FAFSA - Everything you need to know

Yes! Many families mistakenly assume that they do not qualify for aid and miss out on financial aid opportunities offered by the U.S. Department of Education, their state, and/or college. The FAFSA is a free application that will facilitate your qualification for as much aid as possible while you explore different financial aid offers. Contrary to popular belief, there is no such thing as a FAFSA income “cut-off”.

The FAFSA also serves as an application to be qualified for federal direct loans each year. Information concerning your qualification and about how to accept or decline federal direct loans will be available in your MyBerry Student Portal at myportal.berry.edu or at financialaid.berry.edu if you are a returning student. If accepting your loans, your student portal will list a description and link to the mandatory counseling and documents available for completion at studentaid.gov.

Incoming students are encouraged to submit a FAFSA application, available in December, as early as possible in order to receive maximum consideration for financial aid assistance. The Berry general priority deadline for filing the FAFSA is February 15 — if applying for Signature Scholarships, your FAFSA should be submitted by January 15.

Students who seek to be qualified only for Berry Academic or other merit scholarships do not need to file a FAFSA.

Students who do not file a FAFSA but would like to be qualified for and receive state of Georgia aid must file the GSFAPPS: Georgia HOPE and Zell Miller Scholarship Grant Application & Georgia Tuition Equalization Grant Application. This one-time application is available at Gafutures.org.

If your family's situation has changed due to special or unusual circumstances, please contact the Office of Financial Aid so that we can guide you through the process of requesting a review of your financial aid application based on said circumstances. This review is known as Professional Judgment and may lead to the adjustment of certain data elements of the FAFSA. Financial aid administrators exercise Professional Judgment determinations based on supportive documentation provided by the student and on a case-by-case basis.

• Special circumstances may include the involuntary loss of a job or atypical medical expenses not covered by insurance.
• Unusual circumstances relating to the student's dependency status based on a unique situation may qualify the student for a dependency override.

You may submit your financial aid related documents securely via our Financial Aid Document Upload Portal, available through the student portal. Once you log in, click ‘Finances’ and navigate to the ‘Financial Aid’ page.  Each item with a status of “Not Received” or 'Requires Resubmission' will need to be resolved before the verification process of your information may begin.

Click here for more information about the Financial Aid Document Upload Portal

Because of the sensitive nature of the information requested, please do not e-mail documents. If needed, you may mail documents to our office at the following address.

Berry College Office of Financial Aid
2277 Martha Berry Hwy
Mount Berry GA 30149-5007

Yes. A student must be accepted for admission to Berry College in order to receive a financial aid offer. A financial aid offer may include scholarships, grants and loans.

In addition to federal and state aid, Berry College offers merit scholarships (Berry Academic scholarships) and need-based grants (Berry grants from Alumni & Friends) to those students who qualify.

In order to determine qualification for federal aid and Berry grants from Alumni & Friends, Berry College must receive a valid FAFSA from the student each year.

First-year and transfer (spring) admitted students receive their Berry College financial aid offer as early as December. This first financial aid offer is subject to updates as additional information (such as the FAFSA) is received throughout the following months.

Returning students’ financial aid offers are available during the spring and summer.

If you are an incoming admitted student, you may check your MyBerry Student Portal at myportal.berry.edu for your admission and most up-to-date financial aid information and offer. Any items that are missing from your financial aid file may affect your overall eligibility. Please submit any required documents as promptly as possible.

Returning students may check financialaid.berry.edu to review their financial aid information.

If you are the recipient of an external scholarship, it is important that the College receives the funds from the donor in ample time to credit it towards your tuition and fees. When mailing the scholarship check to Berry College, the donor must specify your name and student ID or SSN, the term in which the funds are to be applied, what the funds are to be used for (ex: tuition and fees), and whether any remaining funds can be given to that student. Scholarships may be mailed to the following address.

Berry College
PO Box 490129
Mount Berry, Georgia
30149-0129

Yes! The Office of Financial Aid is open from 8 am to 5 pm, Monday through Friday. Please call 706.236.1714 or email us at financialaid@berry.edu to schedule an appointment with a financial aid counselor.

If you want us to speak with relatives or family members, the enrolled student must have granted permissions in compliance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA). Students may grant or update FERPA permissions by completing the Release of Information Form available in VikingWeb.

Federal Work-Study is a need-based financial aid program that allows a student to work and earn money. You will be qualified for FWS funds if you file the FAFSA and have financial need.

FWS funds may be offered as part of your financial aid. You will receive these funds via payroll and according to your participation in the LifeWorks program.

All Berry College students, regardless of financial need or having filed a FAFSA, have the opportunity to work by participating in the LifeWorks program.