What is financial aid?
Financial aid is a combination of scholarships, grants,
low-interest loans and work-study. If you are eligible,
your financial aid package will consist of aid provided
by the federal government, the state of South Carolina,
outside organizations and CSU. With contributions from
students and parents, we all work together to make a
secondary education possible for all students who desire
one!
How do I qualify for financial aid?
In
order to qualify for financial aid at CSU, all students
must first apply for admission
and be accepted to the
university. Then, if you want to determine your federal
eligibility for aid, you must complete the Free Application
for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Finally, we will create
a financial aid package for you and send you an award
letter detailing all of your financial aid for the academic
year. The aid in this package will be based on several
criteria — academic merit, financial need, residency
and athletic qualifications, just to name a few.
How do I apply for admission and for financial
aid?
You
can apply for admission to CSU or by contacting the
Enrollment Services Office at (843)
863-7050 or 1-800-947-7474.
You will then be sent an admissions packet, information
on Charleston Southern University and financial aid.
Once you’ve been accepted, you should complete
the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
Remember to add CSU to your list of colleges on the application!
Our federal code is 003419.
We recommend that you complete the FAFSA online. We
can process your aid faster! But, if you prefer to complete
a paper application, you may request one from CSU or
your high school guidance office. Remember that by completing
the paper process, it can take up to six weeks to get
you a financial aid award package!
Why should I fill out the FAFSA if I know I do
not qualify for Financial Aid?
All students receiving financial assistance from CSU
must complete the federal aid application. The only way
to be sure that you do not qualify for federal aid is
to not apply for it! You must also complete the FAFSA
to receive state aid and student loans. If you feel your
situation is unique, please notify the Enrollment Services
Office to discuss it.
What if I miss the deadline for applying for aid?
You
can apply for financial aid as early as January 1.
Though most families wait until they
have filed their
income taxes, you can use an estimate of the prior year’s
income taxes to complete the FAFSA and simply correct
the data with the financial aid office after you have
filed your current year’s taxes. Remember, financial
aid is first come, first serve — the later you
apply, the less aid you may get.
What is FAFSA on the Web?
FAFSA on the
Web is a great online resource devoted to students! Students
may apply for financial Aid by filling out the FAFSA
on the web. You may also apply for a Personal Identification
Number (PIN) from the U.S. Department of Education, which
allows you to electronically sign your FAFSA online.
You can also watch a demo of the online process to make
sure you understand how to fill out the application.
This site also allows you to go back and make corrections
to any mistakes that you have made on the application.
FAFSA on the Web is a comprehensive, multifunctional
site that makes the FAFSA application process easy, more
accurate and, most important, quick!
Why do I need a PIN and where do I get it?
You
can apply for a PIN on the FAFSA on the Web site or
you can visit pin.ed.gov. A PIN
will be mailed to
you — or if you put in an e-mail address, it will
be sent to your e-mail address. This number confirms
your identity with the U.S. Department of Education and
allows you to electronically sign your FAFSA application.
It also allows you to go in and make changes, request
a Student Aid Report (SAR) or fill out a renewal application
in subsequent years. This number has replaced a physical
signature and makes processing much quicker.
Once
I’ve completed the FAFSA
process, do I ever have to do it again?
Yes!
The FAFSA must be filled out every year. Many changes
can occur within a year that may
affect your financial
situation. For example, you may have another sibling
who enrolls in college, or a drastic change in household
income, or you may get married — all of these changes
affect your financial situation, and your eligibility,
and should be included on your FAFSA each year.
What is a SAR?
SAR
is an acronym for Student Aid Report. Once you have
completed the FAFSA and the U.S. Department
of Education
has processed it, they will send you a report to confirm
all of the information on your FAFSA. You can make corrections
on your SAR and return it to the federal processor if
you find mistakes, or you can make your corrections online.
If the Student Aid Report is accurate, file it — you
may need it later. Usually, the report is printed in
a color that coordinates with the color of the actual
FAFSA form — to identify the academic year it was
filed.
I have been chosen for verification. Why was I
chosen, and what does that mean?
Each
year the U.S. Department of Education selects a group
of applications for verification. The
applicants
selected must submit certain documents to the financial
aid office at CSU. These documents may include, but are
not limited to, a copy of your (and your parents’)
federal tax returns, W-2 forms and the verification worksheet,
which will be provided to you by our financial aid office.
