Parent Information Requirement

Please refer to the bulleted list below to see whether parent information is required from 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.

• Rush Medical College - Required for need-based grants and discretionary loan programs.  Also required, in most cases, for need-based loan and grant assistance from HRSA.
• College of Nursing
  • Generalist Entry Masters (GEM) - Required for need-based grants and discretionary loan programs
  • All other nursing students - Not required
• College of Health Sciences - Required for need-based discretionary loan programs
• The Graduate College
  • MS programs - Required for need-based discretionary loan programs
  • PhD programs - Not required 

Submitting parental data does not affect the amount of Federal Stafford Loan that an independent undergraduate or 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 note that dependent undergraduate students are required to submit parent information with each financial aid application.

_{* 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.}

What is Required

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.

Why We Ask for Parent Information

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.