There is no simple formula to determine if you will be eligible for financial aid. If you have concerns about college costs and you are a United States citizen or permanent resident you should apply for financial aid to determine your eligibility. Remember that financial assistance is awarded for academic and artistic achievement as well as financial need. Please note that all federal and state grant programs awarded by the Financial Aid Office and PLU funded scholarships and grants are limited to students pursuing their first baccalaureate (bachelor's) degree.
You cannot submit the FAFSA until January 1st. Most families apply during January, for optimal aid awarding. (Please note separate deadlines for the merit and talent-based scholarships.) Students who have been accepted for admission and have submitted the FAFSA will receive their financial aid awards on a rolling basis starting in February. Your application is based on the previous year's income tax information.
If you were in a foster home or homeless as a minor, complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) without parental or guardian information (unless you are now a legally adopted dependent). You will need to provide documentation of your status either from the applicable court system or from your high school or school district homeless liaison administrator. Contact us (staablj@plu.edu) if you need assistance in navigating your way through this process.
If the FAFSA analysis determines that the amount you and your family can contribute falls short of the cost to attend PLU, we will make every effort to help you cover the rest of your expenses with financial assistance. If the amount of financial assistance falls short of meeting your outstanding educational expenses, contact us for possible options to close that gap.
You must validate your offer of financial aid by accepting your offer on-line. You must also submit a $200 Advance Tuition Payment and the Residential Life Information Form by May 1.
Financial aid is not disbursed (onto your PLU student account) until after the 10 day add/drop period has elapsed at the beginning of fall and spring semesters. If you have accepted your award and completed all required additional paperwork, your scholarships, grants and loans will disburse onto your account on a semester-by-semester basis. If the disbursed amount exceeds your university charges, you may request a refund of that credit balance by completing a Refund Request Form from the Student Services Center.
We understand that the 2011 incomes reported on the FAFSA may not be sustained into the 2012-13 academic year. If your financial situation has deteriorated, you can let us know by completing the Special Circumstances Request Form. We will make every attempt to take your changing financial situation into account.
Students accepted for admission are assigned a PLU ID# and a Personal Identification Number (PIN). With these two numbers, you can access and accept your financial aid award, see your student account information, and register for classes. Because of the Family Education Rights & Privacy Act (FERPA), parents of enrolled students do not have access to their student's information without their consent or the student's PLU ID AND their PIN.
Fall semester financial aid will be disbursed onto your student account to pay your university charges, beginning Sept 18 (Feb 21 for spring semester). Your aid will NOT disburse if:
Continuing PLU students wishing to receive financial aid for the summer term must complete a 2012 Summer Financial Aid Application in addition to the 2012-13 FAFSA. Summer aid is limited to the Federal Pell Grant and, if enrolled at least half time, the Federal student and Parent PLUS Loans. Please note that any loans borrowed for summer attendance will reduce the amount available for fall and spring semesters. Undergraduate students beginning their initial enrollment at PLU in the summer are not eligible for aid until the fall or spring semesters. Entering Graduate students in cohort programs applying for financial aid will automatically be awarded summer aid if enrollment is half time or greater. Please note that the Federal Pell Grant cannot be disbursed for summer term until July 1, 2012.
The Department of Education will notify the student in writing or electronically of this decision. In addition the notification will outline how the eligibility may be reinstated. "The Department of Education allows a student whose eligibility has been suspended due to a drug conviction to resume eligibility if the student successfully passes two unannounced drug tests conducted by a drug rehabilitation program that complies with criteria established by the Secretary of Education." PLU will also notify the student as soon as we receive notification of a student's suspension of Title IV eligibility and the steps for reinstatement by written communication (by e-mail notification and/or written letter sent by U.S. Mail.)
You have the option to consolidate your Federal Stafford and Direct Loans into a Federal Direct Consolidation loan. The option to consolidate your Federal Stafford Loan and Federal Direct loan into a consolidation loan while you are still in school was reinstated when the budget reconciliation bill was signed. If you choose not to consolidate your loans, you would have two payments, just as you would if you borrowed a Stafford Loan from two different lenders. Since most lenders have been selling their Stafford loans to the U.S. Department of Education, it is likely that your loan will be serviced by the same company servicing Direct Loans, potentially resulting in a single payment anyway. You will, however, have to pay to minimum monthly payment on each loan if you do not combine them into a single consolidation loan. The decision to consolidate may depend on your circumstances when you enter repayment; your employment status, your salary and its prospects for growth, and your personal financial goals and how your student loan debt fits into those goals.
