|
Once you’ve received your Financial Aid Notification of Awards letter, your aid is ready to go for the current academic year (Summer 2009 through Spring 2010). Now you need to change your focus to keeping your aid. Think of financial aid money this way, the moment this money pays your tuition and you pick up a financial aid check, you’ve just entered into a contractual agreement with the Department of Education (DOE). The DOE has established requirements about what you must do to keep your grant and loan money coming. The information below provides you, educates you, with the basic information for keeping your college funding coming, quarter to quarter, year to year.
Do Grades Really Matter?? Academic Standards: Otherwise Known as Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) - The Ins and Outs of…
Grades matter when you’re “on” or receiving aid which includes both grants and loans. To keep your funding coming:
- Complete all the credits you have registered for.
- Maintain the same enrollment level after the census date which is the 10th business day of a regular quarter or the 6th business day in summer.
- Complete 75% of your classes.
- Complete a degree or certificate within 125% of the program length (ex. for a 90 credit program that is within112 credits).
- Maintain a cumulative grade point average of 2.0.
- Know the financial aid office checks your academic progress at the end of each quarter and at the end of each academic year (after summer quarter ends).
For more detailed information go to http://bellevuecollege.edu/fa/info/academic_progress.asp.
I can’t drop any classes, none, ever?? How to drop a class without jeopardizing your financial aid, or how to drop/add with a census date.
BCC’s census date occurs at midnight on the 10th business day of a standard quarter and the 6th business day of a summer quarter. The number of credits you are registered for on that day and time establishes your enrollment level and the amount of aid you are eligible to receive.
This means you can drop and add classes up until the tenth or sixth enrollment day without affecting your financial aid eligibility. We release payments to students based on their enrollment level the day before the quarter starts, and later - after the 10th or 6th day – aid is adjusted to the number of credits a student is registered for at the census time. Students will receive more aid from our office or they will receive a repayment letter. The best way to work with our census date is to:
- Pay tuition immediately if adding a class after the quarter starts, because financial aid will not be able to pay it on time.
- Expect to wait for additional aid because no adjustments will be processed until the third week or fourth week of school, therefore budget accordingly.
- Monitor waitlist class activity. Understand financial aid will not be responsible for alerting you if they paid for a waitlist class.
- If you drop a class and do not replace that class with another class, expect to repay the financial aid office, because the financial aid office had given you money based on taking more credits. Repayment will not be processed until the third or fourth week of school and you will receive a letter in the mail regarding the amount you owe. I understand that repayment of these funds is due immediately or your future financial aid could be cancelled and will cause delays in receiving aid for future quarters.
- Know the census date does not apply to loans and understand that the census date does not apply if a student loan is received.
- Know all refunds are subject to charges levied by the school such as non-refundable drop fees.
Is there anything special that I need to know about any grants that I could get?
If the financial aid office considered you for a Washington State Need Grant, there are five special conditions, listed below, which you must be aware of. If you have questions or find that you cannot comply with these conditions please contact our office at 425-564-2227 or email at financialaid@bellevuecollege.edu.
- You do not owe a refund or repayment on a State Need Grant, a Pell Grant, or a Supplemental Education Opportunity Grant, nor are you in default on a loan made in the Federal Family Education Loan programs. In addition, you are not in default on a loan made through a state conditional loan or conditional scholarship program.
- This grant is awarded to Washington State Resident to assist in meeting your educational expenses and if you withdraw from classes, repayment of all or a part of the grant may be required.
- You can choose to voluntarily make financial contributions to the Higher Education Coordinating Board in recognition of this State Need Grant. All voluntary contributions will be used to provide financial assistance to other students.
- The offer of a State Need Grant is subject to and conditioned upon the availability of funds. The Higher Education Coordinating Board and the institution through which the grant is awarded reserve the right to withdraw, reduce, or modify the grant due to funding limitations or due to changes in circumstances which affect your eligibility for the State Need Grant.
- You are not pursuing a degree in theology.
Complete and sign the 2009-2010 Financial Aid Data Form
Return to the Financial Aid Office's main web page.
Last updated on
|