Transfer Students
FAFSA
We are excited to welcome you to the Cyclone family!
Planning to Transfer for Fall 2025 or Spring 2026?
Apply for Financial Aid
- File the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)
- The 2025-2026 FAFSA opens on December 1, 2024. Iowa State University’s federal school code is 001869. This is your application for federal grants, federal loans, as well as institutional aid programs.
- Iowa State University has a priority FAFSA filing deadline for transfer students of February 25, 2025. File by the priority filing deadline for consideration for institutional aid. Students who file after the priority filing deadline are still considered for federal aid programs.
- File the OneApp Scholarship Application
- Iowa State University has a centralized scholarship application that allows students to apply for scholarships from the Office of Student Financial Aid, as well as all academic colleges, all in one application.
- The OneApp opened on October 1, 2024. Filing deadlines vary by academic college.
- Review Transfer Scholarships from the Office of Admissions
- The Office of Admissions awards transfer scholarships for Iowa residents, non-Iowa residents, and members of Phi Theta Kappa (PTK).
- Requirements and eligibility questions for these awards can be directed to your Admissions counselor in the Office of Admissions.
Once all applications for financial aid are submitted, transfer students can expect to receive their financial aid offer from Iowa State University for the 2025-2026 academic year around early April. Students will be notified of their aid offer in the mail and online in their Admissions MyAccount.
Applying for Financial Aid
Determining Costs?
Review the Cost of Attendance
The cost of attendance is an estimate of the costs of being enrolled for one year at Iowa State University. Students are assigned a financial aid budget based on their estimated cost of attendance, which is used to determine the maximum amount of financial aid needed.
Once you have your financial aid offer, you can utilize the Expense Estimator to help estimate a student’s university bill (U-Bill) and the outstanding balance owed or potential financial aid refund after financial aid is applied.
Other Important Information
When the Office of Student Financial Aid awards your federal direct loans, the loan amounts will be based on your prior borrowing and on the transfer hours that were recorded by the Office of Admissions at the time the award is made. If you receive additional loans from your current institution after the award was made, or the Office of Admissions receives additional transfer credit hours, your aid offer may change.
If you received loans while attending another institution and will be registered at least half-time at Iowa State, you should notify your lender that you are enrolling at Iowa State University. This will prevent your loans from going into repayment. The Office of the Registrar is responsible for all enrollment verifications at Iowa State.
It is important to review the Iowa State University Office of Student Financial Aid’s policies as these may be different than your current institutions.
Protecting your Student Information
Keeping students’ personal and FAFSA information secure is our top priority. In order to protect student information, we will ask students and parents (if listed on the student’s FAFSA) to verify their identity. To keep your student’s information secure, we will not be able to discuss financial aid information with any individual other than the student, parent(s) listed on the FAFSA, or persons whom the student has granted Friends & Family Third Party Permissions in Workday.
- If you call our office, it is best to have your University ID number and financial aid offer available.
- While we cannot give specific dollar amounts on the phone or in an email, we can confirm the dollar amounts you see on your financial aid offer.
- It is important that your student knows how to access and navigate Workday. We encourage all students to set up Friends & Family access to Workday. Friends & Family access allows other individuals, like family members, to have their own log-in for Workday to view financial aid and other information the student approved.
Student Employment
Nearly 70% of students work while in college. At Iowa State, all students enrolled in one or more credit hours can work on-campus. Students who work part-time while in school are more likely to persist to timely graduation. You can find both on- and off-campus jobs using the Student Job Board in AccessPlus. If you are interested in learning more about student employment or Work-Study at Iowa State, please visit the Student Employment Center.
Financial Education
The Office of Student Financial Success provides free one-on-one advising to all students on topics such as money management, budgeting, credit, debt, loan repayment, and so much more. Their staff is ready to help guide students through responsible borrowing, understanding how to effectively manage their money, and understanding the impact of borrowing on their credit.
Transfer Admissions
Visit the Transfer Admissions Office to learn more about the transfer process at Iowa State University, transfer scholarships, and Community College partnership programs.