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Step 1: Apply for Aid

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In this step you will submit the Student Application Form, which will then create a personalized list of required documents to be submitted. Once all of your documents are received, we will begin reviewing your application.

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Application timeline
About the SFS Self-Service Portal
Submitting student information
Submitting parent information
Reviewing your application requirements
Following your application status
Once your preliminary application is complete
Tips for completing your application as quickly as possible

Application timeline

  • For admitted students there is no deadline to complete this step. However, we know that some students consider their provisional financial aid packages as a factor in their decision to enroll. If this is important to you, please file your application by April 15th so we can make you an offer by the May 1st HLS Admissions enrollment deadline. We will open access to the Student Application Form in the SFS Self-Service Portal by March 1st. The sooner after that date you complete your file by submitting all of your required documents, the sooner you will have your provisional HLS financial aid award offer from us. Throughout the spring we generally have a two-week (10 business days) turnaround time from the point your last document is received to the point you will receive your provisional award notification.
  • For returning students, the deadline to complete your 2018-2019 financial aid application is 5PM on MONDAY, MAY 1, 2018. Once the application process is up and running you will receive an email communication from Student Financial Services. Generally, the application season opens for returning students in late-March of each academic year giving ample time for you to complete your application by the application deadline. We typically process returning student awards during the months of May and June. Then, we release provisional awards to all returning students simultaneously in July (around the time when fall semester charges are billed).

About the SFS Self-Service Portal

  • To begin the financial aid application process, you must access our new application website known as the SFS Self-Service Portal.
  • First, log in to the SFS Self-Service Portal with your HarvardKey. (If you do not have a working HarvardKey, please use this link to create, change, or recover your login information.)
  • After logging in, you will find your personalized welcome page with messages about your application. Read them carefully for deadlines and instructions.
  • The menu at the top left controls the many sections of your application. Select “Student Application” when you are ready to begin – this section must be completed first, as it dynamically drives the rest of your application requirements in real time.
  • All of the forms in the Self-Service Portal have both a SAVE button and a SAVE AND CONTINUE button at the bottom of every page. You do not have to complete forms in a single session, and you may go back and review your answers on any form at any time.
  • The system will time out if you are inactive for at least 30 minutes. We recommend clicking SAVE at the bottom of the page if you think you will be away from any of the forms for a significant amount of time.

Submitting student information

  • Use the drop-down to navigate to the Student Application form. Make sure to select the academic year you want, and begin filing the Student Application.  Take your time, and read the questions carefully. Inaccurate or incomplete answers may cause delays in the processing of your financial aid.
  • This form is used to collect data about your financial resources, including both income and assets. For more information, please read our pages describing Student Contribution from Income and Student Contribution from Assets.
  • Toward the end of the application, you will be asked to choose the type of application that you wish to submit: “loan-only” or “need-based”. A “loan-only” application is appropriate if you know your assets or parent resources are high enough that it is unlikely you will qualify for HLS need-based assistance. (For more details, see Should I Apply Loan-Only?) Most of our students will apply for “need-based” financial aid (see “Should I Apply for Grant Aid?”) but you should note that this requires an extensive list of questions about your parents’ financial history, assets, businesses, and properties. For more information, you can read about Why HLS Considers Parent Resources.
  • When you save the final page, the application will automatically generate a list of ALL of your answers on a summary page titled, “Review Unsubmitted Application”. Please review this list carefully, edit your answers if necessary, and scroll to the bottom to click SUBMIT when you are certain they are correct.
  • Once your Student Application is submitted, several things happen simultaneously. First, your application becomes active in our system. Second, if you have provided parent(s) email address(es) so that they can complete the Parent Application, our database automatically sends an email message providing them access to their part of the application. Finally, your Student Application will generate a personalized list of application requirements that you must submit via the “Application Requirements” tab. Your Financial Aid application is not considered complete until ALL documents are set as “Received”.

Submitting parent information

  • HLS requires student aid applicants to provide financial information regarding all parents, including biological parents, step-parents, adoptive parents, and legal guardians, even in cases where parents are divorced. You will also be asked to number the people in your household and provide information for each person in the household, including relatives and dependents. After documents are submitted, the HLS Financial Aid Committee will determine the appropriate information that will be incorporated into the parent resource assessment. It is important that we have a complete and accurate understanding of your family and each household’s finances before determining any aid award.
  • Why does HLS consider Parent resources?
  • HLS represents a wide variety of families including widowed parents, step-parents, adoptive parents, and many other unique situations. If your parents live separately for any reason, you will find space to list names and email addresses for two different households on the Student Application. There is also space to describe your family situation, if there is anything you feel our office should know.
  • The Parent Application is extensive and we strongly recommend it be completed by the parent directly. This will reduce the likelihood that inaccurate information is provided that will delay the processing of your application for aid.  However, we recognize that in some cases the student may need to complete the parent application on behalf of the parental household. Students should be aware that all questions are posed as if the parent were answering, and that the form requires very detailed financial information. Do NOT guess or estimate these answers; they must be consistent with your tax returns.
  • Parents have unique access to the SFS Self-Service Portal; they may NOT log in using your student credentials. Instead, within your Student Application, you must provide a contact email address for every parent household. It is very important that you provide an accurate email address for your parent(s), as access codes to the application will be automatically generated for them and sent to that address.
  • Like the Student Application, progress in the Parent Application may be saved at any time. However, access codes are temporary, and need to be regenerated for each new session when you wish to return to your saved work. Please save all emails for your records and read them carefully before contacting our office with questions.
  • When you save the final page, the application will automatically generate a list of ALL of your answers on a summary page titled, “Review Unsubmitted Application”. Please review this list carefully, edit your answers if necessary, and scroll to the bottom to click SUBMIT when you are certain they are correct.
  • Once the Parent Application is submitted, the list on “Application Requirements” will update for that household based on the answers that were provided on the Parent Application.

