Financial Aid Policies

Students who want to be considered for financial aid at SCSU must file the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) online at www.studentaid.gov using our school code: 001406. Once the FAFSA is signed and submitted, SCSU should receive your information electronically within 3-5 business days.

In some cases, after receiving your FAFSA, the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships may require additional documents in order to complete your file for aid eligibility. Requested documents must be submitted to our office before your award amount can be finalized.

If your FAFSA is selected for a process called verification, you will receive a notification from a company called Inceptia that will guide you through the verification process. Verification documents must be submitted directly to Inceptia. For more information please visit our Verification page.

To be eligible for financial assistance students must be officially accepted by the University Admissions Office to participate in a degree program, i.e., matriculated. For additional eligibility requirements please visit our Financial Aid Process page. Full-time students (12 credits) are considered for maximum eligibility in all aid programs. Half-time students (6-11.5 credits) are considered for Federal Direct loans and the Pell Grant. Limited financial aid is available for eligible non-citizens who do not have an INS student visa. The application for aid for non-eligible citizens is called the AACTUS and is available on our website. The AACTUS has the same filing deadlines as the FAFSA and serves as the sole financial aid application for undocumented students who are not able to submit the FAFSA. All students who are awarded financial aid must remain matriculated and making satisfactory academic progress toward a degree.

For information on the Financial Aid Refund Policy, please visit the Student Accounts Office website. 

The US Department of Education regulations require that a student be enrolled in a degree-seeking or eligible certificate program to receive federal financial aid.

Aggregate lifetime limits exists for all aid programs; therefore, timely degree completion is critical.  Due to this, students must be enrolled in courses that are applicable to the degree or eligible certificate to qualify for federal financial aid. This is refered to as the Couse Program of Study (CPOS) policy.  If a student is enrolled in courses that are not required, the federal financial aid award could be prorated or cancelled.  Federal financial aid eligibility will be determined based on a student’s current program of study and course registration as of the financial aid freeze date.  

All degree programs and teacher certification programs at Southern are eligible for federal financial aid, as well as many of our certificate programs.  If a certificate program is not eligible for federal financial aid, it will be stated on the program application and in the program information published in the Undergraduate Catalog.

A course is eligible for federal financial aid if it satisfies a requirement in the student’s program of study.  This includes classes that count towards a student's major, minor or concentration.  Students may consult their degree evaluation to review which courses will fulfill program requirements.  Courses listed in the ‘Excess’ section are not aid eligible.  

The federal rules for dual majors or degrees are specific to the Pell and SEOG grant programs.  For these programs, once the student completes all degree requirements for one major or degree, a student is no longer eligible for Pell or SEOG, whether the student has been conferred a bachelor’s degree or not.  The student will remain eligible for other federal aid programs.

TIP: Students can avoid losing grant aid eligibility by arranging courses to enter their final semester with degree requirements in both majors.

Minors must be officially declared and reflected in the degree evaluation by the financial aid freeze date to be included as eligible coursework for federal financial aid. Students with declared minors will not qualify for federal financial aid once all degree requirements for their first bachelor’s degree have been met, whether the student has been conferred a bachelor’s degree or not. 

TIP: Students can avoid losing aid eligibility by arranging all courses in their minor to be complete during or prior to the last semester in which all other degree program requirements will be met.

A repeat course may be eligible for federal financial aid depending upon whether the course was previously passed or not.  Students may only repeat previously passed courses one additional time. There are no restrictions on the number of repeats for a previously failed course.  More Info on the Repeat Coursework Policy.

A prerequisite course is eligible for federal aid programs if the course satisfies a degree requirement in the program of study such as a general education requirement (LEP) or an elective credit needed to meet overall program requirements.

In accordance with federal and state regulations, Southern Connecticut State University uses a “freeze date” each semester to determine a student’s enrollment status for awarding federal and state financial aid.  Students must be registered for all parts of term in a semester before the freeze date to receive aid for that class.  The freeze date will align in the Fall and Spring semesters with the last day to withdraw from classes at 40% refundable term charges.  Eligibility for financial aid will be based on a student’s credit hours as of the freeze date

Financial aid will only pay for courses that are required for a student’s current program. Additional Federal and state aid will not be available for classes added after a student’s credit hours have been frozen. Any classes that are dropped or withdrawn from a student’s schedule after the freeze date will not decrease a student’s financial aid award. This assumes that the student still maintains some enrollment in other courses during that term. If a student withdraws from all courses, that student is considered withdrawn from the university and their aid will be prorated based on the date they ceased to be enrolled.

