Financial Aid and Student Accounts 101

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Good evening, Happy Palm Sunday and welcome to our third episode of Holy Cross live where we bring Holy Cross College direct to you via this online and Interactive Forum. My name is Jordan Shanken. I served as director of enrollments at Holy Cross College. I'm coming to you live from my home here in downtown South Bend. Unlike other episodes of Holy Cross live, this session will include a lot of information on slides. I understand it might be difficult to read the slide, so I have made them available.

As a download on our financial aid home page, you can either go find those now or find them after the broadcast if you'd like to review them later. Also, in the chat box, I dropped a direct link to the PDF to the slide, so I would totally understand if you wanted to open those slides and follow along there.

Also, if you experience any audio or video difficulties, I recommend that you simply refresh your browser. Also, Chrome is the recommended browser for the best viewing experience you will see on your screen a chat box where you can leave comments and questions. Go ahead and drop a hello there right now. Maybe tell us where you are from my colleague Maureen McDonald, the data integrity specialist for the office of admissions, is moderating the chat. You might see her pop in the feed to answer a question or offer some comments.

Still free throughout this session to ask questions in that chat box as time allows. I will answer as many questions as possible questions. I'm unable to get to tonight will receive a direct response via email to the email address that you used to register for this session tonight.

With that we're going to go ahead and jump right in again. A lot of information to cover on the financial aid process and student accounts. So we want to make sure that all of our students. Whether you have been recently admitted to Holy Cross or if you're even looking ahead, and planning. Maybe you are sophomore junior in high school have a very firm understanding of the resources ahead of you because, like many students well like myself. Many students may be our first generation students who are going through this process for the very first time.

And we understand that some of these definitions and acronyms that everything might be just a little confusing. So we do want to make sure we go through this from the very beginning so that you are as informed as possible.

So we're going to start at the very beginning, and that is with the application for financial aid that we use at Holy Cross College. Most of you have likely already have completed. If you're a senior in high school or have at least heard of the free application for federal student aid, or what we call the FAFSA. This is the only application necessary to be considered for need based financial assistance at Holy Cross College. This application is not found on our website at Holy Cross, but rather on the student.

Aid the federal student aid website. As you can see here, that URL is studentaid.gov each student and at least one parent from each family will have what is called in FSA ID and password. FSA means federal student aid, and that's an ID and password that is used to log into this website. And also it's used as a unique identifier to serve as a signature on some applications and documents.

As well.

A little piece of advice if you haven't yet and will soon. Or even if you've already set up your FSA ID and password, we recommend that you use a personal email address that you will have access to three months from now, 6 from 6 months from now, and even long after you've graduated from college. If you forget your password for your FSA ID, it will send a reset to your email. You don't want to use a school email address that you might no longer have.

Access to so keep in mind that if your high school gave you an email address, you're probably not going to have access to that inbox after you graduate. So when using the FSA ID, set up an email address that is a personal email address.

After completing the FAFSA, you will have access to and receive what is called the student aid report or the SAR and this simply serves as a results page. I guess you could say of your Fasa reminding you of what you've submitted and then some of your eligibility as well. And then finally terminology that you will see in use is what we call the expected family contribution or the FC expected family contribution.

Is what the FAFSA produces after an algorithm an what it is is saying that this is based upon the information that you have submitted, what your family might be able to expect to contribute towards one year of college education for the upcoming year based apon that application, the expected family contribution or the FC is used by the federal government to determine eligibility for need based aid. It's used by many state governments to use.

To make to determine your eligibility for need based aid and we at Holy Cross College will use the FC to determine eligibility for Holy Cross need based assistance as well.

Keep in mind that each student will have an FC based dip on the complete family information, so in FC kind of is owned by a family divided among the students who are going to be enrolled in college for the upcoming year.

So again, that faster is going to open up eligibility for both need based aid and some non need based aid as well. We're going to be talking about some forms of need based aid that come from the federal government and some state governments as well. That includes the federal direct subsidized loan the Federal Pell Grant, the Indiana freedom of choice Grant and then Holy Cross Assistance Grant. Again, these are need based types of aid that are.

A determined to the amounts determined by the FCC or expected family contribution as determined by your fasa.

Now submitting the FAFSA does allow some students to become eligible for non need based aid as well. For example, through the federal government. That could be the unsubsidized student loan and also the federal direct parent plus song. We're going to be talking about these loan programs in much more detail in a few slides, but do know that some families might not think they qualify for need based aid and simply won't submit the fast. So if you're looking for some financial assistance.

In terms of maybe a student loan or the Parent plus loan, the fast that does have to be submitted for you to be eligible for those forms of assistance. But most of the aid that you will see is going to be need based aid that you qualify for using that faster as determined by the FC. That is from that fast are calculated from that fast so.