These documents are used to ensure that the information
on your FAFSA is accurate and that you are getting the
aid for which you are eligible. If there are discrepancies
between your verification documents and your FAFSA, the
CSU Financial Aid Office will make the corrections. THIS
CAN CHANGE YOUR FINANCIAL AID PACKAGE. Important points
to remember about verification:
• Provide
honest and accurate information to prevent becoming
ineligible for any
financial aid.
• Submit your verification documents immediately—until you complete
this process, you will not receive any financial aid!
When will I receive an award letter?
Once
you have filed your FAFSA and the U.S. Department of
Education has processed it, they
will send us your
FAFSA information electronically. If you fill out the
paper FAFSA, this could take up to six weeks. However,
if you complete the FAFSA on the Web, it could be processed
in two weeks or less. Once we have received your information
from the Department of Education, we then create a financial
aid package for you, and within a few days, an award
letter will be sent to you. When you get this letter,
unless you choose to decline any aid awarded, please
file it in a safe place. If there are any changes made
to your financial aid package at any time — i.e.,
a new scholarship is added, or a loan is cancelled — a
new award letter will be sent to you.
What
is “financial need?"
Most
sources of financial aid, particularly federal aid,
are awarded based on your financial need.
The Department
of Education takes the information that you provide on
your FAFSA and puts that information into a formula.
This formula calculates an Expected Family Contribution,
or an EFC. This EFC represents what your family can comfortably
contribute to your education based on the income, asset
and household information provided. From there, it’s
simple. What your education will cost minus what your
family can contribute will yield what you “need” to
finish paying for your education.
Cost
of Attendance – Expected Family
Contribution = Financial NEED
The
higher your need, the more need-based aid you will
be eligible to receive — like a
Pell Grant. However, if your financial need is low,
you will not qualify for
need-based aid, but you can still qualify for other non-need
based aid.
What is need-based aid?
Need-based
aid requires that you have some amount of “financial
need”. Examples of need-based aid are Federal Pell
Grants, Federal Work Study, Subsidized Stafford Loans,
Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants and
South Carolina Tuition Grants.
What determines my dependency status?
If
you are considered a dependent student, you must include
your parents’ income and asset information
on your FAFSA. If you are an independent student, you
are only required to report your income and asset information
(and also your spouse’s if you are married). You
are an independent student only if one or several of
the following criteria apply to you:
• You
were born before 1980
• You are married
• You are enrolled in a Master’s or Doctoral Degree Program
• You have children AND you provide over half of their support
• You are an orphan or ward of the court
• You are a veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces
How does the Federal Work Study Program work?
FWSP
is a program that allows students to work on-campus
to help pay for their education.
If your EFC is low enough,
giving you a higher need, you could qualify for federal
work study. You will be sent a list of positions available
on campus and then given the opportunity to interview
for the position of your choice. If hired, you will be
responsible for working 10-14 hours each week, and your
paychecks will be applied toward your tuition and room & board
charges. Please be aware that work study runs out, so
if you are interested, fill out your FAFSA early.
Does CSU offer academic Scholarships?
Yes! CSU rewards students academically by giving them grants/scholarships that
are renewable each year, as long as they continue to
meet residency and academic requirements. Our merit-based
aid is determined by the student’s grade point
average, SAT/ACT score and residency status. Eligible
students can receive up to $13,000 in merit-based aid!
Also, different departments at CSU offer their own scholarships
based on performance—for example, athletic scholarships,
music scholarships, band stipends and AFROTC scholarships.
Do other non-CSU scholarships affect CSU financial
aid?
Outside
scholarships and grants can affect the amount of your
institutional aid. CSU has an institutional
policy
called the “Maximum Free Aid Policy,” which
limits the amount of free aid a student gets to the cost
of attendance + books. If you have enough free aid to
cover tuition, room & board and books, the amount
of your institutional aid will be decreased. For example,
Max Free Aid for the 2009-2010 year is $27,832 for an
on-campus student. If a student is awarded a University
Scholar Award for $11,000 and has the following package,
the CSU scholarship would be decreased.
Federal Pell Grant $5,350
Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant $1,000
South Carolina Tuition Grant $3,150
LIFE Scholarship $5,000
ACG: $750
Local Church Scholarship $3,000
University Scholar Award $9582
Total $27,832
If
tuition, room & board, and books
are covered with the free aid that you have in your
financial aid
package, any additional aid added to the package must
be in the form of low-interest loans. This is to ensure
that all scholarship and grant funds are spent toward
educational costs.
