Policies Governing the AWARDING OF FEDERAL STUDENT AID
Apply for Admission to the University: In order to be awarded Financial Aid, you must apply for admission to SDSM&T. Before aid can be disbursed to you, you must be fully admitted and degree seeking at SDSM&T (as a result, non-degree seeking, or what we refer to as Special Students, are not eligible for Federal Student Aid).
Verification process must be complete: If your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) results have been selected by the FAFSA processor for review in a process called Verification, it is the policy of SDSM&T that Federal Student Aid will not be awarded until the Verification process is considered complete. If your record was selected for Verification, you will receive a letter from the Enrollment Services Center in Vermillion explaining the process and what you need to do to complete the review.
Federal awards are subject to final funding: Often financial aid awards are made prior to the notice of final federal allocations. For this reason all Federal Student Aid (Pell Grants, Perkins Loans, Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants and Work-Study) is awarded subject to confirmation of funding. However, it is rare that final funding would be significantly different to the point that we have to adjust awards. The dollar amounts that appear on your award letter are estimates and assume that you will be a full time student.
Authorization to Apply Federal Student Aid to your SDSM&T account for all billed expenses: All charges to your student account are the result of your attendance at SDSM&T. As a result, it is expected that your Federal Student Aid (other than Federal Work-Study) will be used to satisfy charges on your account that you have incurred (such as Tuition/Fees, Room/Board, authorized Bookstore charges, etc.). If an Authorization to Apply Federal Student Aid form is not on file in your SDSM&T Financial Aid record, one will be included with your award letter in which you are given the opportunity to allow your Federal Student Aid to satisfy all charges on your account, or to restrict the application of Federal Student Aid to Tuition/Fees, Room/Board (if contracting with the university for Room and Board) and authorized Bookstore charges only. If you choose to restrict what your Federal Student Aid can be used to pay on your account you will be required to satisfy unpaid charges by some other means. This authorization does not restrict applying School of Mines or outside scholarships and awards to your account. Charges of any nature left unpaid may result in a hold being placed on your academic record, thus affecting your ability to enroll, change enrollment or obtain an academic transcript until the balance is paid in full.
Complete all forms: In order to finalize your award, you must sign, date, and return the top copy of your award letter. All forms that are referenced on the Financial Award Letter web page or available at the Financial Aid Forms Web Page that require your signature must be completed and returned to our office within three weeks of receipt of the award letter.
Additional awards: You must report any other resources received during the year that do not appear on your award letter (such as, Active Duty, National Guard, Reserves, ROTC or VA educational benefits, Voc-Rehab, scholarships, loans, gifts, assistance received from a Cooperative Education or internship employer, etc.). Failure to do so may result in a partial or total cancellation of aid and repayment of any aid already disbursed. In the event you receive additional funding, your financial aid package will be reevaluated and adjustments made, if necessary. In such cases a revised award letter may be sent for confirmation.
App Express and Completing the Stafford and PLUS Loan Master Promissory Note (MPN): If this will be your and/or your parent's first time borrowing a Stafford Student or PLUS Loan at SDSM&T, you will need to go to our APP Express link and complete an electronic MPN and use your U.S. Department of Education PIN to electronically sign the MPN. While completing the MPN, if your lender is not listed on the pull down menu, please contact our office. You may have to use a different process for applying for your Stafford and PLUS Loan.
Entrance Loan Counseling: If you are a first time Stafford Student Loan borrower at SDSM&T, you must complete a Stafford Entrance Loan Counseling session before your Stafford Loan checks can be disbursed to you.
If you are a first time Perkins Student Loan borrower at SDSM&T or have not borrowed a Perkins Loan at SDSM&T since before the 2001-2002 academic year, you must complete a Perkins Entrance Loan Counseling session before your Perkins Loan will be applied to your account. (Once you click on the Perkins Entrance Loan Counseling link, you will need to page down in order to start, since the first item that shows is the Stafford Entrance Counseling.)
If you have accepted both a Stafford Loan and a Perkins Loan, you must complete the entrance counseling sessions for both types of loans. The information given and provisions for each loan are significantly different.
It is also a good idea to write down the confirmation number or make a printout of the confirmation page for future reference.
Disbursement of aid: With the exception of Federal Work-Study, which is paid monthly, and some scholarships, which are paid according to the wishes of the donor, financial aid is either credited to your account or disbursed by check at the beginning of each semester, or after aid eligibility is determined, whichever is later. To the maximum extent possible, the Stafford and Parent PLUS loan programs will be processed electronically and disbursed via Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) to your account at SDSM&T.
