SECTION 22.6. Applying for State Financial Aid

(a) Priority deadline:

(1) All general academic teaching institutions shall use January 15 as the priority application deadline to receive state financial aid.

(2) The priority deadline is not to serve as a determination of eligibility for state financial aid, but otherwise eligible students who apply on or before the deadline shall be given priority consideration for available state financial aid before other applicants.

(3) If the Commissioner determines that the ability of students to meet the deadline will be significantly impaired by a natural disaster, federal financial aid development, or other unforeseen exigent circumstance, the Commissioner may delay the priority deadline for a specific aid cycle, after consultation with representatives of the financial aid community. The updated priority deadline will be immediately published on THECB's public website.

(b) Texas Application for State Financial Aid (TASFA):

(1) The TASFA collects data necessary for determining state financial aid eligibility for those applicants classified as Texas residents, as outlined in Chapter 21, Subchapter B of this Part, who are not eligible to apply for federal financial aid using the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

(2) Beginning with the financial aid application cycle for academic year 2023-2024 and thereafter, the online TASFA available through the ApplyTexas website is the sole, acceptable online TASFA. All institutions participating in financial aid programs covered by this chapter must accept the data generated by the completion of this online TASFA.

(3) Beginning with the financial aid application cycle for academic year 2023-2024 and thereafter, the TASFA document available through the ApplyTexas website is the sole, acceptable printable version of the TASFA, which institutions may accept from applicants who do not have access to the necessary technology to complete the online TASFA.

(4) An institution is not prohibited from requiring an applicant to submit additional information to accompany the data received via the TASFA.

(c) Authority for this section is provided in Texas Education Code, Chapter 56, Section 56.008 and Chapter 61, Section 61.07762.

Source Note: The provisions of this §22.6 adopted to be effective August 27, 2018, 43 TexReg 5504; amended to be effective May 19, 2022, 47 TexReg 2860; amended to be effective August 17, 2023, 48 TexReg 4392