Financial aid award amounts associated with late starting classes will not be disbursed until attendance is confirmed in those classes. Students should plan accordingly with regard to financial aid refunds when enrolled in classes that start at some point after the beginning date of the semester. Financial aid will be reduced if a student fails to begin attendance in all classes.

If a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), a corrected FAFSA, or an Application for Undocumented Student Financial Aid is submitted after the freeze date, a student’s enrollment status for financial aid eligibility will be determined at that time. Students who are retroactively awarded financial aid will be based on current enrollment at the time of application for aid.

Eligibility for a Pell Grant, a Connecticut State University Grant, or any other financial aid fund will be based on a student’s credit hours as of the freeze date:

Please visit the Freeze Date Policy website for more information.

Southern particupates in the following federal and state programs:

• Federal Pell Grants
• Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants
• Federal Direct Loan Program (Subsidized and Unsubsidized)
• Federal Direct Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students (PLUS)
• Federal Work-Study Program
• Connecticut State University Grant
• Roberta B. Willis Scholarship (Need-Based)

For information on the above programs, please visit the website of the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships

The Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) policy is based on federal guidelines that require each college and university to ensure that student aid applicants are progressing through their academic programs at an acceptable pace while maintaining an acceptable cumulative grade point average. The policy is separate from other academic policies at the university. As such, it is entirely possible that a student may be in good academic standing with the university but may not be making SAP for financial aid eligibility.

Satisfactory Academic Progress Standards

Grade Point Average (Qualitative): Undergraduate students are expected to maintain a cumulative grade point average of at least 2.00 at SCSU. When calculating the requirements for SAP, GPA will be truncated to the nearest 100th.

Credit Completion Rate (Quantitative): Undergraduate students are expected to successfully complete at least 67% of the cumulative credits attempted at SCSU. When calculating the requirements for SAP, the pace percentage will be rounded to the nearest whole number. In addition to standard courses and grades, the following are included when calculating the credit completion rate:

• Extension courses (Q)
• Passed courses (P/S)
• Failed courses (F)
• Incompletes (I) and Incomplete extensions (I+)
• Withdrawals (W, WF, and WP)
• Repeated courses
• Credit awarded via waiver exam (EP)
• Non-credit remedial courses (SCSU does not offer remedial coursework at this time.)
• Grades not reported by a professor (R) will be included in this assessment.
• Fresh Start Grades

Please see the sample below regarding attempted credits:

CREDITS	GRADE	ATTEMPTED	EARNED
3 credits	I	3 credits	0 credits

Transfer credits will be counted as attempted and earned credits in the calculation for determining SAP. See sample below:

SUMMER	FALL	FALL	SPRING	TOTAL
3 credits	15 transfer credits	15 credits	15 credits	48 credits

In this scenario, the student needs to pass a minimum of 32 credits (48 attempted credits multiplied by 67% = 32 credits) to successfully complete the credit completion rate.

Maximum Credit Hours (Quantitative): A student may receive financial aid for attempted credits in their program of study; however, the number of attempted credits cannot exceed 150% of the university's published credit hours for the educational program in which the student is enrolled. This includes transfer credits.

CREDITS FOR DEGREE	MAXIMUM TIME FRAME	MAXIMUM CREDITS FOR DEGREE
120 credits	150%	180 credits

In this example, if the student transfers 90 credits to SCSU and completes 95 credits at SCSU, the student would not be eligible for financial aid because the student exceeded the 150% maximum time frame of 180 credits (90 transfer credits plus 95 registered credits = 185 credits).