Your first contact would remain with the PLU Financial Aid Office and Student Services Center. We should be able to resolved most "in-house" issues. Once you go into repayment, most of your communication will be with the loan servicing company assigned to your loan by the U.S. Department of Education. You can track your loans on the National Student Loan Data System at www.nslds.ed.gov. For help in resolving loan issues, contact the federal student loan ombudsman at http://ombudsman.ed.gov./
No, but remember that work study is part of your financial aid package to help meet your educational expenses (and in some cases, reduce the amount you might need to borrow in student loans). In most cases, students use their monthly work study pay checks to pay for their on-going personal, miscellaneous or transportation expenses.
If you still have work study eligibility, federal work study can generally be reinstated, even if you had previously declined the award. Off campus state work study, assuming the employer is a contracted state work study employer, can also be reinstated, subject to availability of funds.
If you decline work study, it can be replaced with a scholarship that has been awarded to you by an outside organization or by increasing the Federal Subsidized Direct Loan (if you have not yet already borrowed your annual maximum). Additionally, you could decline the work study award in order to increase your eligibility for a Federal Parent PLUS loan.
Work study is only an opportunity to work. Employment is not guaranteed, nor are the hours necessary to earn your full work study award. You are welcomed to use your paychecks to pay on your account. However, the university does not count work study toward your university bill because in order to have earnings to apply to your account, students must first find a position, apply for and be hired, put in the hours, and finally apply their paychecks against their account.
To determine your eligibility for the 2012 summer state work study program, you must complete the 2012-13 FAFSA. State Work Study is available only to Washington residents returning to PLU for the 2012-13 academic year with sufficient financial need. Summer State Work Study may reduce your fall/spring aid eligibility because the program expects you to save 40% of your gross summer SWSP earnings as a resource for your fall/spring education expenses. If interested, complete the Referral Agreement for SWSP with your employer and return it to the Financial Aid Office or the Student Services Center. Please note that funding for the SWS program is subject to state appropriation. SWSP availability will be determined by the dollar amount awarded to PLU by the state.
There is only one lender in the Federal Direct, Federal Direct Parent PLUS and Federal Direct Grad PLUS loan programs for the 2012-13 academic year - the federal government is the lender, through the U.S. Department of Education. There are many private loans (also referred to as alternative loans), however, with different fees, different interest rates, interest rate caps, etc., so their costs will vary. If your financial circumstances require you to borrow a private loan, you are free to choose any lender, based on your own selection criteria. Lenders are required to disclose cost of borrowing to you as an applicant so you can make an educated choice.
If you decline the Federal Direct Loans, it can be reinstated, as long as you let us know before the last day of the final semester in which you are enrolled during the academic year. The Federal Perkins or Nursing Loans, however, are limited resources and are immediately re-awarded to another student when it is declined. It is highly unlikely that it can be reinstated.
Your Direct loan application can only be processed at the class level commensurate with your current cumulative credits. If your fall/jterm credits increase your class standing from freshman to sophomore or sophomore to junior, you are eligible to increase your loan to the higher annual loan limit associated with each class standing. Contact the financial aid office to request this increase at finaid@plu.edu..
The amount of the Federal Parent PLUS loan awarded is the difference between your cost of attendance (COA) and the amount of financial aid offered to meet that cost. It is offered as a means of financing your out-of-pocket costs after financial aid. The amount actually borrowed can be reduced (to pay for only direct university charges, for instance), or increased because you are declining your work study award. Contact your Student Services Center counselor for assistance in determining the amount the works best for your financial situation.
Go directly to your chosen lender's web site and apply for the alternative loan. Your lender will notify PLU of your approved application. We will then certify your application and add your loan to your award on Banner web with a "CERT" (certified) status. This process also applies to parents wishing to borrow the Federal Direct Parent PLUS loan, with application being made directly to the U.S. Department of Education website.
Federal Direct and PLUS loans are borrowed for no more than one academic year at a time. Unless otherwise notified, PLU will process loans for all semesters the student expects to be enrolled during the academic year at least half time or more, with the loan evenly distributed over those semesters. If you need a loan for only one semester because of your enrollment plans, uneven availability of your financial resources or uneven distribution of costs, contact us for assistance.