Applying for Financial Aid

The Application Process

Parents will soon be able to file the 2024-2025 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) because you will now be using 2022 U.S. income taxes that were filed with the IRS.

Begin the process. You will need FSA IDs for both a parent and your daughter. The process will be easier for 2024-2025 because the fixed items will already be populated on your FAFSA. Please use the IRS Data Retrieval process when you are given the option to do so. If this is successful, you don’t need to send any tax documents to Sweet Briar. If you are unable to use the IRS Data Retrieval, you will need to send signed, 2022 tax return transcripts (not your 1040) to the financial aid office.

To request a tax return transcript from the IRS:

  1. Go to the IRS website.
  2. Under the tools menu, click on “Get a Tax Transcript.”
  3. Enter tax filer’s social security number, date of birth and address.
  4. Click “Continue.”
  5. Select “Return Transcript” and enter “2022” in the tax year field.
  6. A paper IRS Tax Return Transcript should arrive within five to 10 days of request.

IRS Form 1040 is now acceptable documentation for financial aid purposes. Please contact the financial aid office for further instructions.

If we receive your FAFSA information and your 2022 tax return transcript before May 15, and everything is complete, we will send a “Notification of Financial Assistance” packet in early June.

If you have questions about any of these matters, please call us at 800-381-6156.

Accepting Your Reward

After applying for admission and sending your 2024-2025 FAFSA to Sweet Briar, you may be offered various types of financial aid in your award package. It is important to know that some forms of financial aid require additional steps on your part to secure the aid and have it applied to your student account.

Sweet Briar begins sending out comprehensive financial-award packages early in March. What might you find in your financial-award package? A typical award package from SBC might include a combination of the following:

  • Scholarships and/or grants (money which does not have to be repaid)
  • Student loans (money which must be repaid)
  • Student job and other self-help (money students earn through a campus work-study job), which is intended to help with personal expenses
  • Virginia Tuition Assistance Grant

 

You must take these steps in order to accept the following types of financial assistance:

Scholarships and Grants
  
  • For scholarships and grants, you must pay your $250 enrollment deposit. For more information on how to pay your enrollment deposit and reservation fee, click here.
  • For scholarships that are not through Sweet Briar, make sure you have submitted all paperwork and that confirmations have been mailed to Sweet Briar.

VTAG

  • For Virginia residents, please submit the Virginia Tuition Assistance Grant form, which can be found on our forms page. For more information about VTAG, please review the State Grants section of our Scholarships and Grants page.
Self-Help
  

Loans

  • To apply loans to your account, you must first complete the Federal Direct Loan Request Form — Stafford Loan — Students. You can find this on our forms page. Print and complete the form and then fax, email or mail it to the financial aid office.
  • Log in to your account at StudentAid.gov to complete Entrance Counseling, the Master Promissory Note and Student Loan Acknowledgement Form.

Campus Employment

  • You must submit a campus employment form, which can be found on our forms page. Please note, the campus employment form for incoming, first-year students differs from the form for returning students.