Financial aid help available for transfer students

Becoming a transfer student can feel a lot like jumping back into senior year; you’ve got deadlines to meet, new schools to tour, and the stress of figuring out how to pay for it all.
Here at DMACC, we’ve got people to help with that. The ICAN resource center, located in Building 5, is set up to help transfer students with not only financial aid, but also planning for the future and knowing how to go about contacting and working with your future school.
Erick Danielson is an ICAN supervisor here on the DMACC Ankeny campus. “Everything we do comes at no cost, so if you need a little help with getting the financial aid processes done or are wanting to just talk a little bit one-on-one about your plans for transferring on, we can help or guide you in the right direction to get those questions answered.”
According to Danielson, the first step of transferring is to contact and be informed about the school you plan to go to. “I hope one of the basic things they’ve already worked on is having ideas of colleges they plan on transferring to so they can work with those colleges while they’re at a two-year school. Other things I would encourage them to do, as far as basic things, is start applying. It almost will resemble what a high school senior would be doing.”
As far as FAFSA goes when it comes to transferring, the process is the same. “A big change with the financial aid application is that it’s moved up three months for when you can start. Some of the colleges that you’re transferring to are gonna have a lot sooner FAFSA priority dates compared to two year schools. It’s important to know when those are,” says Danielson.
Another important step in transferring, says Danielson, is going back and visiting those colleges. “You need to take the college for a test drive and determine if it’s the right fit for you. Know what classes to start taking now that are going to help that transfer go as smoothly as possible.”
“Keep your options open and have fun with the process. Do as well as you can all the way through college. Now that you’re a transfer student colleges are going to be looking more at your college grades than what you did in high school,” advises Danielson.
ICAN also has a monthly newsletter, called Ignite, that you can sign up for on icansucceed.org that will provide you with tips and timely information for transferring.