Where do I find a school's Federal School Code?
If you're staring at the FAFSA and can't tell which six digits (or six characters) belong to your school, that hesitation is completely reasonable — a wrong code sends your financial information to the wrong place, so it's worth getting right rather than guessing.
Finding a School's Federal School Code
If you're staring at the FAFSA and can't tell which six digits (or six characters) belong to your school, that hesitation is completely reasonable — a wrong code sends your financial information to the wrong place, so it's worth getting right rather than guessing.
What it is: the Federal School Code is the ID the U.S. Department of Education uses to route your FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) results to a specific school. It's usually 6 characters and can start with a digit or a letter (0, G, B, or E) — type it exactly as the school gives it to you.
Where to actually find it, in order of reliability:
| Method | How |
|---|---|
| The school's own Financial Aid page | Most schools print it directly on their "Applying for Financial Aid" page |
| FAFSA's built-in school search | At fafsa.gov / studentaid.gov, search your school by name while filling out the form — it auto-fills the code |
| Official Dept. of Education list | The Federal School Code List of Participating Schools, published quarterly by Federal Student Aid (fsapartners.ed.gov) |
For example, Five Branches University's own Financial Aid page lists its Federal School Code as 03131300 (Santa Cruz — this single code covers both the Santa Cruz and San Jose campuses); that's straight from the school's live financial-aid page.
One thing worth checking before you get attached to a school: not every TCM school participates in federal Title IV aid, so a school simply not appearing on that official list means federal aid (Direct Loans, work-study, etc.) can't be used there at all — worth confirming early if you're counting on it.
Trying to track down a code for a specific school, or wondering whether a particular one even participates in federal aid?
Sources
- Five Branches University — Financial Aid Info Dac Mac checked 2026-08
- Five Branches University — published materials checked 2026-07
Last reviewed: