Financial Aid Eligibility
Financial Aid Notification
When all required information has been submitted, (see Applying for Financial Aid), the Financial Aid Office will process your application, process your financial aid eligibility, and send you a financial aid notification.
In addition, students with loans may have to complete a Loan Entrance Interview and Master Promissory Note (MPN), both of which need to be done online with Federal Student Aid. Students will choose to accept or decline any student loans awarded in their Student Portal.
Your initial Financial Aid Notification, in most cases, assumes that you will be taking the same number of credits in the spring semester as you have registered for in the fall semester. The Financial Aid Notification that was sent to you states the enrollment status for which the award was based. If the number of credits in which you are enrolled changes for the next semester, that could change your financial aid. If you change your enrollment, check with the Financial Aid Office.
If you have not submitted all the necessary financial aid paperwork by the 15th of August or the 15th of December (for students admitted for the spring semester), a payment plan with the Business Office must be in place.
Understanding Your Financial Aid Offer
To help students and families better understand their financial aid, including important information on the types of aid, please watch the video “Understanding Financial Aid Offers”
Financial Aid for Summer Courses
- If you received a Federal Pell Grant during the fall and/or spring semesters, you may be eligible to receive one for the summer, depending on your enrollment status
- You must inform the Financial Aid Office if you register for summer classes so your financial aid can be adjusted.
- In many cases, the maximum loan amount for which you are eligible is packaged in the initial award, and half of the amount is disbursed for the fall semester, and half for the spring semester. However, if you are eligible for a loan for the summer semester and request one, the loan will be awarded.
Financial Aid Refund
The add/drop period is the first six business days of each semester. The second week, you can drop one or more courses, receive a grade of W and a 50% refund (but if you withdraw from ALL courses, the Financial Aid Office will perform a federal refund calculation (Return to Title Four – R2T4) to determine if funds need to be returned to the Dept. of Education, and you could owe money.)
Your financial aid is based on the number of credit hours you are taking at the end of the add/drop period each semester. Your financial aid eligibility could be adjusted to a different amount than was shown on your notification if your enrollment changes from the time your eligibility was calculated.
Your financial aid is applied against your semester charges. If your total financial aid is greater than your total charges, you will receive a refund for the excess amount, usually about a month after the start of the semester. If some of your classes start later in the semester, a portion of your financial aid will have a delayed disbursement date based on the start date of the later classes.
It is your responsibility to let the Academic Affairs Office know if you are not attending classes. If you have not attended a class or classes at all, but you did not let the Financial Aid Office know and we find out after your aid has disbursed, we will return all the aid to the Dept. of Education, and you could owe money. You cannot have financial aid for a class you never attended.