Keep in mind that each years FAFSA will use what we call prior prior tax information. So if you are applying for aid for fall 2020 in spring 2020, one that application is going to use tax information from 2018, so there's no need to wait for 2019 or even now 2020 information to be complete before submitting that fast. So also remember that it must be signed.

By both a student and a parent using the FSA ID and password. So you might complete and submit a FAFSA but not actually have a signature on it. Or maybe you have just a student signature and not a parent signature. Unless both of those signatures have been received by a school, it cannot use your fast, so they determine your assistance. We do understand that for some reason's parents might not be able to create an FSA ID, password, or.

Might not be able to create that account on the Fasa so you can reach out to us. We do have PDF signature forms that we can use and keep on file that would serve as a parent signature for that fast so.

And then just a reminder for all of our male students. You must be registered for selective services to be eligible for any federal assistance. The Fasa actually helps you out here in one way where you can, as completing the Faf say appan my 18th birthday. Please do register for me if you did not select that automatic registration. You can register through the selective services website and then we check.

Add a basis to make sure every male who's turned 18 has completed that registration before we would disperse any federal assistance.

After we have received your FAFSA and we've determined that it is complete, meaning it has all the information submitted. An also the parent and student signatures were going to determine and calculate your financial aid package and communicate to you your financial aid package through what is?

Called a financial aid notification. This will be sent both via email and Postal Mail and the email financial aid notification would come from the financial aid email address which is financial aid at hcc-and.edu.

The financial aid notification is going to have line items of all of your aid for that upcoming year.

The package that you received in the Mail will also include a personal planner with your estimated financial obligation or what we call net price. What it is that you are expected to pay out of pocket. There's personal planner is personalized for every student, so when we Mail this personal planner to you were using your current financial aid information to help you calculate not only your net price for the entire year, but your estimated net price for each semester.

As well.

If your financial aid package needs to be updated for whatever reason, those updates will only be released via email, so you will only get One Financial aid notification in the Mail, but you may receive several financial aid notifications via email if there are any updates to your package, so watch your financial aid watch your emails from financialaid@hcc.nd.edu and the most recent one.

The the most up-to-date, incorrect version of your financial aid notification we have on a regular basis. If sending updates, sending a little text message to a student just as a heads up that an updated financial aid notification is ready to be viewed via email. So we do understand that sometimes emails come fast and you have many of them in your inbox, so we're sending some text message updates and reminders as well to go check your email.

To see any of those updates there.

Also, in both that email and that packet that might be sent to your home if you are marked and selected for verification, that notification is going to be included with directions on how to complete the verification process. We will talk a little bit more about verification in a few slides.

That financial aid notification again will include a list of the aid for which you're eligible, and these are some of the most common sources of aid that are currently being received by students at Holy Cross College. I'll go through them and describe the difference between those which are merit based and those which are need based. The first 2 listed here are merit scholarships, merit based scholarships and that does include the signature scholarship program at Holy Cross.

These scholarships are based apon students applications, meaning their common application, their transcripts and their test scores and they do not require a fasa to receive any merit aid at Holy Cross College. You will be made informed of your merit scholarship at the time of your admission to Holy Cross College.

Name the scholarship? Excuse me named scholarships fall somewhat in between a merit scholarship and need based. Ate some of them. You do have to demonstrate some need to receive, but again there are typically qualifications and requirements for some of our named scholarships that do require maybe something to be demonstrated on the common application or resume, but also maybe some demonstrated need. Currently we have two names scholarships that we're still.

Awarding the first is called our speed Heart Award and it is for any student who has an immediate family member. So a sibling or a mother or a father who has or is currently serving in the US military. So this is not a need based award but it's based apon military service within your immediate family and the second name scholarship that we are still awarding is for students who have received the Eagle Award through Boy Scouts.

Holy Cross assistance grants. Those are need based grants that are administered by Holy Cross College. So if you receive a Holy Cross Assistance Grant, it means you qualified for that for this upcoming year based upon the FC on your FAFSA. So that's a need based award. The federal Pell Grant is a federal grant. Also keep in mind anything that's called a grant or a scholarship is free money. It is not something that will ever have to be paid back.

The federal Pell Grant, administered through the federal government your eligibility based apon your FC.

For our students who live in reside here in the state of Indiana, we've got some amazing resources through the government here in Indiana, specifically the freedom of choice Grant and also known and sometimes called the 21st century scholar students at Holy Cross College are eligible for one or the other, whichever one is the highest amount and this upcoming year, that base amount for an incoming student who qualifies for the maximum.

Amount of freedom of choice is $9200, so Indiana students often have some significant grant money awarded an made available by the state of Indiana. Again that is need based.

We're going to talk about the federal direct student loans. Also, the Parent plus loans, and we're going to talk about the difference between campus employment and federal work study and why it is that those end up or are listed on your financial aid notification. Anything that is a merit based scholarship is renewable. Typically will tell you so in your financial aid award. Renewable for all four years at Holy Cross College. They will have some minimum GPA requirements. Anything that is.