Will my financial aid package change from year
to year?
Your
financial aid package may vary from year to year. Each
year, your loan eligibility increases — for
example, as a freshman you qualify for $5,500, and as
a sophomore you qualify for $6,500. Also, if your EFC
varies, then your “financial need” will change — this
will cause your Pell grant amount (if you qualify for
it) to vary over the course of your education. Depending
on what types of scholarship and grants you have, you
may have to maintain a certain GPA to renew them each
year. To qualify for financial aid each year, you must
meet Standard Academic Progress, or SAP. All of these
situations may affect your financial aid package each
year.
What is SAP?
SAP
is an acronym for Satisfactory Academic Progress. It
is our goal that all of our students graduate
in a
timely manner. In order to do this, we have to make sure
that each year you are “progressing” toward
graduation by earning the minimum number of academic
hours and GPA. Each student enrolled full time must earn
a minimum of 24 hours each year. Part-time students must
earn the number of hours that they attempt. You must
also earn the GPA necessary for the cumulative amount
of hours you have earned:
Year in School Earned Hours Minimum GPA
Freshmen 0-31 1.40
Sophomores 31-60 1.60
Juniors 61-90 1.80
Seniors 91+ 2.00
If
you do not earn the necessary hours or GPA, you will
have to complete an appeal form explaining
why you did
not meet academic progress. Your appeal will then be
considered by the financial aid office — if it
is approved, you will get financial aid for the next
semester, but it will be probationary. You will have
to meet academic progress during your probationary period
in order to receive financial aid for the whole year.
If your appeal is denied, you will be required to earn
a minimum of 12 hours, and the appropriate GPA, without
the assistance of financial aid.
What is the Foundations Studies Program, and how
does it affect my financial aid?
The Foundations Studies Program, or FSP, is a comprehensive
developmental program designed for students who are not
yet prepared to enroll in freshman Algebra and English
courses. These students are required to master basic-level
skills before enrolling in the freshman courses. Students
enrolled in Foundations courses may receive financial
aid during the academic year. However, FSP courses count
as attempted hours, not earned hours. Therefore, these
students must pay close attention to the SAP requirements
stipulated above.
What if I decide to go to school only part time?
Part time students do not qualify for institutional
scholarships or state funding. If eligible, part time
students may receive a prorated Federal Pell Grant. You
may also use loans to pay for your education. Part time
students must also meet Satisfactory Academic Progress.
As a part time student, you must earn every hour that
you attempt and make the necessary GPA, or you will have
to go through the appeal process to receive aid the next
year.
What
if my family’s financial
status changes after the award year begins?
If
your family financial situation changes, for example,
a parent loses a job or is hospitalized
and cannot work,
your financial aid package may change. Your parents should
submit a letter of unusual circumstances explaining how
the change has impacted your financial situation. The
letter should include specific changes in income — numeric
estimations of what the income was before the change
and what it will be for the rest of the academic year.
These changes may or may not positively affect your EFC.
We will let you know of any adjustments by sending out
a revised award letter.
What is the difference between a subsidized and
unsubsidized Stafford Loan?
Both
of these loans are federal loans and are only awarded
to students who meet the federal
requirements. The subsidized
loan is a need-based loan that the federal government
pays the interest on while the student is enrolled at
least half-time in an eligible degree program. The unsubsidized
loan is not need-based and it begins to accrue interest
when the loan is disbursed. A dependent student cannot
get an additional unsubsidized loan unless the parent
PLUS loan is denied by the lender. All federally eligible
students qualify for student loans — whether they
will get a “sub” or an “unsub” depends
on their financial need. Both of these loans go into
repayment six months after graduation, after a student
drops to below half-time status, or after the student
withdraws from an academic program.
Year in School Loan Amount Additional if PLUS denied
Total Amount
Freshmen $5,500 $4,000 $9,500
Sophomore $6,500 $4,000 $10,500
Junior $7,500 $5,000 $12,500
Senior $7,500 $5,000 $7,500
All independent students can receive the total amount
of both loans without going through the parent loan application
process if they request it. The federal government has
limited the amount of loans that students can borrow
as undergraduates. Dependent students are restricted
to $31,000, and independent students are limited to $54,000
total. These amounts cannot be exceeded.
Why
don’t I qualify for a
subsidized Stafford loan?