If your financial aid exceeds your institutional costs, you will either receive a cash disbursement at fee payment, or a refund check will be available in the Student Accounts Office after the final add/drop date each semester, or what we refer to as the census date, which is at the end of the first 10% of a semester, or approximately the first 10 days. However, you must have with you a photo ID to pick up any refund or overage check. In addition, financial aid will not be released to you before a semester begins. In the event that there are delays in disbursing your aid, you should always have available enough money to meet immediate expenses you might incur at the beginning of each semester, such as the purchase of books and supplies.
Prior to disbursement of any type of financial aid awarded for attendance at the School of Mines, it will be determined if you are degree seeking at the School of Mines, meet the appropriate enrollment status for disbursement (for example, at least half time for student loans and generally full time for scholarships and fellowships), completed Entrance Loan Counseling for student loans and that you are maintaining Satisfactory Academic Progress toward the completion of your degree at the School of Mines. If you meet the disbursement requirements, your financial aid will be released to be applied to your account.
Although you may receive a disbursement of your Federal Pell Grant Program during fee payment, your final payment will be based on your enrollment as of the final add/drop date each semester or what we refer to as the census date, which is at the end of the first 10%, or approximately the first 10 days, of each semester. If your census date enrollment is for fewer credits than you were enrolled when the initial payment was processed, your Pell Grant award will be reduced accordingly. As a result, this action may result in you owing money back to the school. If that occurs, you will need to make immediate repayment arrangements with the Student Accounts Office. However, if your census date enrollment is for more credit hours than your payment was initially based on, then the additional funds will be applied to your account and if the change results in a credit balance, a refund or overage check will be available to you in the Student Accounts Office.
Students (or parent PLUS borrowers) who wish to cancel the EFT (electronic funds transfer) process must request this change in writing. A form is available through our office. Students who wish to have a paper loan check returned to the lender for cancellation may bring a brief letter of explanation to the Financial Aid Office. We will then arrange to have the check returned to the lender.
Loan funds that arrive after the semester ends and you are no longer enrolled at the School of Mines cannot be released until it is detemined if you meet the requirements for a late disbursement. We will also determine if you continued to meet the Satisfactory Academic Progress requirements. This same rule applies to other forms of financial aid that are paid retroactively during the award year.
All institutional charges are due each semester by the final day of fee payment. If not paid when due, a late charge may be applied or your registration may be canceled. Even if you expect to receive financial aid at a later date, you are responsible to pay all University charges when due. If the processing of your financial aid is such that the funds will not be available during fee payment, you can request a deferment until your funds arrive. However, a deferment will be approved during and after fee payment only if you have a copy of your signed award letter that you can present to the Student Accounts Office. Otherwise, payment in full is required or you can apply to participate in the monthly payment program through the Student Accounts Office.
SDSM&T does not offer courses via Correspondence. However, for SDSM&T students who may be considering taking a correspondence course through another college or university, they should contact the Financial Aid Office to discuss possible options with the Financial Aid Director for receiving assistance to help pay for that type of coursework.
Summer financial aid: Summer is considered a "leading" semester for the fall and spring semesters. As a result, students who are requesting aid for summer must have submitted a FAFSA for the upcoming school year (for example, for summer 2009, the 2009-2010 FAFSA results must be on file in our office) and will be awarded aid for the entire aid award year (Summer, Fall, Spring). Students must take this into account when accepting aid for summer, since summer aid will reduce the amount they will have available for the folowing fall and spring semesters when most students take more credit hours. An SDSM&T Summer Aid Application, which will be available late March or early April, must also be completed before you will be considered for summer aid.
For Financial Aid purposes, enrollment status during the summer (full, 3/4, 1/2 and less than half) is the same as it is for the fall and spring semesters. For example, over the course of the summer, undergraduate students must take 12 credit hours and graduate students must take 9 credit hours to be considered full time. As a general rule, you must be taking at least a half time course load (6 credits for undergraduate and 4.5 credits for graduate students) to be eligible for summer financial aid.
For more information contact...
Financial Aid Office
SDSM&T
501 E Saint Joseph Street
Rapid City, SD 57701-3995
Work Phone 605-394-2274
FAX 605-394-1979
Toll Free 1-877-877-6044
financialaid@sdsmt.edu
Contact: SDSM&T Financial Aid
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Last Modified: 05/29/2008 |
