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Tax Returns and Other Documents
The 2009-2010 FAFSA is needed to apply for financial aid for the Fall 2009 semester, Spring 2010 semester and Summer 2010 sessions. The 2009-2010 FAFSA is available online at www.fafsa.ed.gov.
The FAFSA is necessary to apply for the following financial aid programs:
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Federal Pell Grant
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Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant
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Federal Academic Competitiveness Grant
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National SMART Grant
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South Carolina Need-Based Grant
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Federal Work-Study
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Federal Stafford Loan - Subsidized
- Federal Stafford Loan - Unsubsidized
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Federal Perkins Loan
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Federal Graduate PLUS Loan
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Limited private loans, grants or scholarships
Please make sure you include our federal school code on the FAFSA. USCA's school code is 003449.
FAFSA on the Web
To save mailing and processing time, we
strongly
encourage you to complete
and submit your FAFSA on the web and use a federal PIN to sign the application
electronically. If you are a dependent student, your parent must also sign
the application. Students and parents can apply for a PIN at
www.pin.ed.gov.
After obtaining your PIN(s), complete your application online by using
FAFSA on the Web at www.fafsa.ed.gov.
Use the FAFSA on the Web Worksheet as a tool to assist you in
completing FAFSA on the Web. The worksheet is available at
www.fafsa.ed.gov for you to print.
Complete the worksheet prior to entering your information online. Do not
mail the FAFSA on the Web Worksheet to the Office of Financial Aid or
to the federal processor.
Before transmitting your application, review your answers and make any
necessary corrections. Be sure to provide the appropriate signature(s)
on your FAFSA. If you do not wish to sign the application electronically
with your PIN, you can print a paper signature page from FAFSA on the Web,
sign it and mail it to the address provided.
For assistance with FAFSA on the Web, you may contact Customer Service
at 1-800-4-FED-AID (1-800-433-3243).
You should receive a Student Aid Report (SAR) within two weeks after submitting
your online FAFSA. If you provide an email address on your FAFSA, electronic
access to your SAR will be emailed to you. If you do not provide an email
address, you will receive a SAR by mail. You should carefully review this
document since it contains the information used to determine your financial
aid eligibility.
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If any of the information is incorrect, it is important that you carefully read and follow the instructions on your SAR in order to make necessary corrections. A revised SAR will be sent to you after you have submitted corrections.
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Retain the SAR for your records if all the information is correct. The SAR should not be submitted to the Office of Financial Aid.
If you decide to submit the paper version of the FAFSA, you must contact the federal processor at 1-800-433-3243 to request a 2009-2010 application. Complete the application and mail it in the pre-addressed envelope that is provided with the FAFSA. The completed FAFSA should not be submitted to the Office of Financial Aid. You should receive a Student Aid Report from the federal processor in four to six weeks.
If you don't already have a PIN at the time you submit your FAFSA, you
will receive one by mail or by email. In addition to being able to electronically
sign your FAFSA, you will also be able to use your PIN to check the status
of your submitted application and review the results when your FAFSA has
been processed, correct your FAFSA information, request a duplicate Student
Aid Report (SAR), reapply for financial aid, view information about federal
loans and grants you have received and conduct other important business
with the U.S. Department of Education.
Freshmen and transfer students should apply for admission as early as
possible and do not have to wait until they have been fully accepted in
order to apply for financial aid. However, an official award offer cannot
be made until your admission has been finalized.
Priority Deadline
Student aid funds are awarded on a first-come, first-served basis.
Because funds are limited in the
Federal Perkins
Loan, Federal Work-Study,
Federal SEOG and SC Need-Based Grant programs, we urge you
to plan and apply early.
The priority deadline for receipt of the FAFSA information in the
USCA Office of Financial Aid is
March 15th. Once your application is
processed by the U.S. Department of Education, your information is
sent electronically to the USCA Office of Financial Aid by the use
of our school code (003449). The date that your
FAFSA information
is electronically received by our office is considered your application
received date for financial aid. Applications meeting all federal
and institutional requirements by the priority deadline are considered
for the maximum financial aid package for which a student is eligible,
including need-based aid programs with limited funding.
Applications received and reviewed after this date are considered
for appropriate available funds remaining.
To meet our priority deadline, the
FAFSA should
be completed and submitted by early to mid-February. Upon receipt of your
FAFSA, the
U.S. Department of Education will electronically relay your information
to our office, and we will begin processing your financial aid request.