Students must meet the required SAP standards in order to receive financial aid from the following federal, state, and institutional financial aid programs managed by the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships:

• Federal Pell Grant
• Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant
• Federal Direct Loan (subsidized and unsubsidized)
• Federal Direct Parent PLUS Loan
• Federal Work Study
• Roberta B. Willis Scholarship - Need Based Grant
• Governor's Scholarship - Need Based Grant
• Connecticut State University Grant
• State Scholarship and Grant Programs
• Other programs as defined by the fund requirements

The Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships will review the academic records of financial aid recipients before disbursing aid for the upcoming semester. Academic records will be reviewed 14 days after the grade published date therefore allowing for any necessary adjustments to be made by the Registrar. Any changes to pace or GPA made to a student's account after the 14 days will not be taken into consideration until the following SAP assessment period. Only students who meet the minimum satisfactory academic progress standards will have their aid disbursed.

The first semester in which a student fails to meet one of SCSU's SAP standards, a SAP "Warning" notification will be sent to the student via e-mail. The student will remain eligible for aid in the next term and if at the end of that term they are meeting the minimum SAP requirements the "Warning" status will be lifted.

The second consecutive semester in which a student fails to meet the minimum SAP standards, after the "Warning" semester, the student will be notified via e-mail of their ineligibility to receive financial aid at SCSU. If extenuating circumstances exist which caused the student to fail one of the SAP standards, the student can submit an appeal for review and possible reinstatement of his/her financial aid as determined by SCSU.  For information on how to submit an appeal, please visit our Satisfactory Academic Progress webpage.

It is highly recommended that students research and apply for scholarships to help pay for their education.  Scholarships can lessen the amount a student will need to borrow in loans.  For information on where to apply for various scholarships, including SCSU Foundation-Based scholarships,  please visit the Scholarship page of our website. 

Federal law specifies how Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU) must determine the amount of Title IV program assistance a student has earned when they withdraw from the university. All federal aid programs (Title IV) are covered by this law, but please note that many state and private aid funds also require a pro-ration calculation if a student withdraws before the end of a term.

When a student withdraws before the end of a term, the amount of Title IV program assistance that student has earned up to that point is determined by a specific formula. If less assistance disbursed to a student’s account than the formula determines they earned, the student may still be able to receive those additional funds. If the student received more assistance than the earned at the time of withdrawal, the excess funds must be returned by SCSU and/or the student.

The following is the order in which Title IV funds are returned if applicable:

• Direct Unsubsidized Loan
• Direct Subsidized Loan
• Direct PLUS Loan
• Pell Grant
• Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant
• Federal SEOG
• TEACH Grant

After the excess funds have been returned from the above Title IV funds, the non-Title IV fund grant earned amount will be calculated, if applicable. These include:

• Roberta B. Willis Scholarship (Need-Based)
• Connecticut State University Grant (CSUG)
• Individual State Grants, such as Vermont Student Assistance, etc.

The amount of assistance that a student has earned is determined on a pro rata basis. For example, if 30% of a student's period of enrollment was completed, the student earns 30% of the assistance the they were originally scheduled to receive. Once a student has completed more than 60% of the period of enrollment though, they've earned all the assistance that was scheduled for that period.

If a student did not receive all of the funds that the student earned, they may be eligible for a post-withdrawal disbursement. If the student's post-withdrawal disbursement includes loan funds, SCSU must get the student's permission before it can disburse them. A student may choose to decline some or all of the loan funds so that the student does not incur additional debt. SCSU may automatically use all or a portion of the student's post-withdrawal disbursement of grant funds for tuition, fees, and housing and food charges (as contracted with the school). SCSU needs the student's permission to use the post-withdrawal grant disbursement for all other school charges.

Any amount of unearned grant funds that a student must return is called an overpayment. A student must make arrangements with SCSU or the Department of Education to return the unearned grant funds. 

If a student plans on withdrawing from all courses for a semester, the student should download the withdrawal form from the OneStop forms page and submit it to the Registrar's Office. The student will be responsible to pay any outstanding balance that the student may owe to the university.

SCSU is required to perform the withdrawal calculation for students who decide to stop attending classes and never officially withdraw from the university. SCSU will determine the last date the student attended and perform the withdrawal calculation. If the student did not attend any of the classes, SCSU is required to return all of the funds.  SCSU is required to return the unearned funds within 45 days from the date SCSU has determined the student has withdrawn.

The requirements for Title IV program funds when the student withdraws are separate from any refund policy that SCSU may have. Therefore, the student may still owe funds to SCSU to cover unpaid institutional charges. SCSU may also charge the student for any Title IV program funds that the school was required to return.  For additional information, please see our Title IV Withdrawal page.