Subsidized
Stafford loans are need-based loans. If you have a
very high EFC and therefore do
not have any need,
you will not qualify for a “sub” Stafford
loan. You will still qualify for the same amount — that
amount will be awarded to you in the form of an unsubsidized
loan. It is possible to have your loan amount split between “sub” and “unsub” depending
on your financial need.
What
happens if I don’t have
enough money to pay for school?
If
you are still short after your grants, scholarships,
work study and student loans have been
applied, your
parents may apply for a PLUS loan. The PLUS loan allows
a parent with a good credit history to help pay for his/her
dependent’s college education by taking out a loan
in the parent’s name. The PLUS loan has a variable
interest rate, and it goes into repayment 60 days after
disbursement. Remember, if the PLUS loan is denied, the
dependent qualifies for additional unsubsidized funds.
In addition to the PLUS loan, students can apply for
alternative loans to help cover their educational costs.
These are private loans that are approved or denied based
on credit and work history. Upperclassmen can apply for
alternative loans at any point as long as they are enrolled
in a degree-seeking program. Freshmen can also apply
for these loans, but they must have a co-signer. An alternative
loan may replace a PLUS loan if a parent prefers to co-sign
for a student and wants a later repayment period. Most
alternative loans go into repayment six months after
graduation or after a student withdraws from school.
Where can I go to find out more information about
financial aid and outside scholarships?
Collegeboard.com -
The College Scholarship Service and The College Board
nasfaa.org - National
Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators
ed.gov/studentaid -
Financial Aid for Students Home Page
Fastweb.com -
Free scholarship search
Wiredscholar.com -
Free scholarship search
sclc.edu- South
Carolina Student Loan Corporation
sctuitiongrants.edu -
South Carolina Tuition Grants Commission
These
are just a few of the scholarship sources that are
available. It would also be advantageous
to contact
local churches, businesses and nonprofit organizations—they
have scholarship programs too!
What if I have questions? Who can I contact?
Assisting you in your career at CSU is our highest priority.
The Enrollment Services Office is located in the Hunter
Reception Center. The office hours are 8:00 - 8:00 Monday
through Thursday and 8:00 - 5:00 on Friday. Our phone
numbers are (843) 863-7050 or 1(800) 947-7474. Fax number
is (843) 863-7070. In addition you may contact us anytime
online.
————————
Some helpful terms
...
Grants and Scholarships - Aid that does
not have to be repaid and is usually determined on academic
merit or athletic ability. There are also some need-based
grants and scholarships.
Loans -
Aid that does have to be repaid usually after graduation
or by working
off the debt in
the case of cancellation provisions. Most of these low-interest
loans are in the student’s name. However, there are
also low-interest parent loans available for assistance.
Work Study - CSU offers both the Federal
College Work Study Program and an Institutional Work Study
Program. Both are designed to help the student earn a portion
of their funds to cover cost.
Financial Need - Cost of Attendance less
Expected Family Contribution equals Financial Need. Need
will be different at each college since the Cost of Attendance
(COA) varies with each college.
Cost of Attendance - Combination of tuition/fees,
room/board, books/supplies, personal/miscellaneous allowance,
and transportation allowance.
Expected Family Contribution - The EFC
is determined by the information provided on the Free Application
for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA.) Once your EFC is determined,
the same contribution would then be used for each college
to calculate your need.
Full-time Enrollment - At Charleston
Southern University, full time is defined as 12 hours per
major semester (fall or spring) for financial aid. In order
to be considered for the maximum aid possible, students
must be enrolled full time or a minimum of 12 hours per
semester.
Three quarter-time Enrollment – Students
enrolled for 9 – 11 hours are considered in the three
quarter-time status for financial aid purposes. Aid is
usually limited to a prorated Pell Grant (if eligible)
and student loans.
Half-time Enrollment -
Students enrolled for 6 – 8 hours are considered
in half-time status for financial aid. Aid is usually
limited to prorated Pell
Grant (if applicable) and student loans.
Less Than Half-time Enrollment - Pell
Grant recipients who are enrolled for less than six hours
may qualify for a prorated Pell Grant. No other type of
aid is available for less than half-time enrollment.
Satisfactory Academic Progress - Is defined
as successful completion of a minimum of 24 hours per academic
year with the appropriate grade point average (GPA) depending
on the cumulative hours attempted for students who are
full time. Part time students must complete the hours attempted
during the fall and spring. Students have through the end
of the second summer session to earn their needed hours
or GPA.
