1. How to be Sure Your Federal Financial Aid Review is Complete*
To be certified as an NJ STARS student, financial aid review must be complete for both federal (FAFSA) and state-based (HESAA) financial aid.
*All links are clickable

2. Complete Your FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Financial Aid)

3. FAFSA (Federal Financial Aid)
Complete your FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Financial Aid) by the financial aid deadlines each academic year using the student and parents’ appropriate IRS tax returns.
Academic Year
When completing the FAFSA, use your 2016 tax returns.
Bergen Community College must be one of your college choices. The school code is #
Use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool. If you missed this step, you can go back into your FAFSA to make corrections. Click to link to the IRS and follow the steps on the next slides.

4. Beginning Your FAFSA
If you need help completing your FAFSA, use can use the following resources:
7 Things You Need Before You Fill Out the FAFSA 
(U.S. Department of Education)
View the “7 Easy Steps to the FAFSA” Video Tutorial.
Check the Office of Financial Aid webpage for information about FAFSA workshops.
Tax Filing Status: In the Parent Financial Information section, an issue that frequently comes up during the financial aid review process is when parents who are married use Head of Household as their filing status. Married couples who did not use Married- Filing Jointly or Married- Filing Separately as their filing status may be asked to file an amended tax return(s).

5. Using the IRS Data Retrieval Tool
Using the IRS Data Retrieval Tool will save you a lot of time and effort if you are selected for Federal Verification after completed your FAFSA since your tax transcript data will be sent to the college with FAFSA.
When completing both the student and parent tax information sections of the FAFSA, click Link to IRS to use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool.
After clicking the link, you will leave the FAFSA and proceed to the IRS website.

6. Complete Federal Income Tax Information Form
Complete the online Get My Federal Income Tax Information Form using the address, etc. you used when you filed your 2016 tax returns. Be sure to click Submit when complete.

7. Transfer Your Federal Income Tax Info
Check the box to print the 2016 Federal Income Tax Information form for your records. Check the box to transfer your tax information into your FAFSA form and click Transfer Now.
You will be returned to the FAFSA financial information page and should see a message that you successfully transferred your 2016 IRS tax info. 1 3 2

8. Start Your State Application
On your FAFSA Confirmation Page, click Start your state application and answer the additional application questions to apply for state-based financial aid.
Click Okay to transfer your information into the state application, complete the questions and click Submit. You will see a message that you successfully submitted your New Jersey Additional Questions.
Click Visit the NJFAMS login page and create a student username and password. 1 2

9. What’s Next?
If you completed your FAFSA online, then the U.S. Department of Education will process your application within 3-5 days. If you submitted a paper FAFSA, your application will be processed within 7-10 days.
Once your application is processed, you will receive a copy of your Student Aid Report (SAR), which summarizes the information you provided on your FAFSA. Review your SAR and make sure all of the information is complete and accurate.
If there is any missing or incorrect information, then you should complete or correct your FAFSA as soon as possible.
Your SAR will include your Expected Family Contribution (EFC). The EFC determines your eligibility for a Federal Pell Grant, and the college uses the EFC to assess your eligibility for other federal and nonfederal student aid.
Once your FAFSA is processed by Federal Student Aid, your SAR is sent to the colleges that you listed on your FAFSA. Each college will use the information on your SAR to determine your eligibility for federal and nonfederal student aid. The colleges you listed are responsible for creating your award package and disbursing your financial aid.

10. Financial Aid Review at Bergen Community College Must Be Completed
Once Bergen Community College receives your SAR/FAFSA, it may take a week or so for your financial aid review to be completed.
Check your BCC student and student portal to find out if you are selected for Federal Verification. For help, please see the following slides.
If the Office of Financial Aid needs additional information and you are selected for Federal Verification, you must submit require information to them via Office of Financial Aid scanners in Room A-128.
Your financial aid review will not be completed until the scanned documents have been received and verified.
Students who do not complete both their federal and state financial aid review will not be eligible for NJ STARS scholarships.

11. Become Familiar with Your BCC Student Email & Student Portal
Regularly check your BCC student for communications from the Office of Financial Aid, and in your BCC Student Portal in the Financial Aid section to be sure your financial aid review was completed.
my.bergen.edu

12. BCC Student Portal (my.bergen.edu)
Go to my.bergen.edu or click the my.bergen.edu logo in the purple bar at the top of the home page to login to your student portal.
my.bergen.edu

13. Logging in for the First Time
Activate your student address and student portal with your assigned username and password, change password and login in to your Bergen Community College student portal.
Your username can be found in your acceptance letter from the Admissions Office. If you haven’t received your letter yet and want to sign in, go to the student portal login screen and click Retrieve Username. Enter your last name and social security number or last name and student ID# and click Submit. Your username will appear on the next screen.
Your initial password is the first two letters of your last name, with the first letter UPPERCASE, followed by the last 6 numbers of your Student ID number (do not include the first zero). Your 7-digit Student ID number can also be found in your acceptance letter, or on the back of your Student Identification Card.
If you already changed your password and forgot it, you can click I Forgot My Password and you will be prompted to answer 3 questions.
For assistance, go to or call the Help Desk at and select Option 3 for student help.

