July 7: Financial Aid and Billing

Financial Aid 

Academic Awards (4:50)

  • The amount is set at the time of admission and may vary, $3,000-$14,000 for traditional undergraduate students
  • These do not increase based upon your performance at HU
  • If you receive a $14,000, $11,000, or $9,000 scholarship, you must maintain a 3.0 GPA for the scholarship to renew

FAFSA (10:55)

  • This is important to file if you’re using need-based financial aid
  • You can file October 1 to April 15
  • Keep your FSA password; you need it every year!

Loans (12:17)

  • Subsidized (based upon financial need)
    • No interest accrues while student is enrolled as at least a part-time student
  • ​​​​​​​Unsubsidized loan (not based on financial need)
    • ​​​​​​​Interest accumulates while the student is enrolled in school
  • ​​​​​​​There are limits to the amount of loans that a student can receive
    • ​​​​​​​How much you can get depends upon if you’re an independent or dependent student and your classification by credit hour
    • This is important to remember because there is a limit as to how much one can receive, so if you’re planning to go to college more than 4 years, this could potentially be an issue
  • ​​​​​​​Parent PLUS Loan
    • ​​​​​​​Federal loan that’s in your parents’ names
    • Your parent can borrow as much as we are legally allowed to give you
  • ​​​​​​​Private Loan
    • ​​​​​​​A loan in your name where a co-signer is needed

Outside Scholarship Search (16:26)

  • Local community foundation websites and community programs are great places to look for outside scholarships
  • Be cautious of sites where you are asked to pay for a scholarship search
  • Start looking early—around Christmas break— since most scholarship applications close in March 

What if your family situation has changed? (20:46)

  • FAFSA is a snapshot of a family’s situation from two years ago and sometimes life happens. If you’ve found that your financial situation has created concerns and issues, please reach out to the financial aid office.
    • ​​​​​​​You can file a Professional Judgement for the office to see if you qualify for additional aid. Professional Judgements include:
      • ​​​​​​​Student/Parent has lost a job
      • Unusually large medical costs not covered by insurance
      • Elementary or secondary school tuition for siblings or children of the student
      • Unusually high child/depended care expenses
      • Being homeless
      • Natural disasters not covered by insurance
      • Divorce, separation, or if a parent passes away 

Billing

Plans to cover your balance (18:43)

  • Payment plans are offered by the university through an outside party. No interest is charged; there’s only a $40 initial fee (there are 4, 5, or 6-month payment plan options)
  • 529 Plan
    • ​​​​​​​College saving plan and the university accepts payments for those
  • ​​​​​​​Outside scholarships and student employment are both great opportunities to help pay tuition costs
  • Regional Loan/Grant Programs
    • ​​​​​​​Offer great deals
  • ​​​​​​​Matching church grant
    • ​​​​​​​Great way to cover some costs, and HU will match up to $1,000 

Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (22:37)

  • The school cannot give out certain information regarding to the student to anyone who’s not authorized. Authorized areas include: financial aid, billing, education records, and medical records
  • Students must provide the authorization (via the HU Portal) 

Due Dates for Payments (23:43)

  • Fall 2020 Semester: August 10th
  • Spring 2021 Semester: January 10th

Q&A Session (25:00):

Is there a 6-month payment option? (25:16)

Yes, it just started in June. You can still enroll now, you just have to call TMS to enroll and pay upfront the June and July payments, then—for the remaining months— the amount due is smaller than the 4-month and 5-month plans. The website to access the payment plans is huntington.afford.com

With everyone being impacted by a natural disaster, the COVID pandemic, how do you foresee financial aid changing in the coming years? (26:05)

At the end of the 2020 school year, the federal government made a lot of changes to the regulations financial aid needs to follow; there was no change to the amount of money students were given. There are more Professional Judgements being filed, so more students are filing and eligible for the Pell Grant and state aid. Essentially, there isn’t a change in the amount of money being granted, however, there are changes to the process which allows more students to access more aid.

When looking at the course and fee statements, why does it say my loans have been awarded but not applied? (28:15)

For incoming students, this most likely means that you haven’t completed your entrance counseling and/or signed the Master Promissory Note (MPN). These are necessary to complete the loan process, for by signing the document and finishing the counseling, you are agreeing to take on your loans.

For returning students, this most likely means that your loans haven’t been originated yet. The financial aid office has been working on finishing these in the past couple weeks, and it should be done by now. If yours still says “awarded” and not “applied”, email finaid@huntington.edu.

Is the $14,000 academic scholarship new? (29:37)

This scholarship was created to maintain our competitiveness with other institutions around us. Unfortunately, this scholarship cannot be awarded to returning students because financial aid scholarships are budgeted out four years in advance.

Some students are considering dropping this semester if classes are all virtual. Is there a deadline for students to get a full refund? (32:04)

To get a full refund, you must drop your classes before you attend any class for the semester. Otherwise, the amount you are refunded will be a pro-rated amount.