̨��swag

Federal Title IV regulations require all students to complete a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to apply for federal financial aid funds. ̨��swag also uses this information to award state scholarship funds, as well as institutional funds such as foundation scholarships and certain private scholarships.

The FAFSA priority filing date is March 17 every year, so complete your FAFSA early.

After receiving your FAFSA students will receive an email informing them that their FAFSA form has been fully processed and their FAFSA information has been sent to the schools they listed on their form.  Students who applied using the online FAFSA form will receive an email that they can access their FAFSA Submission Summary by logging in to StudentAid.gov using their account username and password.

Upon receipt of your FAFSA information from the federal processor, your eligibility review begins. At times, more information may be needed to determine eligibility. You will be contacted if additional documentation is needed. You may be selected for Verification (see Verification Section 3), which will require that you submit additional information to our office before eligibility can be determined. Once the review is complete, you will receive an email directing you to your Banner Web Account to review your Financial Aid Award. Your initial award will be made to cover two semesters of full-time enrollment, typically fall and spring. Any change made to your award during the award year will also generate an email notification.

A financial aid award is based on the following information (this is not an all-inclusive list):

• Enrollment Status Your enrollment status directly affects your eligibility for certain types of aid.
• Pell Grant - The offer will be for full-time enrollment.  The Pell Grant Payment will be disbursed on a per credit hour prorated basis up to the full amount for full-time (12 credit hours).  For example, if your Pell Grant is $2,000 for full-time and you enroll in 7 credit hours, you Pell Grant for that semester will be $1,167 (or $2,000/12 hours x 7 hours = $1,167). 
• FSEOG - awards are reduced to 40% if you are enrolled less than half-time.
• HOPE/Zell Miller Scholarship - The offer will be for 15-hours of enrollment, but the Payment amount will be prorated based on the number of hours for which you are actually enrolled.
• Federal Student Loans - a student loan is only available if you attend at least six semester hours (half-time) per term or payment period.

The following represents the number of semester credit hours for each financial aid enrollment level:

Undergraduate Students

• Full-time = 12 credit hours or more
• Three-quarter time = 9-11 credit hours
• Half-time = 6-8 credit hours
• Less than half-time = 1-5 credit hours

Graduate Students

• Full-time = 9 credit hours or more
• Three-quarter time = 7-8
• Half-time = 5-6 credit hours
• Less than half-time = 1-4 credit hours

These enrollment levels apply for financial aid eligibility in all semesters (i.e. summer, fall, and spring). This is important to note because there are times during the year when another office on campus may consider you to be at a higher enrollment level than shown here. For example, in some cases the Veterans Affairs office may consider an undergraduate student enrolled in less than 12 hours during the summer semester to be full-time. However, for financial aid purposes, 12 hours is always the minimum number of credits for an undergraduate student to be considered full-time.

• Residency Status ̨��swag is a public institution, so our state funds must be awarded to Georgia residents. If the residency status used to make an award is changed, then your eligibility can subsequently change. You can see your residency status and class level by viewing your Banner account.
• Academic Year For Federal Student Aid programs, an Academic Year is defined as 24 semester hours and 30 weeks of instruction. ̨��swag begins the school year in the fall semester and treats summer as a trailing term.
• Class Level This is a factor when determining Federal Direct Loan limits. Limits on these loans are partially determined by your class level. If you progress or regress a class level, then financial aid eligibility may change. Students who progress a grade level after being awarded and would like to be reviewed for a Direct Loan based on the higher grade level must contact the Financial Aid office to make this request. Direct Loans are not automatically increased based on a grade level progression.
• Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) It is a federal requirement that you maintain SAP to receive financial aid. A change in SAP status can impact eligibility (see Satisfactory Academic Progress Section 14).
• Housing Plans You may receive different award amounts based on your living situation. Your award will be different if you live in the residence halls, off-campus without parents or at home with parents.
• Outside Aid Federal and state regulations require us to consider outside sources of financial assistance when awarding aid. Outside aid can be scholarships (̨��swag or private), tuition waivers, veterans benefits, etc. The addition of outside aid later may cause a reduction to be made to an existing financial aid award. If you are the recipient of outside aid not listed on your Financial Aid Award notice, please contact the Financial Aid Office.

