How do I apply for Federal Financial Aid Programs?

1. Get your U.S. Department of Education PIN today at www.pin.ed.gov
2. Submit the FAFSA form as soon after Jan. 1 as possible
3. Casper College School Code is 003928.
4. Respond promptly to the Department of Education or Casper College's request for additional information
5. Complete application for Admission at Casper College
6. Complete the Loan Entrance Counseling process, if you are interest in Federal Student Loans.

How do I qualify for Federal Financial Aid Programs?
To receive aid during the school year, you must:

• Be aditted to and register as a regular student in an approved Degree or Certificate program.
• Be in good academic standing.
• Be making satisfactory academic progress: GPA of 2.0 or above, completing at least 67% of all classes, and not at maximum hours attempted (1 ½ times the credit hours required to complete the program).
• Not be in default on a federal student loan or owe on an overpayment of a federal grant.

Federal Financial Program Guide

*For more information on any federal programs please visit the Student Financial Assistance Office, Administration Building Room 114 or U.S. Department of Education web site http://www.ed.gov/index.jhtml.

Thinking about a student loan?

• You must complete the current year’s Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), you will need to complete the FAFSA before your loan eligibility can be determined.
  
  
• You must be admitted in a degree-seeking program and enrolled in at least 6 credit hours, (this includes summer semester, as well).
  
  
• Your Award Notice may contain an estimated amount of Stafford Loan eligibility. Borrowing less than the amount listed on the Award Notice is encouraged. As you review your Award Notice, we encourage you to consider the questions below and complete the budget worksheet below:
  1. Do I need to accept all of the financial aid I have been offered?
  2. Are there areas where I can reduce my expenses?
  3. Do I need to work over the summer and save money to help with school expenses?
  4. Do I need to get a job during the academic year?
  5. How much loan DEBT do I currently have?
  
  
• All loans will be disbursed in two disbursements. You may be eligible for a subsidized loan (interest does not accrue while you are in school), an unsubsidized loan (interest accrues while you are in school, students can elect to pay interest while in school – contact your lender for details) or a combination of the two.
  
  
• For first time students, first year borrower’s regulations require the 1st loan disbursement to be delayed 30 days from the beginning of classes.

To Apply:

• Borrow sparingly; your future will be glad you do.
• Go to the App Express web site.
• It will determine if you need to complete an Entrance Loan Counseling, sending you to Mapping Your Future. Then it will return to App Express for you to complete/review the Master Promissory Note (MPN) and loan request form.
• Once the above is completed your information is submitted electronically to the Student Financial Assistance Office for further processing.

Hey, Parents!! Thinking about taking out a Federal Parent PLUS Loan?
PLUS - Parent Loan for Undergraduate Student(s)

Before you start the loan process here is some important information that you need to know:

• Federal PLUS Loans are loans that you can get to pay for your child's educational expenses.
• Your student must be enrolled and attending at least half-time (6 credits) to be eligible.
• As a parent you can borrow up to the student's cost of attendance minus any other financial aid. (For example, if the cost of attendance is $6,000 and the student receives $4,000 in other financial aid, you the parent could borrow up to-but no more than-$2,000.)
• If your dependent student has not completed the current years Free Application for Federal Student Aid - FAFSA, we recommend that you do.
• To borrow a Federal PLUS Loan you must pass a credit check, be a citizen or eligible non-citizen, and must not be in default or owe a refund to any Federal Student Aid program.
• All Federal PLUS Loans will be disbursed in two disbursements.
  If the student owes the college, the parent must endorse the check and return it to the college to pay the students account before a refund will be sent to the parent or student.
• If the student does not owe the college, the college will release the check to the parent.
• Repayment of the Federal PLUS Loan must begin within 60 days after the last disbursement, but interest begins to accumulate at the time the first disbursement is made.
• You must begin repaying both principal and interest while your student is in school.
• Current interest rates are avilable online.

You have two options, please read the following and select the appropriate option.

