Financial Aid Quick Guide - Award Year 2011-2012

Your success is important to us! 

Significant changes were made to Federal Financial Aid regulations effective Fall 2011. This guide is offered to assist you in developing strategies to successfully apply for, receive and maintain your eligibility for financial aid. Let us know if you would like additional information or clarification of any of these points. 
 

$ NEWS YOU NEED TO KNOW $

1. The Higher Education Act and current regulations require that a student maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) to be eligible to receive financial aid. Schools are required to periodically evaluate whether students are successfully meeting SAP so that their academic standing is consistent with graduation requirements. Federal regulations no longer have a probation status; students move from good standing directly to ineligibility if their GPA falls below 2.0 or they complete less than 67% of ALL classes in which they enroll or upon exceeding 99 hours of attempted course work.  
    
2. Students who submit all required documentation by the dates noted above, and meet all eligibility requirements, are guaranteed to have financial aid processed by start of the designated enrollment period.  Student loans may require additional processing time, especially for first-time borrowers.
    
3. Students submitting documentation after Processing Guarantee Dates must be prepared to either: 
   > pay their tuition bill in full or
   > enter into the Alamo Colleges’ payment plan with the Bursar’s Office.
   
   The Alamo Colleges will continue to process applications submitted after Processing Guarantee Dates and will make every effort to award students by the start of classes. However, there is no guarantee that all applications can be reviewed, completed, awarded, and paid prior to the Payment Deadline.  Students will be reimbursed when funds become available. All eligibility requirements remain in effect.
    
4. Students are encouraged to send their FAFSA to all of the Alamo Colleges in order to facilitate concurrent enrollment and ease of transfer among the colleges. However, students can only be awarded aid at their Primary or “Home” college. 
   
   Students attending Northeast Lakeview College (NLC) who are requesting financial aid must: 
   > have their FAFSA on file at San Antonio College (SAC)
   > have San Antonio College (SAC) as their primary/home college
   > register for classes through San Antonio College (SAC) offered at Northeast Lakeview College (NLC)  
    
5. Three easy and convenient options are available for getting copies of federal tax return information, tax return transcripts and tax account transcripts, by phone at 1-800-908-9946; by mail by submitting the Mail Form; or online.
    
6. Students “Selected For Verification” (SFV) by the U. S. Department of Education Central Processing System must be reviewed.  The verification review will add an additional two (2) weeks to the previous anticipated 10 weeks to complete a financial aid package. Students should allow at least 12 weeks for SFV processing.
    
7. The student’s legal name, Social Security Number, ApplyTexas, FAFSA and primary/home college must match.  Students new to the Alamo Colleges and those transferring home colleges within the district should confirm their ApplyTexas status and FAFSA applications with the appropriate Student Services department at their primary/home college.
    
8. Students must have access to the ACES student portal to view the online financial aid file and to receive email notifications from the Student Financial Services (SFS) Department. Students should check their status and email notifications regularly on ACES. A Financial Aid ACES tutorial is available online.
    
9. In order to access the ACES portal to check financial aid status and email, students must have an active ApplyTexas application on file that designates their primary/home college, (i.e. Northwest Vista, Palo Alto, St. Philip’s or San Antonio College). Current students already have an active ApplyTexas application.
    
10. All registration and payment deadlines as listed in the Registration/Payment Calendar will be adhered to.
     
11. The Federal PELL Grant program is the only fund where eligibility is based on a Pell Payment Schedule issued by the U.S. Department of Education. The Pell amount awarded is based on Full time enrollment and, assuming a student meets all eligibility requirements, amount paid to the student is based on Expected Family Contribution (EFC) and enrollment status (Fall and Spring), e.g. fulltime (12+); three-quarter (9-11); halftime (6-8) and less-than-halftime (3-5) credit hours. (Note: Maymester, Flex and Summer enrollment status may differ; check with Student Financial Services)
     
12. Pell Grant is recalculated up or down whenever students add/drop classes up to and including the Census Day. IMPORTANT: Purges are based on outstanding balances; students with their aid credited to their account are at risk of having all their classes dropped for an outstanding balance when:
    > classes are added and the SFS Office is not informed to adjust the Pell grant up.
    > classes are dropped and the SFS Office has recalculated the Pell Grant downward.
     
13. Pell is no longer increased when students enroll in Flex II classes after the census date of the semester. (September 7 for Fall 2011)
     
14. Return of Title IV Funds (R2T4) – Federal Student Aid (FSA) funds are awarded to students under the assumption they will attend school for the entire semester. If a student withdraws from all classes before attendance in a minimum of 60% of an enrollment period, SFS must calculate the amount of funds the student did not earn. The unearned proportion of aid a college must return will be owed by the student.