Simply put, need-based grants and discretionary loan programs are limited. We do not have enough of these dollars to distribute evenly to all students in all programs. As a result, parent data is used to determine the amount of institutional grants and loans awarded by the Office of Student Financial Aid to most University students. We do not expect that parents of independent students will be contributing to their child's education. The purpose of collecting this information is to compare students who might otherwise look very similar on a financial aid application across economic backgrounds.

Submitting parental data does not affect the amount of Federal Stafford Loan that a graduate student is eligible to receive.

We only request that parent data be included on your financial aid application during your first year at Rush. Returning students who have provided parent information in a previous year, will not be required to submit an annual update to their parents' information*.

Please refer to the chart below to see whether parent information is required for you. There is no age limit to this requirement. All students who are in a program that requires parent data must submit the requested information to be considered for discretionary funding. Exceptions will only be made in extreme situations.

To satisfy the parent information requirement, you must:

1. Include parent information in the parent section of the FAFSA. You may make a correction to your application to add this information if you have already submitted it. Please visit the FAFSA website to make your correction.
2. Have your parent complete the Parent Information Form online (available from our forms page).

* Students that choose to submit parent information on their annual application will have the parent information in their student file updated to reflect any changes. 

** Financial Aid Transcripts are required if the applicant received a Federal Nursing Loan from a prior college or university. A Financial Aid Transcript form is available in the Forms page.

For College-specific information about this requirement, please click the appropriate link below:

Rush Medical College

College of Nursing

College of Health Sciences

The Graduate College

The Office of Student Financial Aid
600 South Paulina Street, Suite 440 Chicago, Illinois 60612
(312) 942-6256
financial_aid@rush.edu