Undergraduate Catalogue
Applying for Financial Aid
At Bentley, parents and students are asked to complete both the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and the CSS PROFILE. The FAFSA is available on the Internet and in most high school guidance offices. Students must complete the College Scholarship Service PROFILE online. The Office of Financial Assistance web site offers links to the FAFSA and PROFILE sites. The OFA web site address is: www.bentley.edu/financial-aid. Filing online is recommended for the FAFSA, as the program has built-in edits that prevent most errors. Filing online will also expedite processing time.
Many of the questions on these forms are taken directly from the parents' and student's federal tax forms from the previous year. The application includes detailed instructions for each question. The priority application deadline dates for all required financial aid information and forms are listed in the section entitled Admission and Financial Aid Calendar.
Bentley uses the information students and their families report on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, the CSS PROFILE form, and any other documents that may be required to derive an expected contribution from parents (if a student is a dependent student), and a contribution from a student's assets and income. These numbers add up to the total expected family contribution. The difference between the student's total expected contribution and the estimated cost of attendance is the student's need - his or her financial aid eligibility.
There are two aid formulas for determining financial aid eligibility. The first, "federal methodology," is used to determine a student's eligibility for most types of government aid, including Stafford loans, and most state grant aid. A family contribution is determined from the data a family provides on the FAFSA. Because the federal methodology omits some financial information from consideration, Bentley uses another formula, the "institutional methodology," to determine a family's need for Bentley funding.
The institutional need-analysis formula allows Bentley to target limited resources to the neediest of students. A student may receive whatever federal aid is available based upon eligibility under the federal methodology. The need for Bentley aid, however, is determined solely on the basis of the institutional methodology. Your need may be met with a combination of loans, job eligibility and possibly a grant, depending on funding levels and need.
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