Loyola Early Aid Form (LEAF)

Due to a delay from the U.S. Department of Education, the 2025-26 FAFSA won't be available until December 1, 2024. This delay means that students applying for Early Decision I or Early Action admission will not have access to the FAFSA in time to receive their official need-based financial aid package alongside their admission and merit scholarship decisions. To help, Loyola has created the Loyola Early Aid Form (LEAF), allowing us to provide a need-based aid package to families based on self-reported information.

By filling out the LEAF below by December 1, we’ll be able to provide you with a need-based financial aid package within 24 hours of your admission decision. If the information you submit on the LEAF is consistent with the FAFSA you submit later, the amount of institutional need-based grant aid in your LEAF package is guaranteed. While we can estimate the federal aid portion of your LEAF package, families must also complete the FAFSA when it becomes available in December to receive a final aid package. If there are differences in what is submitted on the LEAF and FAFSA, your final award may differ from the initial LEAF package.

Complete details about financial aid eligibility can be found on our financial aid website. If you have questions while completing the LEAF, or are having trouble submitting the FAFSA, please contact your personal financial aid counselor and they can assist you.

Instructions:

Students who have applied or are intending to apply for Early Decision I or Early Action for the Fall 2025 term should complete this form. You don’t need to wait until you’ve applied for admission to begin working on the LEAF—you can start it at any time before submitting your application.

We recommend having your 2023 federal tax return with you while completing the LEAF, as it will be helpful in providing accurate responses.

All questions marked with a * are mandatory.
Additional information on how to answer questions can be found by clicking the icon next to each question.
Questions will appear and disappear based on your answers to previous questions.
Please enter numbers only for all numerical questions, do not include symbols ($) or commas (,) when entering numerical values.

Student Information

Name and Contact Information

First Name

Middle Name

Last Name

Preferred Name

Email Address
(Please use the email address you used or plan to use on your application for admission)

Housing Plans

Student Dependency Information

Birthdate

As of today, what is your (the student) marital status?

Do you agree that you are dependent on your parents for financial aid purposes? Most students are considered financially dependent if they are under the age of 24, do not have dependents of their own, non-veteran and not in foster care/ward of the court.

Independent Student Determination

Will you have your first Bachelor's Degree before the 2025-2026 school year?

Are you currently serving on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces for the purposes other than training?

Are you a veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces?

Do you now have or will you have children who will receive more than half of their support from you between July 1, 2025 and June 30, 2026?

At any time since you turned age 13, were both your parents deceased, were you in foster care or were you a dependent or a ward of the court?

As determined by a court in your state of legal residence, are you or were you an emancipated minor?

Does someone other than your parent or stepparent have legal guardianship of you, as determined by a court in your state of legal residence?

At any time on or after July 1, 2024, did your high school or school district homeless liaison determine that you were an unaccompanied youth who was homeless or were self-supporting and at risk of being homeless?

At any time on or after July 1, 2024, did the director of an emergency shelter or transitional housing program funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development determine that you were an unaccompanied youth who was homeless or were self-supporting and at risk of being homeless?

At any time on or after July 1, 2024, did the director of a runaway or homeless youth basic center or transitional living program determine that you were an unaccompanied youth who was homeless or were self-supporting and at risk of being homeless?

Estimated Dependency Status

Your estimated dependency status is: INDEPENDENT

As you answered "Yes" to at least one of the questions, you were born before January 1, 2002, or you are currently married, you will be excused from filling out parental information.

Your estimated dependency status is: DEPENDENT

As you answered "No" to the above questions, you were born after 2001, and you are not currently married, you should most likely fill out parental information.

Final determination of dependency status rests with the financial aid administrator at your college.

Parent Information

Basic Parent Information

Indicate the level of educational attainment of Parent 1

Indicate the level of educational attainment of Parent 2 (if applicable)

What is your parents' state of legal residence?

How many people are in your parents' family?

As of today, what is the marital status of your parents?

Parents' Tax Information

Did or will the parent file a 2023 IRS Form 1040 or 1040-NR?

