Conditions For Receiving Aid

The financial aid application process does not end when you accept aid.  You must complete your application and understand how changes in enrollment can affect your aid later. 

Verification

The U.S. Department of Education selects approximately 30 percent of all applications for verification. If the U.S. Department of Education chooses your application, a message will appear on your Student Aid Report (SAR), and you will have to complete certain verification requirements.

The Financial Aid Office selects an additional 5 to 10 percent of applications for a separate and more extensive verification.  If you receive an offer of Federal Supplemental Opportunity Grant or Institutional Grant, you will be included in this group and you will be asked to provide additional documents, including your W-2 Withholding Statements and those of your parents (if you are a dependent student).  IIf you are an independent student, you will provide your own W-2 Withholding Statements and those of your spouse (if you are married).  You may also have to provide proof of enrollment for any other family member who is in college.

Whether you are undergoing basic or expanded verification, the process involves the following steps:

1. You must send all requested documentation to the financial aid office for review.
2. If the verification process results in changes to your application, the financial aid office will transmit corrections electronically to the federal processor.
3. The federal processor will reprocess corrected data, and transmit corrected application results to the Financial Aid Office.

If  the verification process results in changes to your eligibility, your financial aid may change. We encourage you to respond promptly and completely to any request for verification materials. 

We cannot finalize your aid and authorize the payment of funds to your university account funtil the verification process is complete.  If you complete the verification process after July 1, you will not receive a fall term disbursement until after the beginning of the fall term.  If you do not provide all requested documents within 30 days from the date of our initial request, your aid offer will be cancelled.  If you complete the verification process after your aid is cancelled, a new aid offer will contain only aid available at the time your verification process is complete.

Verification of Independent Student Status

The Financial Aid Office will require separate verification of your independent student status if you applied for aid as an independent undergraduate student and will not reach the age of 24 by December 31, 2006. You must provide documentation to verify that you meet the Federal Title IV definition of an independent student in accordance with the requirements in the following table.

1. The initial aid offer for an undergraduate student always assumes that the student will enroll full-time.  If you will attend less than full-time, your cost of attendance will change. For example, the cost of attendance for three-quarter or half-time enrollment is less than the cost for full-time attendance. 
2. In addition, various types of aid require minimum enrollment levels (usually 6 credits per term).

Some programs will permit less than half-time enrollment.  However, the cost of education for less than half-time is limited to tuition, fees, books, and an allowance for transportation. If you enroll less than half-time, you may have a greatly reduced need or no calculated need.  In addition, educational loans enter repayment after a six month (Federal Direct Loan) or nine month (Federal Perkins Loan) grace period that begins when you drop below half-time enrollment. The donor of a scholarship (private or university) will establish enrollment requirements for that scholarship (usually full-time). Recipients of Maryland State Scholarships and Grants should check with the Maryland Higher Education Commission about minimum enrollment requirements.

Completing To Do List follow-up steps

You must complete additional steps before receiving the following aid: Federal Work Study, Federal Perkins Loan, and the Federal Direct Loan.  It is your responsibility to meet the requirements shown below.  We will cancel your aid offer if you do not complete the steps after a reasonable period of time.

1. Federal Perkins Loan Program:

• Complete an on-line entrance loan counseling session each year for which you receive a Perkins Loan borrower at Towson University  
• Complete the Borrower's Questionnaire at the end of the loan counseling session
• Complete a Federal Perkins Loan Master Promissory Note

2. Federal Work Study (FWS):

• Find an FWS job. The Career Center maintains maintains a list of current FWS job openings. Community Service jobs are available as well as Reading/Literacy or math tutor jobs in local public elementary schools.    
• As soon as you have found an FWS job, receive clearance for employment by the Towson University Payroll Office.

3. Federal Direct Loan Program:

              You must complete the following steps when you are a first-time borrower at Towson

              University:

• Complete an on-line entrance loan counseling session when you are a first-time borrower from this program at Towson.  The U.S. Department  of Education requires this counseling session to advise you of your rights and responsibilities as a borrower.
• Properly complete an Electronic Master Promissory Note (EMPN).  The EMPN is a promissory note that you can use to make one or more loans for one or more academic years while enrolled at Towson University. 

Satisfactory Academic Progress

Federal and state regulations require us to monitor the academic progress of financial aid applicants. Aid recipients must comply with the Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy .

 To e-mail the Financial Aid Office,  please click here