• KnowNow
  KnowNow is the PLUS Pre-Approval Credit Request and is a convenient way for you, the parent borrower,to determine your credit worthiness for the loan before going thru all of the steps to complete the PLUS Master Promissory Note. It will provide you with a quick notification of the results. You will want to complete the Pre-Approval even if you feel that your credit worthiness may prevent you from qualifying for the loan. Knowing the results, either way, will help in the processing of an aid package for the student.
• PLUS App Express
  The PLUS App Express will check to see if you have a current Pre-Approval on file. If it is older than 90 days or you have never completed one you will be sent to Know Now PLUS Pre-Approval before continuing on to do the PLUS Loan Application. If you have a current Pre-Approval you will proceed directly to the loan application.

Once the above is completed. your information is submitted electronically to the Student Financial Assistance Office for further processing.

• FAFSA Application Form
• Financial Aid Award Status
• Dependent Care Form (08-09)
• Dependent Care Form (09-10)
• Financial Aid Reinstatement Request (Petition)
• Program Review
• Federal Aid Verification Form (08-09)
• Federal Aid Verification Form (09-10)
• Low Income Form (08-09)
• Low Income Form (09-10)
• Consortium Agreement/Dual Enrollment
• Summer Financial Aid Form

Verification Policies & Procedures for Federal Student Aid Applications

An applicant will be required to verify, or validate by documentation, application information, if the application is selected for verification in the federal processing and edit systems, or if the Student Financial Assistance Office has reason to believe that any application information critical to the calculation of the student's expected family contribution (EFC) is inaccurate, or is in conflict with other information.

If an application is selected for verification,the Student Financial Assistance Office will give notice to the applicant. The notice will specify what items of information must be verified and will detail what documents and procedures are required for verification. It will also specify the time period within which the applicant shall provide the required documentation, and will advise the applicant of the consequences of the applicant's failure to comply within the specified period.

The time period granted to the applicant for completion of required documentation may vary with the complexity of the requirements and with the time remaining in the school term for which funding is sought. Normally, the student is afforded 45 days from the request date to provide verification documents to the Student Financial Assistance Office. Overall, the deadline for submission of verification documents must be at least 30 days prior to the end of the school term for which funding is sought and to allow for processing (and correction if needed) before the end of the term.

Should the applicant fail to provide required documentation within the specified time period, the application is considered invalid and the applicant will forfeit eligibility for assistance from the federal Title IV student aid programs for the program year for which the invalid application was filed.

If the verification documents provided within the specified time period confirm the accuracy of all application items requiring verification, the application is finalized and, if all other requirements have been met, a letter is sent to notify the applicant. If the verification documents reveal inaccuracies in the application the SAR/ISIR will be corrected and submitted electronically. If incomplete or inadequate verification documents are submitted, the applicant is notified of deficiencies and instructed on how to correct them.

Should review of an application for Title IV student aid indicate that the applicant may have engaged in fraud or other criminal misconduct in connection with his/her application, the Student Financial Assistance Office must refer the student for investigation on all relevant information to the Office of the Inspector General of the United States Department of Education. Examples of such information include (but not limited to) false claims of independent student status, false claims of citizenship, use of false identities, forgery of signatures or certificates and false statements of income.

Withdrawals Impact on Federal Financial Assistance

Students who alter their enrollment status (drop or add courses) during the course of a semester are subject to having their eligibility for federal financial assistance recalculated and could be required to return some, if not all of their Federal Assistance. Students should review the following explanations carefully.

Enrollment Changes Prior to the Census Date
A student's official enrollment status (12 or more credit hours = full time, 9-11 credit hours = three quarters time, 6-8 credit hours = half time and less than 6 credit hours = less than half time) is measured after the 10th class day of each semester (5th day for the summer semester). This is the "census date". Assistance that was previously offered for the term will be re-evaluated and either be increased, decreased, cancelled or left unchanged based on the student's status as of the census date. An increase in hours after this date cannot reinstate asssistance lost because of inadequate enrollment on the census date. New awards calculated after the census date are based on the student's actual enrollment status as of the date of the calculation.