Reviewing your application requirements

  • As soon as your Student Application is submitted, your document requirements will generate automatically. At the top left of your Student Application, select “Application Requirements” from the drop-down menu. On this tab, you will now be able to view your personalized list of required documents as well as links to web forms (such as the FAFSA, which is filed electronically with the U.S. Department of Education).
  • Completed Parent Application forms will also generate additional requirements on the “Application Requirements” tab. Please make sure everyone in your family who is filing an application through the SFS Self-Service Portal is familiar with the following process:
    • Each required document listed has a yellow submission box for you to drag-and-drop copies of PDFs. You may submit up to three documents at one time in each space. When you have dragged in a document, it will post to the list as “Submitted, Not Reviewed” status. There is no need to save the page! These documents are automatically transmitted to our office for review and they a become live, real-time web function. As soon as a required document is reviewed and someone in our office approves it, you will see it labeled as “Received” on your list.
    • A “Received” document is complete and accepted. If something is wrong with a document, or it does not have enough information, we will change the status to “Incomplete”. You will receive an automatic message from our office detailing the changes that we need, and occasionally a question from one of the SFS staff members. When you have corrected the document, upload it again in the same place, and we will repeat the review process. Your Financial Aid application is not considered complete until ALL documents are set as “Received”.
    • Contact our office if you have submitted a document and it has not changed from “Submitted, Not Reviewed” within two weeks of submission. You should check back on your application regularly throughout the process, because SFS may adjust your requirements at any time.

Following your application status

  • Your financial aid application is not complete until ALL items in your “Application Requirements” tab are marked with the “Received” status. This includes the Student Application, Parent Application(s), all affiliated documents, all external web forms (such as the FAFSA) or any other requests you may have received from our office.
  • Remember to check your application status frequently. Our office may contact you at any time to update a document. The sooner your application is complete, the sooner we can determine your Provisional Award.

Once your preliminary application is complete

  • Completed financial aid applications for Admitted Students are reviewed by Financial Aid Officers on a daily basis throughout the spring as admitted students’ files become complete. The date that the final document was received in our office to complete your file marks the date that your financial aid application was sent for review.
  • You will know that your file is complete when receive an email confirmation from us. For Admitted Students, it generally takes two weeks (10 business days) from this date for us to review your file and process a provisional financial aid award. During peak processing times or when an individual’s financial circumstances are very complex, it may take a little longer than two weeks. However, it is always our goal to process award packages as promptly as possible.
  • Admitted students must inform the Harvard Law School Admissions Office by May 1st that they intend to take a spot in the Class. If you were admitted very close to or after the May 1st deadline, you should contact the Admissions Office about a possible extension of the deadline. Only the Admissions Office can grant approval for an extension. To receive one, you must be actively working with Student Financial Services to complete your application for aid. Again, we will do our best to work with you to expedite the process.
  • Returning students have a fixed deadline to complete their preliminary application for aid each year. The 2018-2019 preliminary financial aid application deadline for returning students is 5 PM on MAY 1, 2018. Students who complete their financial aid applications before the deadline are guaranteed to receive notice of their provisional aid in July and can expect to have financial aid in place to offset their fall semester charges. Returning student financial aid applications that become complete after the deadline will still be processed, but not until we have completed our review of applications from those who met the application deadline. Although we make every effort to process late applications in a timely fashion, we cannot, in all cases, guarantee to complete our review in time to get anticipated credits on your student bill. If you do apply late, you may need to make other payment arrangements for your fall bill until our review of your application is complete.

Tips for completing your application as quickly as possible

  • SFS is paperless and stores data electronically in a document imaging system. There is ample space in your “Application Requirements” tab for submissions; we do not accept documents by email, as it is not a secure system.
  • If you submitted the FAFSA before you were notified of your admission to HLS, or before you submitted the online HLS financial aid application, we should have already received your data electronically. However, it may take up to 48 hours before we are able to load your data and track these documents as “Received”.
  • Contact our office if you notice a document in your “Application Requirements” list that you believe you should not be required to submit. You may have answered a question incorrectly on our main online form, and we will need to correct your response in order to adjust your document list.