Your Financial Aid Offer

When you have taken all the appropriate steps to apply for aid and have been admitted to SSU, you will receive an award offer from our office. This page contains the following sections:

Notification of Award

New Students
Students newly admitted to SSU will receive an email notifying them when they can view their award offer in Self Service. Until you are registered, the email will be sent to the personal email address on file with SSU. Once you are registered, all email that we send you will go to your Seawolf email account. If you do not have a valid personal email address at the time your award offer is constructed, we will mail a letter notifying you that your award offer can be viewed through Self Service.
 
Continuing Students
Continuing SSU students (including Extended Education) will receive an email notification that their award offer is ready for viewing through Self Service at the Student Center. Click on the View Financial Aid link in the Finances section, and then click on the appropriate aid year to view the award offer. Award offers for the upcoming academic year for continuing students are constructed after the end of Spring semester (around the middle of June).

The award offer lists the types of financial aid you are eligible for based on the information you provided on your FAFSA, your academic program, your grade level and cost of attendance. The totals are listed for the academic year as well as per semester. Amounts listed are based on full-time enrollment (12 units or more) and could be pro-rated if you enroll in fewer than 12 units. For more information regarding particular types of aid, see Types of Aid.

Carefully read and review the Student Aid Report (SAR) that was sent to you by the FAFSA processing center. If you used FAFSA on the Web, you may have received an email with a web link to your SAR. Follow all instructions given to you in the comments on your SAR. If any information, especially income, tax liability, household size, and number in college, is missing or incorrect, make the corrections immediately. Changes in the information on your SAR could result in a change to your award offer. If your award offer changes, we will send you a modified award offer email explaining the changes.

Carefully review your award offer and READ ALL of the information sent to you by the Financial Aid Office (FAO). If you have been offered Direct Loans, you must accept or decline your loan(s) using Self Service. Only Direct Loans that have been accepted by you will be processed with the federal processor and funds made available once school begins. For instructions, see Viewing and Accepting Your Aid Offer.

You must use a Change Notification Form (CNF) to inform the FAO of changes in your housing or enrollment plans, to report additional outside resources such as scholarships and fee waivers, to decline a Perkins loan or work-study, and to request a reduction in federal loans or work-study. The CNF is downloadable from our web site at the Change Notification page.

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Paying Registration Fees and On Campus Housing Charges

Prior to the start of each semester, payments for registration fees and on campus housing charges are deferred as long as you have a sufficient award offer in place. Applying for financial aid DOES NOT relieve you of your responsibility to meet payment due dates for any registration fees, non-resident fees, or on campus housing charges. As a financial aid awarded student, your payments are deferred until the first disbursement of aid each semester if you have completed all documentation and other requirements. If you do not follow through with these requirements, you might lose your classes (also known as disenrollment), be charged penalties for late payments, or lose priority registration for the next semester.

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Using Financial Aid Funds to Pay for Books and Other Expenses

Be prepared to pay for books, supplies and personal items out of pocket as your financial aid will not disburse until the first week of the semester, at the earliest. Depending on documentation requirements and other factors, your financial aid might not disburse until later in the semester. Be sure that you have reviewed your aid offer in Self Service and fully understand any requirements that must be met before your aid disburses and that you know how much financial aid is available to you beyond your direct university charges for registration fees and housing, if applicable.

Financial aid will begin to disburse the first week of each semester. Summer aid will begin to disburse in June.

Authorization and disbursement of financial aid funds generally occurs every Monday and Wednesday throughout the semester and on Wednesdays during the summer sessions. However, there are exceptions. Please refer to the appropriate disbursement calendar from our Disbursement Calendars web page.

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Expected Family Contribution (EFC)

This is a term that is frequently referenced and is a useful term to understand. You receive an EFC based on the processing results of your FAFSA. Sometimes it is misinterpreted as being the actual amount of money that is owed to the university for your educational expenses. This is not true. It is actually a measure of your family’s financial strength and is used as an index number to determine your eligibility for state and federal aid. The lower the number, the more grant money you may be eligible to receive. Higher values of EFC indicate you and/or your parents (if dependent) are better able to use current income and accumulated assets, or can afford to take out loans to pay your expenses.

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Remember to Apply Every Year

Each year you must renew your FAFSA. Renew your FAFSA beginning January 1st of each year, at www.fafsa.ed.gov. SSU’s early applicant deadline is January 31st. The on-time applicant deadline is March 2nd.

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