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Your financial aid eligibility is contingent upon a variety of factors, including application deadlines, enrollment and academic progress requirements and your changing financial need. Keeping track of all these variables can be daunting, especially if you are receiving aid for the first time.

Our financial aid policies and procedures are a compendium of important information that all students receiving financial aid should know. Consult a particular topic or review them all to learn more.

Find out more:

There are many reasons why you should fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). All students who wish to receive need-based financial aid must submit the FAFSA each year. This applies to most financial aid sources. The exception would be students who are receiving scholarships or non need-based grants only from Institutional sources, and who do not wish to be considered for any other aid, such as loans or work. If in doubt, file the FAFSA.

All students who wish to be considered for financial aid eligibility, whether it be through institutional, Federal, or State funds, must submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) each year, listing The College of Saint Rose Federal School Code (002705) to allow the College to receive the application data electronically. By submitting the FAFSA, a student is applying for all forms of Title IV Federal Student Aid Programs, including the Pell Grant, the Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (SEOG), Federal Work Study, Federal TEACH Grant, and the Federal Loan Programs (Perkins Loan, Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans, and Direct Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students). The FAFSA is also used to determine an applicant’s eligibility for the College’s Grant-In-Aid program. Annual submission of the FAFSA is expected of all recipients of institutional aid, including those awards based on merit, talent, or athletic ability. It is required of those receiving full-tuition or larger grants from the College in order to incorporate Pell or TAP awards for which the student may be eligible.

 

Submission of the FAFSA will generate an Institutional Student Information Report (ISIR) and a Student Aid Report (SAR). The ISIR is the electronic document transmitted to each college/university indicated on the FAFSA. If The College of Saint Rose Federal School Code (002705) is listed on the FAFSA, the College will receive the ISIR electronically. The SAR contains the same information as the ISIR and is made available to the student either electronically or by mail. The ISIR/SAR contains data required to determine an applicant’s financial aid eligibility.

 

All types of financial aid are disbursed directly to a student’s account via electronic means. Aid is disbursed once per semester. Federal loans are disbursed approximately 7-10 days prior to the start of each semester of eligibility. Institutional and Federal grants and scholarships are disbursed following the end of the add/drop period for each semester. NYS awards are certified after the tuition refund period has ended. Financial Aid is not disbursed retroactively. Once a semester has ended, aid will no longer be disbursed to a student account.

 

The priority deadline for receiving the ISIR at The College of Saint Rose is December 1 for summer and fall semesters and November 1 for the spring semester. ISIRs received after December 1 will be evaluated, but some funds may no longer be available for late applicants.

The term “Institutional Financial Aid” refers to any scholarship or grant awarded by The College of Saint Rose from its own restricted or unrestricted source. Examples of Institutional Financial Aid would include Grant in Aid, the Saint Rose Award and the Provost’s Scholarship.

Unless otherwise stated, all Institutional financial aid awards are offered for full-time study, defined as at least twelve credits per semester for undergraduates or nine credits per semester for graduates. Some Federal and State financial aid awards require full-time enrollment as well. Awards requiring full-time enrollment will be cancelled for students not attending on a full-time basis.

Institutional financial aid awards are “tuition-only” awards. Examples of institutional financial aid awards include the Saint Rose Award, Grant in Aid, and the Advancing the Saint Rose Difference award. Institutional awards may not exceed the cost of tuition minus any other tuition-only award such New York State TAP or a tuition-only scholarship from an outside agency or organization.

Financial aid awarded on the basis of financial need, such as Work-Study, will be reevaluated each year of a student’s attendance. If your financial need decreases, Institutional need-based aid will decrease accordingly. If your financial need increases in subsequent years, Institutional need-based financial aid will be increased to an amount not to exceed the level of aid received n your initial financial aid package.

If you withdraw from the College, your Institutional financial aid will be cancelled indefinitely. Should you “stop out” for a term, you may request that your eligibility for Institutional financial aid be deferred for a period of one semester. Stopping out for longer than one semester will result in the loss of institutional financial aid indefinitely.

When the Office of Financial Aid of the College of Saint Rose awards federal student financial aid to a student the assumption is that the student will attend the College for the entire period for which the aid was awarded. When the student withdraws, they may no longer be eligible for the full amount of the federal student financial aid funds they were scheduled to receive.

Federal student financial aid recipients who withdraw from The College of Saint Rose are subject to the return of federal student financial aid funds regulations. The calculation for return of federal student financial aid funds will determine the amount of grant and loan assistance a student “earned” for the period of the student’s enrollment at the College. This calculation will be done by the Office of Financial Aid using U.S. Department of Education return of federal student financial aid software.

