Financial Aid

Financial Aid Student Responsibilities

As a recipient of federal student aid you have certain responsibilities, including the following:

• You must complete all application forms accurately and submit them on time to the right place. You must reapply annually for financial aid.

• You must provide correct information. The intentional misreporting of information on financial aid application forms is a criminal offense that could result in indictment under the U.S. Criminal Code. You must return all additional documentation, verification, corrections, and new information requested by either the Financial Aid Office or the agency to which you submitted your application.

• You must notify the Financial Aid Office of any financial aid received from sources outside the University.

• You are responsible for reading and understanding all forms that you are asked to sign, as well as keeping copies of them.

• You must accept responsibility for all agreements that you sign.

• You must perform the work that is agreed upon in accepting Federal Work-Study (FWS). Even though you may be eligible for FWS, no student is guaranteed a job. Jobs are based on the University’s award of federal funds and job availability. An FWS award is an opportunity to seek, interview for, and obtain a campus work-study job in the same way that a job is obtained under normal circumstances.

• You should be aware of the school’s refund policy.

• You must be aware of and comply with the deadlines for application or reapplication for aid.

• All schools must provide information to prospective students about the school’s programs and performance. You should consider this information carefully before deciding where to attend school.

• If you have a loan, you must notify the lender if any of the following occurs before the loan is repaid: graduation, withdrawal from school or less than half-time attendance, change of address, name change (maiden name to married name, etc.), or transfer to another school.

• You must repay your loan in accordance with the repayment schedule.

• You must notify the lender of any occur¬rence that may affect your eligibility for a deferment.

• You must notify the Financial Aid Office of changes in your family’s financial situation or your financial situation.

• You must contact the Financial Aid Office before registering for Individualized Study classes. Even though you are given four months to complete these classes, some financial aid programs require that they be completed in a shorter period of time.

• You must use the proceeds from your financial aid disbursement for educational purposes only.

Financial Aid Student Rights

As a recipient of federal student aid, you have certain rights, including the following:

• You have the right to know what financial aid programs are available at Mountain State University.

• You have the right to receive a listing from the Financial Aid Office of the agency in each state you may contact regarding grants available to residents of that state.

• You have the right to know the deadlines for submitting applications for each of the financial aid programs available.

• You have the right to know how financial aid will be distributed, how decisions on that distribution are made, and the basis for these decisions.

• You have the right to know how your financial need was determined. You have the right to know what resources (such as parental contribution, other financial aid, your assets, etc.) were considered in calculation of your need.

You have the right to know how much of your financial need, as determined by the institution, has been met.

• You have the right to request an explanation of the various programs in your student aid package.

• You have the right to know your school’s refund policy.

• You have the right to know what portion of the financial aid you received must be repaid and what portion is grant aid. If the aid is a loan, you have the right to know the interest rate, the total amount that must be repaid, the payback procedures, the length of time you have in which to repay the loan, and when repayment is to begin.

• You have the right to know how the school determines whether you are making satisfactory academic progress and what happens if you are not.

• If you have a loan and the lender transfers the right to receive payments (“sells” the loan), you must be sent a notification telling you to whom you must now make payments.

• Lenders must provide you with a copy of the complete promissory note.

• You have the right to prepay a loan without penalty. This means that you may at any time pay in full the loan balance and any interest due without being charged a penalty by the lender for early payment.

• If you cannot meet a loan repayment schedule, you may request forbearance from the lender under which the payments may be reduced for a specific period of time.