Financial Aid Options for BFA Students

There are multiple options of financial aid for BFA students at CalArts. We encourage students to browse through all options. For additional assistance, please feel free to contact the Office of Financial Aid at finaid@calarts.edu.

Important Tools for the BFA Financial Aid Process

Click to expand for instructions
View Awards

When financial aid awards are available, students will receive an email notification to go online and view financial aid within Self-Service, a CalArts web application that enables users to interact with their individual information. All students must accept or decline their financial aid awards before financial aid can be processed. 

Students can view their financial aid awards through the following steps:

  • Visit sso.calarts.edu to access the Self-Service web app.
    *IMPORTANT NOTE FOR NEW STUDENTS
    New students get credentials from Admissions and will need to setup their account with sso.calarts.edu, establishing their permanent password and account recovery information. After completing these easy steps, a new student will be able to access their application information and view their financial aid award. Please click here for precise and detailed steps on how to do this. For further assistance, please contact the Office of Information Technology at cait@calarts.edu. 
  • Click on “Self Service” within the available web app dashboard
  • Click on “Financial Aid” to go to your Financial Aid Checklist
  • Click on “Review and accept your Financial Aid Award Package”
Accept or Decline Awards

For instructions on accepting or declining your awards, please see this instructional pdf. 

View Next Steps

Once you have been notified that your award letter is ready, click here to read more about your next steps in this process. 

Estimated Payment Worksheet

Our online Estimated Payment Worksheet allows you to enter your estimated costs and financial aid award information to calculate your estimated tuition and fee bill each semester. 

Tuition Payment Plan

In an effort to help students and families meet their educational expenses, CalArts has partnered with Nelnet Campus Commerce (Nelnet) to administer a monthly payment plan. CalArts payment plan is an interest-free monthly payment plan which allows you to divide tuition and other expenses into four smaller monthly payments spread out over the semester. Please visit our Payment Options page for more details.

Students can now designate one or more individuals as authorized parties to have access their FERPA protected information on Self-Service; this includes financial aid, student accounts and registration information.

To learn more and set up Proxy access please click here.