Important
If any of the above information is incorrect or changes, students are urged to contact the Financial Aid Office as soon as possible. The sooner the aid office learns of any changes, the sooner your financial aid eligibility can be reviewed. It’s preferable to do this before financial aid or outside aid is credited to your student account. If it is done later, you may be asked to repay federal or state funds you have already received.

Some of the factors above are used by colleges to determine a Cost of Attendance (COA), which is the estimated cost for you to attend school during the award period. The COA is developed within the guidelines established in Section 472 of The Higher Education Amendments of 1992, as amended. The information you provided on the FAFSA generated a Student Aid Index (SAI). The Student Aid Index (SAI) is an eligibility index number that your college's or career school's financial aid office uses to determine how much federal student aid you would receive if you attended the school. 

Example

The following are only estimates to demonstrate the financial need calculation and does not mean that you will pay that dollar amount.

School A:

$10,000 (Cost of Attendance developed by the school)
-  300 Student Aid Index from the FAFSA)
= $9,700 (Demonstrated Financial Need)

School A will do what it can to help provide funds to pay for the $9,700 need figure, and in some instances the entire $10,000 figure. Keep in mind, most of the $10,000 figure is an estimate, not a direct school bill, and the $300 is an estimate of what the federal government “thinks” you can pay towards the $10,000 COA based on your FAFSA.

School B:

$5,000 (Cost of Attendance developed by the school)
- 300 Student Aid Index from the FAFSA)
= $4,700 (Demonstrated Financial Need)

NOTE: School B costs much less than School A. Note the Student Aid Index (SAI) is the same regardless of which school you attend, which means your calculated “need” will also differ. This will be true in most cases. The difference in Cost of Attendance from one school to the next is one of the main reasons why you may see differences in a financial aid package between the schools…it’s not the only reason, but it can be a big one.

The FAFSA priority filing date for campus-based aid is February 14 each year. Campus-based aid includes Federal Work-Study and the Federal Supplemental Opportunity Grant. These funds are limited, so applying early will allow your application to be reviewed for eligibility.

To be eligible for federal aid, you must be enrolled as a regular student in a degree seeking program. Please note that courses taken outside your program of study requirements may not be covered by federal financial aid.

Audited courses cannot be counted as part of your enrollment level for financial aid purposes.

For federal financial aid, a FAFSA, or a Renewal FAFSA, must be submitted every year, preferably by the priority filing date of March 17. FAFSAs will be available beginning October 1 each year. 

Financial aid disbursements generally occur during the week after drop/add ends each semester. Throughout the semester, the Financial Aid Office will run reports on student enrollment levels. If one or more courses have been dropped (deleted) from your schedule, your financial aid eligibility will be reviewed and possibly adjusted. In this case, you could receive a bill to repay previously disbursed financial aid funds. It is suggested that you contact the Financial Aid Office to discuss the possible impact of changing your enrollment level before adjusting your schedule.

Students who receive grants and scholarships that total more than the cost of tuition, mandatory fees and books must report the excess as income on their tax return. Consult your tax booklet or an accountant for more information.

When you accept university awarded aid, you also give the Office of Financial Aid permission to share pertinent records with donors or auditors as needed. At times, this sharing of information is necessary, but it is done so responsibly and within federal guidelines.

A student’s enrollment level is critical in determining eligibility for financial aid. In some instances, a change in enrollment level after a financial aid package has been awarded can lead to an adjustment to financial aid eligibility.

Students typically change their enrollment by dropping or withdrawing from classes. Before going any further, it is important to understand the difference between a dropped and withdrawn class:

Dropped Class – This class will not show up on a transcript and the student is not charged for the course. It is as if the student never signed up for the class.