Up through the 60 percent point in each payment period or period of enrollment, a pro rata schedule is used to determine the amount of Federal funds the student has earned at the time of withdrawal. After the 60 percent point in the payment period or period of enrollment, the student has earned 100 percent of the federal student financial aid funds they are scheduled to receive during the period. The “unearned” portion of the aid will be returned to the appropriate federal student financial aid programs. The order in which funds will be return is Unsubsidized Direct Loan, Subsidized Direct Loan, Perkins Loan, Direct Plus Loan(graduate student), Direct Plus Loan (parent), Pell Grant, FSEOG, TEACH Grant.

For a student who withdraws after the 60 percent point-in-time, there are no unearned funds. However, the College will still complete a Return calculation in order to determine whether the student is eligible for a post withdrawal disbursement.
The College will return to the appropriate agency any unearned federal financial aid. If the student has received excess funds that must be returned, the College will return excess federal financial aid to the appropriate agency and bill the student. In such cases, the student will be required to make arrangements with the Bursar’s Office to pay the balance. Any federal financial aid the student has to return is considered to be a federal overpayment. The student must either repay the amount in full or make satisfactory arrangements with the Bursar’s Office top repay the federal funds. The student must complete the payment arrangements within 45 days.

Institutional scholarship and grant programs funded directly by the College of Saint Rose are not governed by this policy. Institutional aid is prorated in accordance with the tuition charge for which the withdrawing student is responsible.

The U.S. Department of Education automatically selects approximately one-third of all applications for Federal Student Aid for a review process called Verification. Also, the College may select an application for Verification if additional information is needed to accurately determine financial aid eligibility. Verification is the process of reconciling data reported on the FAFSA with documentation of the actual data.

If an application is selected for Verification, the Financial Aid Office is required by law to obtain specific documentation to complete the process. The Financial Aid Office will notify selected students exactly what documentation is required. Failure to submit the requested documents will prevent an applicant from receiving disbursements of institutional and Federal financial aid awards.

The Verification process must be completed within sixty (60) days of notification. If the Verification process is not completed in this timeframe, an applicant will be considered ineligible for Federal or institutional financial aid, including Federal student loans. As a result of the Verification process, the data reported on the FAFSA may need to be adjusted. In this case, the Financial Aid Office will electronically submit corrections to the ISIR. If financial aid eligibility changes as a result of the Verification process, the Financial Aid Office will notify the applicant by sending an updated Award Letter.

Financial aid recipients are required to maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP). The College will evaluate SAP after grades are reported at the end of each academic year. This SAP policy applies to all financial aid programs except for the New York State financial aid programs that have a different policy for academic progress and program pursuit. The SAP policy requires that financial aid recipients achieve a minimum number of earned credits and a minimum cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA) after each academic year. In addition to maintaining Satisfactory Academic Progress toward the educational objective after each academic year, recipients of Federal Student Aid (FSA) cannot receive FSA funding for more than 150% of the minimum time duration for completing their program. The following chart indicates the SAP standards at The College of Saint Rose:

Credits Attempted Cumulative GPA % of Attempted Credits Earned
0-15 1.0 50%
16-24 1.5 62%
25-36 1.6 62%
37-48 1.7 62%
49-60 1.8 67%
61-72 2.0 72%
73-84 2.0 72%
85-96 2.0 75%
97-108 2.0 78%
109-120 2.0 80%
121-132 2.0 82%
133-144 2.0 85%
(Final Semester) (Degree Earned)

For students who have transferred to the College, SAP will be evaluated by equating the number of credits transferred to the College to the Total Earned Credits on the SAP chart above.

Students not maintaining SAP are ineligible for all financial aid covered by this policy for subsequent semesters until the academic deficiencies have been remedied. To re-establish financial aid eligibility, a student will need to achieve the required number of Total Earned Credits and Cumulative GPA after a subsequent period of enrollment equivalent to a full-time enrollment load (a minimum of twelve credits).

Students not maintaining SAP can appeal the loss of aid eligibility. Any such appeal must be submitted in writing to the Financial Aid Office, along with supporting documentation of the circumstances involved in the appeal. The appeals will be evaluated by the Institutional Status Review Committee.  If the appeal is approved an academic plan will be developed. Decisions about appeals for extension of aid to students not maintaining SAP are final.

Students who take an Incomplete (I-grade) for a class are considered to be not maintaining SAP and are, thereby, ineligible for financial aid for a subsequent semester. Financial aid eligibility can be determined only when all classes attempted have been completed. Therefore, the Financial Aid Office will not evaluate aid eligibility or disburse financial aid awards if a student has an outstanding I-grade.