Hello, my name is Marsha Lour. I am a financial aid officer in the office of student financial aid here at Northwestern State University. The purpose of this video presentation is to provide you with some financial aid 101 facts and tips that's going to help you now and guide you throughout your academic journey. You're going to hear all about the FAFSA, what it means to receive federal financial aid, financial aid responsibilities via your my NSU, and some quick financial aid reminders. So, let's go ahead and get started and get into this financial aid overview. First up is the FASA. Students must complete a free application for federal student aid, also known as the FAFSA, to apply for federal and some state aid. Federal aid consists of PEL grants if you're eligible, as well as student loans, and state aid consists of GO grant, SEOG, and federal work study. FASA applications must be completed each academic year. An academic year consists of fall, spring, and summer. FASA applications are completed solely online at www.staaid.gov. When completing the FASA, family income from the prior tax year is required to determine federal student aid eligibility. This means you will not use tax returns from the current year. Instead, use tax information from the prior year that has already been processed by the IRS. New academic year FASAs are available as early as October 1st of each calendar year. In order for Northwestern to receive your FASA information electronically, your FASA does have to contain Northwestern as one of your school choices. Our NSU school code is 002021. Additional requirements needed for aid. The title 4 authorization form is something that is completed via your my NSU and is a one-time only document. Terms and conditions is also completed via your MyNSU and is also a one-time only document. The federal government may select the students FASA application for a review process known as verification. Verification requires financial aid staff to verify the accuracy of the FASA application. Students and parents will be required in some cases to submit tax and wage information as well as other documentation to verify the data reported on the FASA. Students will be notified via email of the required documentation for any needed verification review. After all financial aid requirements, including paperwork and or verification, is completed, a financial aid package will be certified for the student based on the FAFSA detail. This is known as our awarding process. Students will receive email notifications of their award amounts to view via their MyNSU accounts. Pell grants and state awards including TOPS if eligible will automatically be accepted on the students behalf. Students will need to log into their my NSU to excel decline student loan offers. Student loans consist of subsidized loans and unsubsidized loans. Subsidized loan is where the government pays the interest for the student while they're attending school. The unsubsidized loan is where the interest occurs daily. In order to be eligible for the subsidized loan and the unsubsidized loan, the student is required to be enrolled in at least 6 hours or more. If the student accepts their student loan awards, a master promisary note and loan entrance counseling must be completed online at www.staid.gov. In the event financial aid and scholarships is not enough to cover your account balance in full, there are additional funding opportunities available. Links are available within your my NSU and the financial aid website. First is the alumni foundation scholarships. This is a variety of scholarships that are made available through the generous donations to our university. This is an online application required process. Next is the tuition hardship exemption. This is also a application required process through a financial aid form that is made available after the start of each semester. If approved, aid can be awarded up to $300 per semester. Please note that the tuition hardship exemption is only awarded to eligible Louisiana residents and cannot be awarded to students who are receiving TOPS. Next is our most popular option which is the parent plus loan. The parent plus loan is an online credit-based application where a student's parent can apply for a student loan on the student's behalf. The parent must complete the online application at www.student.gov. If the application is approved, funds can be awarded up to the students cost of attendance based on the amount approved. If the parent is denied for whatever reasons, funds will be awarded up to the dependent loan amount based on classification and the parent plus denial will be processed as an unsubsidized student loan in the students name. Next is our third-party scholarship search which is also known as the fast web. More information can be found on our financial aid website. Last is our alternative loan which is something we recommend to you as a last resort. This is also an online application process and is based on applicants credit. Next we have the intent toattend process. This is a very important slide to pay close attention to. The intend to attend process will be made available during the first seven days of classes via your MyNSU and is a process that is required to be completed each semester. Aid will not disperse to a student's account until the student has verified they will be attending their registered courses. Students who have not completed the intent to attend within the first seven days of classes will have their courses canled thereafter. Students who do not have enough aid to cover their total balance will be required to complete a promisary agreement with NSU during the intent to attend process. Which leads us to our next