Withdrawn Class – A grade of W, WP, or WF will show on the transcript for a withdrawn class. Visit the Registrar’s office for more information about these grades. In most instances students will incur charges for a withdrawn class. Please visit the Business office if you have questions about charges for withdrawn classes.

Drops and withdrawals are treated very differently for the purposes of determining financial aid eligibility. The sections below will describe the different ways these actions will affect financial aid eligibility.

Dropping a Class(es)

Financial aid eligibility will always be reviewed whenever a class is deleted from your schedule. In some instances this means previously awarded aid will be reduced and/or canceled.

Example:

• Undergraduate student was registered for 12 credit hours (full-time status) on 8/30/10 and all federal and state aid was disbursed on August 30
• On September 1 a class is deleted and the student's enrollment is now 9 credit hours
• As a result of this drop, the student’s entire financial aid package will be recalculated based on 9 hours
• In some instances, this means the student will receive a bill for financial aid previously disbursed at the full-time rate

There are two exceptions to this rule.

• Undergraduate students taking more than 12 credit hours in a semester. If they drop a class(es), but remain above 12 credits, then their aid will not be reviewed as their eligibility will not change (federal aid only – state aid such as HOPE will be affected).
• Graduate students taking more than 9 credit hours in a semester. If they drop a class(s), but remain above 9 credits, then their aid will not be reviewed as their eligibility will not change (unless arrangements were made earlier to increase eligibility based on an enrollment level greater than 9 hours).

Withdrawing From a Class(es)

All Aid Has Not Disbursed & Withdrawal of one or more Classes

In some situations aid may need to be reduced and/or canceled based on the withdrawal(s). Please contact the Financial Aid office if you are withdrawing from a class(es) and all of your federal and state financial aid has not been disbursed for the semester. Depending on how many credits you are withdrawing from, the type of aid you have, and the status of your aid in processing, your financial aid could be affected in a variety of different ways.

One example of this impact follows:

• Undergraduate student was registered for 12 credit hours (full-time status) on August 23
• The student accepted his Federal Student Loans, completed the Master Loan Promissory Note, and completed Entrance Loan Counseling on September 6
• On September 10 the student withdraws to 3 total credit hours. His Federal Direct Loans had not disbursed by this date.
• The loans must all be canceled, regardless of what the student is being charged because he is not currently enrolled on at least a half-time basis

All Aid Already Disbursed & Withdrawal of one or more Classes

If all of a student’s federal and state financial aid has been disbursed for the semester, and the student subsequently withdraws from a course (or courses, as long as the student does not withdraw from all courses), there will be no impact on his aid for that semester.

An exception to this is if the student also received state grant money, which may need to be reduced if the Business Office reduces the student’s charges based on the withdrawal. Awards from certain state grant programs may not exceed the cost of tuition/fees and/or tuition/fees and books. Please visit the Business office if you have questions about charges for withdrawn classes.

Example

• Undergraduate student was registered for 12 credit hours (full-time status) on August 23 and all federal and state aid was disbursed on August 23
• On September 10 the student withdrew from a class
• No changes will be made to his financial aid for the semester (note exception above)

See Section 16: Grants and Scholarships for specific details regarding the Federal Pell Grant as it relates to withdrawing from classes.

Even if your aid for the current semester is not affected by the withdrawal, withdrawing too often can result in the loss of your  financial aid eligibility for future semesters. Please visit Section 14: Standards of Academic Progress to learn more about the Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy as it relates to this topic.

If you withdraw from the university, the University Business Office may adjust your charges based upon your withdrawal date and the ̨��swag Refund Policy. For the university refund policy, please contact the Comptroller. For information on the withdrawal process at ̨��swag, please visit the Registrar’s office, which is designated for processing student withdrawals.

