Frequently Asked Questions

All students applying for state funds must complete the FAFSA application every award year. You may be eligible for State grants based on your FAFSA.

Not sure which FAFSA form to complete?

• The 2024-2025 FAFSA is for Fall 2024, Winter 2025, and Summer 2025 Semesters.
• The 2025-2026 FAFSA is for Fall 2025, Winter 2026, and Summer 2026 Semesters.

A federal student loan is money borrowed from the federal government to help pay for your education and must be repaid with interest.

State aid may not apply if your tuition and fees are fully covered by federal grants.

Complete a current FAFSA application and complete a Reconnect Application on the State of Michigan website. Michigan Reconnect covers the cost of in-district tuition and mandatory fees. It does not cover the cost of out-of-district tuition, books and supplies.

Federal Work Study is an on-campus or off-campus federal employment program that helps students earn money to pay for school through part-time work. The Federal Work Study program encourages work that is related to a student’s course of study or community service.

OCC has teamed up with Scholarship Universe to provide easy access to thousands of internal and external scholarship opportunities.

The SAP forms are located in your Student Forms under the Financial Aid card. Students must create an account in Student Forms to view any required FA documents to complete. Log into your MyOCC account and look for the Financial Aid card, then click on student forms. You will have a task to complete. Complete task, sign and submit. 

Students must complete the Student Update Form which can be found on the Student Records page.

The Financial Aid Adjustment Form can be used to request additional funding. You can request this form by contacting Financial Aid at (248) 341-2240. This form will be made available to you through your Student Forms portal.

You will receive an email notification when the OCC summer application is available. This form will be made available to you through MyOCC.

If you recently registered for classes, you must wait up to 48 hours to allow the system to verify that the classes are required for your program of study. If the classes are not showing as eligible for financial aid, but are part of the program, you student must contact an Academic Counselor who will work with the Register’s office to resolve the issue.

If your financial aid exceeds the cost of your tuition/fees, the excess can be used in the bookstore to purchase books and supplies. 

In order to utilize financial aid, you must be in a financial aid eligible program and your classes must be required for that program of study.

Financial aid can only be used toward OCC financial aid eligible programs leading to a degree or certificate. Guest status is ineligible for federal financial aid.   

You can be dropped from your classes if your financial aid (grants, scholarships, accepted loans) has not been awarded or, if your tuition and fee charges have not been paid by the scheduled payment due date, or if you have not entered into the OCC tuition payment plan.

Once a FAFSA application is completed and received by OCC, you will receive an email verifying receipt of your FAFSA.  If no additional information is needed, evaluation of your eligibility should be complete within two weeks. If you have not received an email after two weeks, contact the Financial Aid department to check the status of your application at (248) 341-2240.

No, students can decline any aid they do not want on their award letter under the Financial Aid card in their MyOCC portal.

There are various reasons that a student may owe a balance. Check with the Financial Aid office to have a representative check your status or make an appointment with financial aid. Contact information for Financial Aid can be found below.

The tuition will not be adjusted. If all classes in a semester are dropped or result in 0 credits earned, your federal financial aid would be subject to the Return to Title IV calculation as mandated by the Department of Education. This could result in you owing financial aid back to the federal program(s). The last day for tuition refunds can be found on the Refund Information page under the Last Day for Tuition Refund (no refund after this day) heading.

Once all eligible aid has posted to a student’s account and there is a credit, the refund will be issued to the student. The refund schedule can be found on the Refund Information page under the Student Refund Dates heading.

You can set up direct deposit by providing your banking information by logging into your MyOCC self-service portal, accessing your Finance card and clicking on Refund banking information.