the summer session in regards to timing: Your CCPG will post and waive your enrollment fees within 48 hours after registering for any summer course IF you are eligible to receive the award. Please note that students will not be dropped for nonpayment. A hold will be placed on a student’s account until the balance is paid off, but will not be dropped from their courses. The CCPG only covers enrollment fees. Log in to your myGateway account after the CCPG posts to pay your remaining balance online.

It is necessary to provide your Social Security number on the FAFSA. If you do not yet have a number, you should contact your Social Security Administration office to obtain one. It is required before you can be considered for any Federal student aid program. The FAFSA will be returned unprocessed if the student’s Social Security number is blank. (This only applies to the FAFSA, not the CA Dream Act Application).

There could be several reasons why we’re unable to award or disburse your Cal Grant. One or more of these may apply, please read through all six items carefully to ensure you have completed all necessary items that apply to you. Students should create a WebGrants 4 Students account to complete the steps below, if you haven’t already done so. If you have issues creating your account, please contact CSAC. If you are eligible for a Cal Grant, you should receive an updated Financial Aid Offer letter. 

1. Confirm Your School of Attendance: 

• Log into WebGrants 4 Students. 
• Click the “To-Do” button under your Cal Grant Award Status. 
• Confirm the listed college or update it if incorrect. If the new school isn’t on your FAFSA/Dream Act Application, you’ll need to add it. 
• Once confirmed, your information will be processed within two weeks. 

2. Confirm High School Graduation Date: 

• Log into WebGrants 4 Students. 
• Click the “To-Do” button to confirm your graduation month and year. 
• Once confirmed, your information will be updated in about two weeks. 

3. Confirm If You Have Dependents: 

• Log into WebGrants 4 Students. 
• If selected for the Cal Grant for Students with Dependents (SWD), certify your dependent status. 
• Even if you don’t have dependents, you must confirm by selecting “No” and submitting. 
• Your information will update within two weeks. 

4. Ineligible Major: 

• Cal Grant B requires enrollment in a program of 30+ units. If you’re in a certificate program under 30 units, update your major to an associate degree with Admissions if it’s incorrect. 
• If eligible, you may qualify for Cal Grant C for certificate programs. 

5. Complete Cal Grant C Supplemental Form: 

• If awarded Cal Grant C, complete the form in WebGrants 4 Students. This applies to students pursuing associate degrees or certificates in vocational or technical programs. 
• After submission, your information updates within two to three weeks. 

6. Enrolled in Late-Start Classes: 

• Cal Grant requires you to be enrolled in at least 6 units by the freeze date. 
• If any units are late-start, your award won’t be disbursed until you’re actively attending enough courses to meet the 6-unit requirement. 

Make sure to check your WebGrants 4 Students account for updates and take the necessary actions to avoid delays. 

If you are eligible for Pell grant funds, you can wait for your Pell grant to pay out (see disbursement schedule) and you will be required to pay the remaining balance. You will not be dropped for nonpayment, but you will have a hold on your account until the balance is fully paid off. If you do not want the hold on your account, you can contact the Financial Aid Office to request a Non-Resident Fee Deferment Form, however, you will need to pay the remaining balance up front.

No! Financial Aid is intended both to remove financial barriers for families who cannot afford the cost of an education beyond high school and to fill the gap for families who can afford only part of the cost. Some loans and scholarships are available regardless of “need.”

The circumstances in your neighbor’s family may be different than they appear, and home equity is not used to determine eligibility for Federal Aid. What doesn’t necessarily show are other factors, such as some debts or family size, which can affect the computation of the family contribution.

If you use the FAFSA to apply for Federal Student Aid funds and provide false information, you are subject to fines and/or imprisonment under the U.S. Criminal Code. State and local laws may also apply in such cases.

If you are selected for verification, Federal law and regulations require us to collect tax information. If you fail to comply with a request for any forms or documentation from the Financial Aid Office, we will discontinue processing your application for aid until we receive the required information.

You may apply for financial aid at the same time you apply for admission. You must enroll in college before you can receive any funds.