Scholarships and Financial Aid for Houston Students: FAFSA, TASFA and TEXAS Grant

Of everything covered in our broader plan for paying for a Houston degree, this is the piece with the earliest deadline and the biggest downside for missing it. Aid you never apply for doesn't roll over or get offered again later, it's simply gone for that year. Here's what to file, in what order, and by when for the 2027-28 aid cycle.

Start With the FAFSA

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid opens for the 2027-28 school year on October 1, 2026, and it's the single form that unlocks federal grants, federal work-study eligibility and most state and university aid in Texas. File it as early into that October window as your tax and income information allows, since some aid at some schools is awarded on a limited pool rather than to every eligible applicant, and an early filer has a real edge over someone who waits until December.

Don't Skip TASFA If You Can't File a FAFSA

Students who can't file a FAFSA because of immigration status aren't automatically locked out of Texas aid. The Texas Application for State Financial Aid, or TASFA, exists specifically for students who qualify for Texas in-state tuition under state law, including the pathway established through House Bill 1403 and later Senate Bill 1528, and it opens the door to the same state grant programs a FAFSA filer can access. If you've been told you don't qualify for aid because of your status, confirm that with your school's financial aid office directly before assuming it's true, since a real number of eligible students never file simply because nobody told them TASFA existed.

The Deadline That Actually Matters

Texas sets a state priority deadline of January 15, 2027 for the 2027-28 aid cycle, the date that determines eligibility for the TEXAS Grant and other need-based state programs at most Texas public universities, UH included. It's called a priority deadline rather than a hard cutoff, but in practice it functions like one, since TEXAS Grant funding is limited and awarded to eligible applicants roughly in the order their file is complete. Filing your FAFSA or TASFA in October and having your file finished well before mid-January gives you a real shot at this money; filing in February usually means applying for whatever, if anything, is left.

What You're Actually Applying For

The TEXAS Grant is the state's largest need-based aid program for Texas residents attending a public university, and it's the program most directly tied to that January priority deadline. Beyond state aid, individual Houston schools run their own tuition-promise programs on top of whatever federal and state aid a student qualifies for. UH's Cougar Promise, for example, covers tuition and mandatory fees for students from families with an adjusted gross income of $65,000 or less, layered on top of federal and state grants rather than replacing them. Programs like it exist at other Houston campuses under different names, so it's worth asking your specific school's financial aid office what its equivalent looks like rather than assuming UH's terms apply everywhere.

Filing Is Only Step One

None of this aid appears automatically once a form is submitted. Most schools require you to accept an aid offer, complete verification if your file gets selected for it, and sometimes reapply for merit scholarships separately from the need-based aid a FAFSA or TASFA unlocks. Put a placeholder in your calendar for the January date well before the semester gets busy, since the students who miss it most often aren't unaware it exists, they just let it slip once classes start.

Aid Is the First Piece, Not the Whole Plan

Financial aid reduces what you owe before a single paycheck ever comes in, but it rarely covers everything. Once your aid picture is settled, the next step is building an actual monthly budget around what's left over, and if the gap is still real after that, our page on landing a job through your school itself covers the aid-adjacent option that shows up in the same financial aid offer as your grants.

When is the FAFSA deadline for Texas students?

The FAFSA itself stays open for months, but Texas sets a state priority deadline of January 15, 2027 for the 2027-28 cycle, which determines eligibility for the TEXAS Grant and other need-based state aid.

Can undocumented students get financial aid in Houston?

Students who qualify for Texas in-state tuition under state law, including through HB 1403 and SB 1528, can apply for state aid through the TASFA instead of the FAFSA. Confirm eligibility directly with your school's financial aid office.

What is the UH Cougar Promise?

A UH program covering tuition and mandatory fees for students from families with an adjusted gross income of $65,000 or less, layered on top of federal and state aid rather than replacing it.

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