General Eligibility Criteria
to Apply & Receive Aid based on the FAFSA

You must formally apply for admission to Birmingham-Southern College.

You must be a United States citizen or an eligible non-citizen (FAFSA instructions); if you are neither a citizen nor an eligible noncitizen, you are not eligible for federal student aid. However, you should still complete the application, because you may be eligible for state or college aid.

If you are in the U.S. on an F1 or F2 student visa, or a J1 or J2 exchange visitor visa, or a G series visa (pertaining to international organizations), you must answer “Neither citizen nor eligible noncitizen” on the FAFSA.

Generally you are an eligible noncitizen if you are:

A permanent U.S. resident with a Permanent Resident Card (I-551);
A conditional permanent resident (I-551C); or
The holder of an Arrival-Departure Record (I-94) from the Department of Homeland Security showing any of the following designations: “Refugee,” “Asylum Granted,” “Parolee” (I-94 confirms paroled for a minimum of one year and status has not expired), “Victim of human trafficking,” T-Visa holder (T-1, T-2, T-3, etc.) or “Cuban-Haitian Entrant.”

You must possess a high school diploma or equivalent.

You must be seeking a degree in an eligible program and making satisfactory progress toward that degree as defined in the catalog.

You must not be in default on any federal education loan, and you must not owe a refund because of overpayment of a previous federal grant or loan at any college or university. You may check your status on the National Student Loan Database System (NSLDS).

You must be registered with the Selective Service as required by law.

You must have a valid social security number. The data fields for your date of birth, name, and social security number reported on your FAFSA must match with those data elements at the Social Security Administration and at Birmingham-Southern College. If any of these data fields do not match you must correct any errors with the FAFSA processor; you can make changes (married name, etc.) to Social Security records by submitting proper documentation to the Social Security Administration & Birmingham-Southern College. Additionally, if you are continuing to borrow student loans, you must also make sure your name at BSC, at the social security office, at your lender and at your guarantor all match. If you change your name on the FAFSA but not at the other data bases so that they all match, the US Department of Education may not reimburse BSC for those federal funds which will result in the removal of those funds from your student account.