Regardless of any adjustment to your charges, if you withdraw from the University, your financial aid may be adjusted based on the percentage of the semester you completed before withdrawing. In some cases, Federal Return of Title IV Funds (R2T4) regulations may require that aid be returned to the federal government for students who completely withdraw from ̨��swag before 60% of a term (calendar days) has been completed. Financial aid is awarded for the entire term, which is generally a 15 week period. If you do not complete the entire 15 weeks, then the Return of Title IV Fund rules will determine how much financial aid has been earned, which is the amount you can keep. The unearned portion must be immediately returned to the federal government. In some situations, this may leave you with a balance owed to the University. Funds are returned to the federal government in the following order: Direct Unsubsidized Loan, Direct Subsidized Loan, Perkins Loan, Direct Grad PLUS Loan, Direct Parent PLUS Loan, Pell Grant, SEOG (grant). Additionally, certain state grants are also subject to being reduced based on applicable state policies regarding grants and withdrawals.

Example

The following is an example of what can happen when a student receives Federal Title IV Aid and withdraws from a semester. This example is based on a student, whom we will call Bob, in the Fall 2013 semester, which contains 101 calendar days (8/24/13-12/15/13 minus the Thanksgiving Break). The same rules apply to all award years:

Tuition/Fees $3,145 (in-state, full-time, undergraduate)

Room/Board $0 (student did not live on campus)

Total Charges $3,145.00

Financial Aid:

Federal Pell Grant $2,675.00, disbursed on 8/25/13

Federal Subsidized Direct Loan $2,737.00, disbursed on 8/25/13

Total Financial Aid Disbursed: $5,412.00

The financial aid disbursed to Bob’s account and paid all of his charges, leaving him with a $1,790.00 refund. This refund was deposited in his checking account via the Nighthawks Direct Deposit program on 8/25/13 and is designed to help him with living expenses associated with attending college (e.g. rent, food, books, etc.). This also means Bob’s fall account is now at a $0 balance, as his charges were paid and a refund was given to him.

Bob became ill and contacted the Registrar’s Office to begin the official withdrawal process to leave ̨��swag on September 29, 2013. His withdrawal was approved on October 30, 2013. According to the Federal Return of Title IV Funds regulations September 29 is considered Bob’s date of withdrawal since that is when he first made contact to begin the withdrawal process. This means Bob only completed 36.6% of the fall semester.

• Calendar Days in Fall 2013 Term = 101 days (8/24/13-12/15/13 minus the Thanksgiving Break)
• Calendar Days Attended (prior to date of withdrawal) = 37 days (8/24/13 – 9/29/13)
• Percentage of Term Attended: 37 days/101 days = 36.6%

• Percentage of Title IV Aid Earned Based on Date of Withdrawal = 36.6%
• Amount of Title IV Aid Earned = $5,412.00 x 36.6% = $1,980.79
• 63.4% of term not attended

• Amount of Title IV Aid Unearned = $5,412.00 (total aid) - $1,980.79 (earned aid) = $3,431.21

• $3,622 (charges) x 63.4% (percent term not attended) = $2,296.35

All of this information is entered into Return of Title IV Funds formula provided by the U.S. Department of Education. The formula determines how much of the $5,412.00 Bob has “earned” based on his attendance and how much must be returned to the aid programs immediately. In Bob’s case, the results of the calculation are as follows:

• Earned Aid = $1,980.79 ($5,412.00 total aid x 36.6% of term attended)
• Total Aid to be Returned = $3,431.21 ($5,412.00 total aid - $1,980.79 student’s earned aid)
• Amount for ̨��swag to return = $2,296.35 of his Federal Subsidized Direct Loan ($3,622.00 institutional charges x 63.4% of term not attended)
• Amount of loans for ̨��swag to return = $2,296.35 of the Federal Subsidized Direct Loan ($2,737.00 total loans disbursed)
• ̨��swag will return these funds and depending on whether any of his original charges are adjusted by the University Business Office, Bob could receive a bill to reimburse ̨��swag for returning these funds. This is because Bob’s bill was paid to $0 prior to the withdrawal. So, if his charges are not reduced, then returning loan funds will remove those funds from his account and create a balance due.

