Award Letter Important Messages

The amount of financial aid you receive is related to the charges you incur. If your financial aid was based on the assumption that you are living on campus, a need-based grant from the College will be reduced if you decide to live at home or in an off-campus apartment. Work-Study is normally offered only to students who live on campus. 

Costs are also affected by your housing choice. See "Charges"

The Office of Financial Aid knows that it is important for families to be able to plan on costs being similar from year to year. To make that happen as often as possible, the Office goes to significant lengths to keep financial aid comparable from one year to the next.

We will not remove or reduce financial aid without a clear reason.

If there is no significant change in your application from year to year, if you submit your application before the stated deadline, and if you meet scholarship renewal requirements, you can expect that your aid will remain similar to the prior year.   

You should know, however, that changes to income, net worth (savings, investments, etc.), the number of family members supported by the parent(s), the number of family members in college, and changes in “special circumstances” between academic years may affect the financial aid you qualify to receive. For example:

• a student whose family income increased from $50,000 in their first year to $60,000 in their second year may no longer qualify for federal grants
• a Lake Forest student whose older sibling will graduate college in a year and live on their own, may not qualify for a state grant the fall after that graduation
• a family that reported $10,000 in healthcare costs for their first year but less than $4,000 in their second year may receive less grant funding

If you indicated on the FAFSA that you are either a U.S. citizen or permanent resident but the Social Security Administration did not confirm this, you need to provide documentation to prove your status. Please provide a clear .pdf of one of the following documents (samples are shown). If possible, submit a .pdf by email.

U.S. citizens: 

• Certificate of Citizenship
• Certificate of Naturalization
• U.S. Passport (must be signed)

Permanent Residents:

• Permanent Resident Card or “Green Card”

Here you will find a variety of federally-mandated information such as accreditation, retention, athletic participation, campus security, FERPA, outcome of our graduates, refund policy, and more.

If we have not received your FAFSA (financial aid application) we recommend that you complete it – at least for your first year  — if cost will be a factor in your decision, or if you want to use a student loan to help with the cost of going to school. If you completed the FAFSA but did not include Lake Forest College, click here. If you have not completed the FAFSA, click here.

There are slightly different instructions depending on whose signature is needed:  you  (student)     your parent 

If you need to provide proof of income (called “verification”) and if you filed (or will file) a tax return, the Data Retrieval Tool (DRT) is the best and recommended method.  The DRT transfers answers from your tax return directly to your FAFSA, assuring you of 100% accuracy. See the Helpful Tools section of our FAFSA page. Find out if you are eligible to use the DRT.  

There are several forms avaialble, allowing your family to report something "out of the ordinary" that is not reflected on the FAFSA. They are optional, but must be completed each year if you want us to consider them. Forms for the 2023-2024 academic year are found here. If possible, submit a .pdf by email or fax (see bottom of each page).

A small percentage of FAFSA filers are selected for a process called “verification,” requiring additional documentation. This usually involves completing a Verification Worksheet and providing proof of income (see “DRT” above) for a particular tax year.

There are several types of Verification Worksheets, and our records tell which needs to be completed. The special message on your award letter will say “Verification Worksheet, V-1” or something similar. There will be a link to that form within the award letter, or you can choose the form from this page.

• V-1  for dependent students
• V-1 for independent students
• V-4      
• V-5