Financial Aid Eligibility

Financial Aid Eligibility

To be eligible for financial aid at MCC, you must first meet some basic eligibility criteria:

• U.S. citizen, or eligible non-citizen
• Have a valid Social Security Number (SSN), with some exceptions
• Be enrolled or accepted for enrollment as a regular student in an eligible program
• Maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP)
• Show that you’re qualified to obtain a college education by having earned a high school diploma (or its equivalent)
• Sign the FAFSA to certify that you are not in default on a federal student loan, do not owe a repayment on a federal grant, and will use federal student aid only for educational purposes

Specific aid programs may have additional, or stricter, eligibility requirements not listed here. Additional eligibility requirements typically include enrollment status and GPA.

Financial Need

To be eligible for most types of funding, you must also demonstrate financial need. Financial need is the difference between the total cost of attendance and the Expected Family Contribution (EFC).

Financial Need = Cost of Attendance – Expected Family Contribution

You can calculate your federal student aid estimated eligibility here!

Cost of Attendance

The Cost of Attendance is the total of your direct and indirect costs. Direct costs include all costs billed to you by MCC, or tuition and fees. Indirect costs include the educational expenses you have that are not billed by MCC. These may include your books, transportation costs, room and board expenses, and other approved expenses. The types of expenses that can be included are defined by the U.S. Department of Education and are meant to be allowances rather than reflect your actual expenses.

Sample Cost of Attendance for one semester:

We also add estimates for course and program fees to your Cost of Attendance. The Cost of Attendance is meant to provide allowances towards your indirect expenses. Your actual expenses may be greater or less than the allowances used in the Cost of Attendance.

Unmet Need

The Financial Aid Office seeks to meet as much of each student’s financial need as possible based on their eligibility and the funds available. Unmet need is the amount of financial need that is not covered by some type of financial aid.

To learn about different types of appeals, review our Financial Aid Appeals page.