Notes:

• The federal regulations provide some differences in how funds are to be returned, as well as how much, depending on if the formula results in ̨��swag or the student being responsible for returning the funds.
• If the formula had resulted in Bob having to return loan funds versus ̨��swag, then Bob would be allowed to repay the loans under the normal terms and conditions of the Master Promissory Note and not actually return funds now. However, since the formula dictated that ̨��swag return these funds, Bob may have to reimburse the school immediately for the returned funds.
• In Bob’s case no grant funds had to be returned. However, if the formula had resulted in ̨��swag having to return grant funds, then the school would have returned 100% that amount and Bob may have been billed by ̨��swag to reimburse the school for the returned funds. If the formula had indicated that Bob would have to return these grant funds instead of ̨��swag, then Bob would only have to 50% of that amount.

Visit the Business Office to learn more about how ̨��swag charges are impacted by withdrawals.

Visit the Registrar’s Office to learn more about the withdrawal process at ̨��swag.

Federal and state grants are awarded to students based upon factors such as “need” as determined by the FAFSA, the priority filing date, program of study and availability of funds. We will award the maximum grants for which you qualify.

You may apply for the HOPE Scholarship Program in one of two ways: yearly with the FAFSA or once with the GSFAPP.

̨��swag Institutional Scholarships may require a FAFSA.

Pell Grant

Federal Pell Grants are undergraduate grant funds from the federal government that do not need to be repaid. This award may be renewed, but not automatically, each year based on your FAFSA eligibility. Students must begin attendance in all classes for which they received Pell to establish eligibility. If, at the end of a term a professor reports a student received an “F” grade and never attended that particular class, the student’s Pell eligibility will be reevaluated. In some cases, this could mean a reduction to the Pell Grant after the term is over.

Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG)

This federal undergraduate grant may be renewed, but it is not automatically renewed. An FSEOG does not have to be repaid. Awards will be made to undergraduate students pursuing their first bachelor’s degree with a -1500 SAI prior to any other student group. Funds are limited in this account, so awards will be made as long as funds remain available. Once funds have been depleted, no other awards will be made. If there are additional funds remaining after the -1500 SAI students have been awarded, then The Office of Financial Aid will make awards to eligible students in order of lowest SAI, until all funds have been awarded.

Scholarships

There are many different scholarships you can apply for, both institutional and private. The application procedures for these can vary. Further information regarding scholarships offered at ̨��swag can be found on our website.

If you are receiving a ̨��swag scholarship, you must sign a copy of your scholarship letter and return it to the Financial Aid Office before the scholarship can be posted on your account. Federal and state regulations require us to consider outside sources of financial assistance when awarding aid. The addition of scholarships later may cause a reduction to be made to an existing financial aid award. Scholarship checks received with no instructions on which term they should be applied will be applied to the term in which they are received.

Loans are offered in two equal installments over two semesters, typically fall and spring. You may accept the full loan amount offered, specify a lower loan amount that you want to borrow, or decline the entire loan offer. Loans must be originated during a term of enrollment. If a student submits or completes a FAFSA during a term of non-enrollment, the student is not eligible for a student loan disbursement.

• You must submit official academic transcripts from all post-secondary institutions that you have attended since graduating high school or completing a GED.
• You must be a U.S. Citizen or an eligible non-citizen.
• You must register for the if required.
• You must not be in default on any Federal Loan, owe a balance on any federal or state grant, nor owe a balance to ̨��swag.

¹Funds are based on student eligibility as determined by the funding criteria.

²Transient students may be eligible for the HOPE/Zell Miller Scholarship if eligible at their HOME institution.

The Federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) affords student three basic rights:

• The right to inspect and review their education records.
• The right to have some control over the disclosure of their education records.
• The right to seek the amendment of incorrect education records.

Based on these rights, contents of your financial aid file are the property of the ̨��swag Financial Aid Office. These files are considered confidential information. For your protection, we will not release information about your financial aid package over the phone. Information about your financial aid file will not be given to others without your authorization through your Banner Web Account.