14. BCC Student Portal Home Page
Self Service
My Calendar (top left)
My Bergen (center)
My Notifications (center, below my Bergen , when present)
Bergen Announcements (center, below my Bergen , or My Notifications, when present)
My To Do (center, below Bergen Announcements)
Bergen Links (top right)
My Class Sites (center right)
Self Service Menu: WebAdvisor for Students/Self Service (bottom right)*
*Click only on Self Service, our new user-friendly area for personalized Financial Aid, Academic Planning, Billing & More. (Links below Self Service will be removed in the near future.)

15. BCC Student Portal Home Page (2)
My Calendar (top left): Appointments or reminders you added to your calendar in your Outlook (Office 365) account are shown here.
My Bergen (center): Number of unread messages ( ) are shown. You can access your student Outlook 365 account here or click the link in the Bergen Links section.
My Notifications (center, below My Bergen , when present): Important reminders, protects and holds added to students’ records and more are posted here. See additional information on slide __.
Bergen Announcements (center, below My Bergen or My Notifications, when present): General announcements are posted here.
My To Do (center, below Bergen Announcements): Tasks you added to Tasks in your Outlook (Office 365) account are shown here.
Bergen Links (top right): Check here for links to various student resources.
My Class Sites (center right): Check here for class information found on Moodle (BCC’s online learning environment).
Self-Service Menu: WebAdvisor for Students/Self Service (bottom right): Click the new Self Service link to access your student information.

16. My Notifications: NJ STARS Protects/Holds
Prospective NJ STARS Students- Protection is placed on prospective NJ STARS students’ records to prevent their classes from being dropped. Students who do not see NJSTARS Student followed by the date applied to their record in the My Notifications section of their student portal sometime at the end of May in Fall semesters and at the end of October in Spring semesters should notify the NJ STARS representative so it can be added.
Protection is temporary and will be extended as long as the NJ STARS Application/ Contract is completed and signed before the first NJ STARS semester begins.
NJ STARS Students- Once students are certified as NJ STARS students, protection will be placed on the records of all students in good standing every semester at approximately the end of May ending in November in the Fall semesters, and the end of October ending in April in Spring semesters.
Holds will be placed on all students’ records beginning the day after add/drop week to prevent students from dropping courses without permission which may cause permanent loss of NJ STARS eligibility.

17. New Self Service Area in Web Advisor for Students
Browse through our new Self Service area in WebAdvisor for Students in your BCC student portal to check your billing and financial aid information; plan and register your classes; access your class schedule, grades, GPA, and more.
Click here to play video
in PDF Version.

18. Regularly Check Your Federal Financial Aid Status for Completion
Again, to be certified as an NJ STARS student, financial aid review must be complete for both federal (FAFSA) and state-based (HESAA) financial aid.

19. Check to See if the Office of Financial Aid has Completed Your Review
The Office of Financial Aid notifies students via their student that they were selected for Federal Verification. The lists required documents necessary to complete their financial aid review which is why it is imperative to regularly check your student .
In the example below, the student’s financial aid review has not begun because an action is needed, specifically, the student must complete required documents.
Click here

20. Federal Verification Selection
In the example continued from the previous slide, the student was selected for Federal Verification and must provide all required documents requested by the Office of Financial Aid before the review process can begin.
This student/parent did not use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool but they can still login to their FAFSA to make corrections by using the IRS Data Retrieval tool.
If they do not update their FAFSA using the IRS Data Retrieval Tool, this student/parent will have to request their tax transcripts from the IRS either online or by mail.
Students must provide required documents via the Financial Aid scanners in Room A-128 using their student username and password and scan the required documents as soon as possible.
Missing

21. Financial Aid Review is Complete and Awarded but Must be Accepted
Your financial aid review is complete when you see a Financial Aid award Package in the Self Service Financial Aid section of your student portal. The example below shows an action is needed; the student must still review and accept their financial aid package, and accept or reject student loans.
Students who are offered and accept loans must complete the entrance counseling and sign a master promissory note before loans can be used.

22. NJ STARS Award
Students who are awarded enough federal and/or state-based financial aid to pay the tuition portion of their bill are considered “unfunded” NJ STARS students. Unfunded NJ STARS students are not awarded NJ STARS scholarships, however the federal and state financial aid process must be completed each academic year by published deadlines to qualify for NJ STARS II scholarships.
NJ TAG (New Jersey Tuition Aid Grant) is a state-based financial aid award, and NJ STARS (New Jersey Student Tuition Assistance Reward Scholarship) is a merit based award. Some students may receive both but they are two totally different awards.
Students who are awarded NJ TAG must complete their FAFSA and the New Jersey Additional Application Questions by April 15th each year or they may temporarily or permanently become ineligible for NJ STARS scholarships. New and continuing students who did not receive NJ TAG have more time to complete the process but should still do so early in case any issues arise.
As long as the financial aid review process is complete for both federal and state financial aid, and students are in good standing, students who are not awarded financial aid, and students who are awarded only partial federal and/or state financial aid will see an Estimated NJ STARS award in the financial aid section of their BCC student portal.
Estimated awards will not be shown until all NJ STARS students are certified on HESAA Roster which is usually sometime in late November during Fall semesters, and sometime in late April during Spring semesters.
Once an estimated award appears in the BCC student portal, you should also see the award in the HESAA student portal. It will first show as unpaid but when a green dollar sign appears, the NJ STARS payment has been made to Bergen Community College.
Students who receive NJ STARS scholarships will first see an “Estimated” NJ STARS award in their student portal. Please do not accept estimated awards. Once applied to your bill, the award will no longer show as estimated.