slide. Important billing reminders. A pre-bill is sent approximately one month before the start of each semester. Notifications are sent via NSU email and bills can be viewed through your MyNSU. Installment plans are applied for every student if account balances are not paid in full by the end of the seventh class day. Installment plans split the outstanding account balance into three portions. an $85 installment plan fee is applied and $45 late fees if installments are not paid in full. Direct deposit is available for refund dispersements for funds that exceeds account balances. Please check your student account emails and billing summary frequently for any updates and always reach out for any questions or concerns. The NSU office of student accounting and cashiering is located in the student service center on the third floor and they can be reached at 3183575447 or by email student accounting nsla.edu. Now that we understand the FASA process, fulfilling financial aid requirements, and the awarding and billing process, it is now important to know how to maintain academic progress for federal aid. Satisfactory academic progress guidelines for federal aid includes all of the following. Students are required to maintain a cumitive GPA of a 2.0 O or higher. For undergraduate students, students must maintain a cumitive completion rate of 67% or higher for all courses attempted. The completion rate is determined by dividing total hours earned by total hours attempted. Please note that all withdrawn courses count in the total attempted hours. And lastly, a student cannot attempt more than 150% of hours needed for their respective degree program. An average program requires 120 hours for graduation. So, if a student attempts over a total of 180 hours, they are no longer eligible for federal aid without having an approved appeal process. The student must also submit a financial aid appeal if they do not meet the required 2.0 cumitive GPA and meet at least 67% of hours attempted. You can utilize our GPA hours forecast calculator to check your progress at any time. This can be found on our website at www.nsula.edu/financiall. edu back/financial academic progress requirements for scholarships. Students must maintain the following for the fall and spring semesters. Full-time enrollment of 12 hours or more. The required cumitive GPA based on the scholarship award. Your award letter indicates eligibility requirements to maintain your scholarships. or you can view your my NSU account for further details. Please note that academic scholarships are not used for the summer. Up next, we have the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act, which is known as the Furpa. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act is a federal law that sets forth requirements regarding the privacy of students records. FURPA governs the release of these records, also known as educational and financial aid records, which are maintained by an educational institution. When a student turns 18 years or older or enters a post-secary institution at any age, the rights under FURPA transfer from the parents to the student. Therefore, the student must have a furer release authorization form on file with the university before any NSU staff can discuss the students account information with a third-party individual. FURPER release forms in most cases must be submitted in person and can be found on our website at www.nsla.edu edu back/financiallaid or by visiting the university registar website at www.nsula.edu back/register. As we are coming to a close, here are some important financial aid reminders. Apply for the FASA early and apply every year. Remember, FASA applications are done online at www.staid.gov. Complete the online one-time only document, the title 4 authorization form, via your my NSU. Complete the online one-time only terms and conditions, which is also available via your MyNSU. Complete the intent to attend within first seven days of classes. Remember, this is something that is done every semester. Book allowances are available for students who have aid that exceeds their account balance. Please note that NSU does have what's called an NSU include at program, which allows the rental or purchase of textbooks at a reduced cost with the charges being made directly to the students my NSU tuition and fee bill. Maintain satisfactory academic progress. Remember, maintaining progress for federal aid requires a 2.0 cumitive GPA, meeting at least 67% completion rate, and not exceeding the allowed attempted hours for your degree program. For scholarships, maintaining the required GPA hours for both academic and performance scholarships. also including your TOPS requirements. Borrow conservately. There are annual loan and lifetime limits. Keep copies of all financial aid paperwork, security codes, and passwords in a safe place. Always monitor your my NSU and student account email regularly. And lastly, always ask question if you are unsure of anything. Our contact information is as follows. Northwestern State University Office of Student Financial Aid and Scholarships, Student Service Center, Sweet 212, Nagades, Louisiana 71497. or you can call us at area code 318-357-5961 or toll-free at 1 8008233008. You can also submit documents electronically by fax at 3183575488 or email nsu fi nidnsa.edu. edu or you can visit our website at www.nsua.edu/financiallaid. If it's outside of our normal office hours, you can always follow your financial aid progress by visiting your mynsu account. Please note that all financial aid communications are sent via email to students via your NSU student email account. This concludes our financial aid and scholarships overview. Thank you for watching.