Terms & Conditions

Eligibility

To qualify for student financial aid programs, you must submit all related application document and meet the following criteria:

• Be a U.S. citizen or eligible non-citizen;
• Have a valid Social Security Number;
• Demonstrate financial need.
• Possess a high school diploma, General Education Development (GED) Certificate, CA H.S. Proficiency exam, or a Home School Diploma. You must possess one of these to be eligible for Title IV financial aid. If you were enrolled in a program of study before July 1, 2012 (continuing students) please see the Financial Aid Office to see how you might establish eligibility if you do not possess one of the above.
• Enroll or be accepted for enrollment in an approved course of study for two or more academic quarters. Your course of study must lead to a Certificate of Completion, Associate in Arts Degree, Associate in Science Degree or university transfer for a bachelor’s degree;
• Maintain satisfactory progress in your course of study; and
• Register with the Selective Service, if required.

For more information about types of financial aid available and eligibility requirements, students who meet the AB540 status criteria and who may or may not have a valid social security number should refer to the CA Dream Act Information link.

Financial Need Determination

At Foothill College, financial aid determination is generally based on serving students who demonstrate the most financial need. In most cases, the basis of determination is as follows:

• Students who demonstrate financial need based on low-income information;
• Returning students with continued financial need;
• Students who have been accepted into a Foothill technical/vocational training program and are unable to work;
• Students with expenses related to special training programs; and
• Students who have completed less than 120 quarter units.

Federal Repeatability Rule

Beginning with all terms on or after July 1, 2011,  there were new federal eligibility repeatability rules that went into effect.

While there are several intricate details, the quick summary is that a student can only be paid for repeating a completed course one additional time after completion of the course. Any further repeats will not count towards federal eligibility criteria.

By federal standards, a 'D' grade counts as completed units. Regardless of one's ability to move on to the next level course, this would count as the successful completion. Because we understand the complexity of this, we have provided a video in the list above and strongly encourage students to contact the FAO if there are any concerns over how it may impact them.