Illinois Department of Children and Family Services/Tuition assistance
Illinois Tuition and Fee Waiver for Youth in Care
Amount variesLimited number available
Five years of tuition and fees at any Illinois community college or public university, for anyone who is or has been in DCFS care. It covers whatever is left after a Pell Grant and the state MAP grant. Apply by email with your class schedule, and apply early: places are handled first come, first served.
Tuition and fees at an Illinois community college or public university, for five years. It is a last dollar waiver: the college waives whatever tuition and fees remain above what a Pell Grant and the state Monetary Award Program already paid, so the amount depends on what those cover first.
Dates set each term. Check the official page
What you need
The official page does not list required documents. Check the official page before you apply, since a provider can ask for paperwork it does not publish.
How to apply
- 1Email the application with your class scheduleSend the completed application to DCFS.TuitionWaiver@illinois.gov together with a schedule showing your name, your school, the term and your student ID. Both parts are required, and a missing schedule is the usual reason one stalls.
- 2File the FAFSA first if you have notThe waiver covers what is left after a Pell Grant and the state MAP grant, so those have to be applied for before it can do its job.
Where this comes from
- Official source
- https://dcfs.illinois.gov/brighter-futures/growing-minds/post-secondary-education-services.html
- Last checked by SCRN
- 2026-09-03Verified null days ago
- How it was verified
- Checked against the official page by a person at SCRN
- Source level
- Provider verifiedRead from the provider's own page.
- Deadline
- term basedA deadline every term rather than once a year: 15 August for autumn, 15 January for spring, 15 June for summer. Applications are handled first come, first served, so the date is a floor and not a target.
- How often
- per term