If you choose to use the web version of the FAFSA, we should receive
your information within two weeks. For the paper FAFSA,
the processing time by the Department of Education will be four to
six weeks.
If your FAFSA information is received in the USCA Office of
Financial Aid after July 1st, you should not expect
financial aid to be available before the deadline to pay your Fall
semester bill.
Tax Returns and Other Documents
Each year, a percentage of applications is chosen for a process called
verification in order to insure the accuracy of the information provided
on the FAFSA. Therefore, you may be required to submit a signed copy of
your parents' and/or your completed federal tax return(s) and other relevant
document(s) to the USCA Office of Financial Aid. During the 2007-2008 processing
year, approximately 50% of all applications received by USCA were identified
for verification. If your application is chosen for verification, you will
be notified in writing. It is extremely important that you respond
promptly to any request for additional information or documentation. Financial aid
awards can only be made after all required information is received, reviewed
and determined to be accurate. This includes awards for grants, student
loans, federal work-study and some institutional scholarships. Even if
your application is received by the priority deadline, you will not receive
a financial aid award if your file is incomplete.
Award Notification
If you are awarded financial aid, you will be sent an award letter which
will indicate the source(s) and amount(s) of any federal grants, loans
or work funds that you have been awarded. All references to loan awards
will reflect gross amounts awarded, not net amounts to be received. The
proceeds from all indicated awards must be used by the student to pay his
or her educational expenses. Educational expenses include tuition and other
academic fees, housing costs and other expenses directly related to the
student's attendance at USCA. Your letter will also indicate any
non-University assistance of which we were aware when your award was
determined.
Click here
for important information governing the terms and conditions of your financial
aid award(s).
It is the student's responsibility to read this
information and to become familiar with the terms and conditions.
Your financial aid initially will be processed based on full-time
enrollment for both Fall and Spring. When you receive your award letter, you
will be able to notify our office if you do not plan to enroll full-time,
and your awards will be adjusted. Also, you may indicate in the space
provided on the award letter if you want to revise or decline part or all of
the offer. The Office of Financial Aid will attempt to meet your calculated
need. However, due to funding limitations, you may not receive funds equal
to the total amount of your eligibility.
VIP - Online Information
Students may access Visual Information Processing (VIP) at
https://vip.sc.edu for online information
about financial aid. This website provides information about your financial
aid awards as well as information about the disbursement of your aid. You
must have a valid USC ID number and a USC PIN in order to log-in to VIP.
Information about using your financial aid to process your bill
on VIP can be found on the website of the USCA Business Services Office at
www.usca.edu/finance.
DO NOT ASSUME THAT YOUR FEES ARE AUTOMATICALLY PAID AS A FINANCIAL AID / SCHOLARSHIP
RECIPIENT. YOU MUST PROCESS YOUR BILL ON VIP, PRINT AND PROCESS YOUR
BILL BY MAIL, OR GO INTO THE BUSINESS SERVICES OFFICE DURING BILL PROCESSING.
Summer Financial Aid
Financial aid for USCA summer sessions requires the FAFSA and a separate
USC Aiken summer school financial aid application. Summer applicants must
contact the Office of Financial Aid in early March to obtain the proper form(s).
The application must be completed and returned by May 1st for
summer aid to be processed.
Financial aid available for summer school is extremely limited. If you
have Federal Pell Grant and/or Federal Stafford Loan eligibility for the
academic year and you use all of that eligibility in the Fall and Spring
semesters, there will be no Pell Grant and/or Stafford Loan available to
use for summer sessions. If you have no Pell Grant eligibility for the
Fall and Spring semesters, you will not be eligible for Pell for summer
sessions.
Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy
Federal regulations require recipients of federal student aid funds to
be making satisfactory progress toward the completion of degree requirements.
The USCA Office of Financial Aid must assess the academic progress of each
financial aid applicant relative to these standards. The assessment is
done at the time the new FAFSA is received by the Office of Financial Aid.
To be awarded financial aid at USCA, a student's total enrollment must
be within the established time limitation for his or her program of study.
The student must also complete a minimum number of semester hours during
each period of enrollment, as defined by the institution.
Please click here for USC
Aiken's Financial Aid Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy.
A printable version of the USCA Financial Aid Satisfactory Academic Progress
Policy is available as an Adobe Acrobat file. In order to view and print
this file, you will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you do not already
have Acrobat Reader on your computer, you may obtain this free software
from
Adobe Software.
Click here for the printable document.
Inquiries to StuAid@usca.edu
Last updated/reviewed 07.07.09