Warning: It is highly unlikely that your parents did not (or will not) file a tax return. Please choose Yes if your parents have filed (or plan to file) taxes, or if you are unsure of their tax status.

What was your parents' adjusted gross income for 2023?

For 2023, what is or will be your parents' tax filing status according to their tax return?

Enter your parents' income tax for 2023.

Warning: You are reporting an unusually high amount of taxes paid relative to income. Please check your entries for both parents' adjusted gross income and parents' income tax paid.

How much did parent 1 earn from working in 2023?

How much did parent 2 earn from working in 2023?

Parents' Federal Benefits Information

In the last two years, did you, your parents, or anyone in your parents' household receive benefits from any of the federal programs listed?

Earned Income Credit (EIC)

Federal housing assistance

Refundable credit for coverage under a qualified health plan (QHP)

Medicaid

Supplemental Security Income (SSI)

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)

Free or Reduced Price School Lunch

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)

Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC)

IRA deductions and payments to self-employed SEP, SIMPLE, Keogh and other qualified plans

Tax exempt interest income

Additional Parent Information

Do the parents have additional financials to report such as untaxed IRA/pension distributions, rollovers, child support received, taxable higher education benefits such as work-study or scholarships or a foreign income exclusion?

Untaxed portions of IRA distributions

IRA rollover into a qualified plan

Untaxed portions of pensions

Pension rollover into a qualified plan

Total amount the parent received in child support for the last complete calendar year

Taxable earnings from need-based employment such as Federal Work-Study and need-based employment portions of fellowships and assistantships

Amount of college grants, scholarships, or AmeriCorps benefits reported as income to the IRS

Parent foreign income exclusion

Did the parent file a Schedule A, B, D, E, F or H with their 2023 IRS Form 1040?

Net profit or loss from IRS Form 1040 Schedule C

Education credits (American Opportunity and Lifetime Learning Credit)

As of today, what is your parents' total current balance of cash, savings, and checking accounts?

As of today, what is the net worth of your parents' investments, including real estate? Do not include the home you live in.

As of today, what is the net worth of your parents' current business and/or investment farms?

Parent 1 Date of Birth

Parent 2 Date of Birth

How many people in your parents' family will be college students in the next year?

Additional Student Information

How many people are in your family?

How many people in your (student) family will be college students in the next year?

Student Tax Return Information

What is your state of legal residence?

Did or will the student file a 2023 IRS Form 1040 or 1040-NR?

Warning: It is highly unlikely that you did not (or will not) file a tax return. Please choose Yes if you have filed (or plan to file) taxes, or if you are unsure of your tax status.

For 2023, what is or will be your tax filing status according to your tax return?

What was your (student's) adjusted gross income for 2023?

Enter your (student's) income tax for 2023.

Warning: You are reporting an unusually high amount of taxes paid relative to income. Please check your entries for both your adjusted gross income and your income tax paid.

Student Earned Income

How much did you (the student) earn from working in 2023?

How much did your spouse earn from working in 2023?

Student Asset Information

Do you (the student) have any other amounts to report such as child support, retirement contributions, work-study, or military pay?

IRA deductions and payments to self-employed SEP, SIMPLE, Keogh and other qualified plans

Untaxed portions of IRA distributions

IRA rollover into a qualified plan

Untaxed portions of pensions

Pension rollover into a qualified plan

Total amount the student received in child support for the last complete calendar year

Tax exempt interest income

Student (and spouse) foreign income exclusion

Did the student file a Schedule A, B, D, E, F or H with their 2023 IRS Form 1040?

Net profit or loss from IRS Form 1040 Schedule C

Education credits (American Opportunity Tax Credit and Lifetime Learning Tax Credit)

Taxable earnings from need-based employment such as Federal Work-Study and need-based employment portions of fellowships and assistantships

Amount of college grants, scholarships, or AmeriCorps benefits reported as income to the IRS

Student Federal Benefits Information

In the last two years, did you, your spouse, or anyone in your household receive benefits from any of the federal programs listed?