Financial Aid Tips

1. File on-line. Applying on-line is faster and more accurate. Web-based programs have built-in edits to prevent students from missing required information. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FASFA) is available at www.fafsa.ed.gov.

Students seeking ONLY HOPE Scholarship funds may apply at gacollege411.org

2. Use pin numbers for signatures. The student AND parent can electronically sign the FASFA by using pin numbers. Pin numbers can be obtained at www.pin.ed.gov. Allow 3 days for a response if providing an email address. Allow 10 days if the pin number is to be mailed.

3. Submit requested documents promptly. When additional documents are requested by the Financial Aid Office, a timely response (within 10 days) will prevent a delay in the application process. The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) selects students for verification of data. Income documents such as federal tax returns and W-2's are required from students and parent or spouse in these instances. 

**Attention Military Personnel:  A Leave and Earning Statement (LES) is necessary to complete the FAFSA and verification worksheet.  If this document is not available, the student/parent can access the LES at http://mypay.dfas.mil/mypay.asp using their pin number or https://secureapp2.hqda.pentagon.mil/perdiem/ to determine the standard housing allowance.

4. Know your financial aid deadlines. Students submitting complete and accurate documents by the financial aid deadlines should have written response of aid offered prior to the fee payment date for the semester. The priority processing deadlines for financial aid at Columbus State University are:

     May 1st for Fall Semester
     November 1st for Spring Semester
     March 15th for Summer Semester

Students should submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid at least 6 weeks prior to this deadline for processing by the Department of Education. Applications received after the priority deadlines are processed in date order. However, payment of funds on late applications may not be disbursed by the fee payment date for the term.

5.  Be aware of extra steps. Students receiving their first Federal Direct Student Loan must complete the following 2 steps to finalize processing of an educational loan.
Students must complete a separate CSU summer application for financial aid. A summer application is mailed to enrolled students during spring semester. For financial aid purposes, full-time enrollment during the summer is 12 or more hours for undergraduates and 9 or more hours for graduate students.

6.  Check your financial aid application status. An easy and convenient method of checking the status of a financial aid application at CSU is to use Cougarnet. Grades, registration and financial aid status can be viewed on Cougarnet at http://cougarnet.colstate.edu/

7. Know your responsibilities to maintain eligibility. ALL ATTEMPTED HOURS AND GRADES ARE COUNTED IN THE HOPE PROGRAM. Hours and grades in developmental courses are included in the calculation of HOPE hours and grade point average (GPA). In addition, courses dropped after the drop/add period are included in the cumulative HOPE hours and GPA. The HOPE GPA is checked at the end of the term that a student attempts the 30th, 60th, and 90th semester hour. In addition, all HOPE Scholarship recipients are checked every spring term.  Exception: part-time freshmen are first checked after three terms of part-time enrollment.  At these checkpoints, the student must have a 3.0 or higher GPA to maintain HOPE eligibility.

Students must meet Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) standards to receive federal and state financial aid funds. These standards are measured in qualitative (GPA) qualitative (completion rate percentage and attempted hours limitation) requirements. A copy pf the SAP policy is available in the CSU Financial Aid Office and on-line at http://finaid.colstate.edu/sap.htm.

8. Retain documents. Students are encouraged to thoroughly read and retain documents from the Financial Aid Office for later reference. Student loan records may be important to access during repayment.