Once we have received a student’s official FAFSA and verified that the student meets all aid eligibility criteria, the student is packaged with aid. This means that all the awards for which a student is eligible (taking into consideration such factors as cost of attendance, need, and EFC, in addition to specific requirements for individual awards) are posted to their financial aid account.
Financial aid awards are added to students’ accounts in a predetermined sequence; it is most beneficial to students that gift aid (that is, aid that does not have to be earned or repaid) is sequenced above self-help aid (that is, work-study or loans). In this way, we ensure that self-help aid is not preventing a student’s receipt of grants, scholarships, and fee remissions. (For more information on cost of attendance and financial need, click here.)
An example of a student’s award sequence follows (please note, however, that not every student will receive every award listed below):
- Outside scholarship*
- Federal Pell Grant
- O’Bannon Grant (from SSACI)
- Federal Perkins Loan
- Federal Work-Study
- Federal Stafford Subsidized Loan
- Federal Stafford Unsubsidized Loan
*OSFA does not award scholarships or fee remissions; however, they are listed with other types of aid on a student’s financial aid account because they count towards a student’s overall need and cost of attendance.
If a student receives a PLUS or private loan, we add it to the bottom of the award sequence.
Because of this award sequence, a student’s financial aid award package is subject to change. For instance, if after the package has already been assembled, we are notified that the student is receiving an additional scholarship, the scholarship will be added to the top of sequence. If the student was originally packaged up to their cost of attendance, the addition of the scholarship will cause the student to be over-awarded, that is, receiving aid in excess of their cost of attendance. In order to keep the student within their cost of attendance, we must reduce an award at the bottom of their sequence (e.g., Federal Stafford Loan), which then frees up room for the more preferential scholarship.