Dropping Out, Withdrawing or being expelled
Students who unofficially withdraw (drop out, walk away,etc.), officially withdraw (see Academic Policies section) or are expelled, will have the percentage of aid earned (the amount of federal assistance the student can keep) calculated based on the percentage of the term actually completed. (for example, if a student only completes 20% of a term, only 20% of their aid would be considered earned and 80% of their aid would be considered unearned and subject to return.) The date used to calculate this percentage is the official withdrawal date or for those who unofficially withdraw it is either the mid-point of the term (50% return) or the last day the student participated in a documented, academically related, activity. Students who withdraw after completing at least 60% of the term, will be considered to have earned 100% of their federal assistance. (Please note, students are still subject to the Standards of Progress evaluation.)

Non-Attendance
Students must start attending classes to establish eligibility for federal assistance. If a student fails to initiate attendance in some, or all, courses, their eligibility for federal assistance can be recalculated, excluding those courses, regardless of the student's "enrollment status". The student would be responsible for the return of all "over-awarded" funds as a result of their never attending the course(s). Students who claim federal funds and never attend any class are subject to referral to the Office Inspector General, Department of Education, for possible federal fraud investigation.

Written examples of return of funds calculations are available in the Student Financial Assistance Office upon request. The Student Financial Assistance Office reserves the right to modify or change the above policy as necessary.

Standards of Satisfactory Progress for Federal Student Financial Aid Programs

In accordance with the 1986 amendments to student aid programs under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, students receiving federal assistance. (i.e. Pell Grants, Stafford Loans Federal Work-Study, etc.) must meet and maintain certain academic and satisfactory progress standards to remain eligible to receive such assistance each term. Although the following information identifies the main factors that must be evaluated, the student should check with the Student Financial Assistance Office for the most current policy as these standards are subject to revision. Please note, the standards provided below are evaluated at the end of each term. This evaluation includes all terms attempted regardless of whether or not the student recevied financial assistance.

1. Enrollment Status. Students must be enrolled as classified students in a degree or certificate program to be eligible for aid. In addition, loan applicants must be enrolled for 6 or more credit hours. Enrollment status is measured and aid eligibility re-evaluated on the financial aid census date,which is the eleventh class day (sixth in summer) of the term.
2. Grade Point Average (GPA). Students must maintain a term GPA of at least 2.0 and your cumulative GPA of at least 2.0.
3. Satisfactory Progress Ratio. Students must successfully complete at least 67% of the courses they attempt, both on a term and a cumulative basis. Satisfactory progress rations are calculated by dividing hours earned by hours attempted. For example, if 12 hours are attempted and 9 hours are earned, the ratio is 9/12 =75%. Grades of A,B,C,D and S qualify as earned and attempted hours. Audits, Incompletes, Withdrawals, Drops, F's and U's are attempted hours but not earned. Repeat courses count as attempted each try, but count as earned only once.
4. Maximum Hours Attempted (Maximum Time Frame). Federal regulations require students to complete their program of study within a resonable time frame. That time frame is defined as 1 1/2 times the credit hours required to complete the program. For programs requiring 64 credit hours the regulations would allow up to 96 credit hours to be attempted. The student should calculate the number of credit hours required for the student's selected program. All hours attempted, whether on aid or not, are counted. If you are a transfer student, hours attempted at other schools are included in this count.

Eligibilty Statuses

1. Satisfactory: Satisfactory status is achieved when all criteria explained above are being met.
2. Probation: This is a warning semester. Some aid (not necessarily all aid) may be allowed to be paid. The student must meet the term standards to avoid financial aid suspension.
3. Suspension: Students on suspension will not receive federal assistance. To return to a probationary status the student must attempt at least 6 credit hours of class, on their own, and meet the term requirements. If term requirements are met, but cumulative requirements have not been met, the student will return to the "probation" status. To return to the "satisfactory" status, the student must bring all criteria up to the minimum standards.

Mitigating Circumstances

Federal regulation 668.7c2ii allows students, whose failure to meet the required standard was caused by (1) the death of a relative, (2) an injury or illness to the student, or (3) other special circumstances, to submit a written appeal for reconsideration by the college. Circumstances need to be of sufficient magnitude and generally outside of the student's control in order for the request to be approved. The college will determine to what extent probationary funding (if any) is justified. The "Request for Reinstatement of Financial Aid" forms are available from the Office of Student Financial Assistance Office.