Need based is going to be renewable based apon next years FAFSA information so do keep in mind that you must submit the FAFSA each year and we're going to use which ever FC is on that FAFSA to determine your new eligibility for any of your need based assistance. So that means perhaps your Holy Cross Assistance Grant or your Pell Grant or your freedom of choice Grant could adjust based apon.

FC if your family's financial situation is going to remain fairly steady for the next few years, you should expect that your financial aid package will remain somewhat the same throughout your four years as well.

Next, we're going to talk about the personal planner and this is what students used to calculate their net price or what it is that they are expected to pay out of pocket. Again, a personal planner, something that we included in the mailing that would come direct to your home, but you could also go to our website, the financial aid website, and download a PDF copy of this personal planner and fill in the amount of aid and borrowed assistance and calculate your own net price.

But what it does is it takes into account direct costs at Holy Cross College. But I do want to give some definitions and some terminology that you're going to hear us use. You're going to hear us talk about direct costs. You're going to hear us talk about indirect costs, and then finally those two together equal the cost of attendance. The cost of attendance is our best estimation of what you should or what a typical year for a typical student might cost.

At Holy Cross College, it is not necessarily anyone's bill, but it is the value of the sticker price of a Holy Cross. Educational experience, including both those things that might be billed to a student, but also those things that are personal expenses that a student would take care of. Let's take a closer look at those direct costs and those indirect costs.

So these are current numbers. These are numbers for the next academic year that includes fall 2020 in spring 2021, tuition, student fees, and room and meals are what we consider direct costs because they are billed directly to a student. They show up on the student account as a direct billable expense. Indirect costs is when we look at some estimates as to what other expenses you might have.

To support yourself and your educational experience. This includes books and supplies, personal expenses, also transportation. So this is always an estimate and these are not bills or charges that are billed directly to a student. Rather, when we talk about cost of attendance, it's our way of letting families think beyond what is just on the bill, but also planning for purchasing books each semester. The travel to and from campus.

Maybe pizza money for the weekends and all those other charges that aren't going to come directly from Holy Cross College.

But when we're talking about net price and what your out of pocket responsibility will be, we're going to look at course at what are your direct costs. So we're going to take your direct costs, subtract the financial aid that you have received, both the gift date, meaning scholarships and grants, but also that borrowed assistance. An what is remaining is your estimated net price. Something to keep in mind. Your financial aid notification typically any award grant, scholarship or loan is going to be divided.

Equally between both semesters also your charges are going to be divided equally between both semesters, so half of your bill for one year will be due in the fall half in the winter, and then have your financial aid will be used to cover each of those semesters. So when you get that estimated net price by this simple calculation, you divide it by two and that's your estimated semester responsibility.

Also, I do want to note Holy Cross, just have an on campus residence requirement for its freshmen and sophomores. So that means first year students and sophomore students are required to live on campus. There are some students who are exempt from that requirement, specifically, those students who live here in our local community and are able to commute from home with their family to Holy Cross might elect to live at home and commute.

And that helps them in saving some significant money by living at home. We do want as many students as possible to live on campus, but we understand for some it's easiest. It makes sense to live at home and be a computer if you are approved as a commuter, you're not going to be charged room and meals. That's of course only for students were living on campus, and that charge includes both a dorm room on our campus. But also you would be entered into one of our meal plans.

On campus, that's part of the room and meals charge.

But do you know that financial aid, the calculations and the awards that we put together are based upon your cost of attendance? Annuar cost of attendance would include whether or not room and board is included in that calculation. So for some students who live off campus and wants to live on campus, they might actually qualify for some significant more aid to make that possible. Also, do note that if you elect to go from on campus to off campus, you should expect.

Of revision in your financial aid notification to reflect the new cost of attendance. So keep in mind that for some families they might begin in this process thinking that they're going to live at home and commute, but then might reach out to us and ask for an estimation of financial aid for weather. For what it would look like to live on campus. And often these families are surprised by the amount of aid available to live on campus in the residence halls.

I'm going to move next to the federal direct student loan program because any student who applies to financial aid excuse me, uses the FAFSA to apply for financial assistance. Typically, every student is made eligible for federal direct student loans, and this becomes a building block in your financial aid package, year after year, we're going to talk about some of the differences because many students will see two different types of loans on their financial aid package.

And talk about what those will look like in coming years as well. First of all, there are need based student loans and there are non need based student loans. The need based type of alone is what we called the subsidized loan. So if you have received a subsidized loan on your financial aid notification, it does mean that you have qualified for the need based type of loan.

Subsidise simply means that while you are enrolled as an undergraduate student, the federal government is subsidizing your interest. That means you are not accruing interest on a subsidized loan while you are enrolled.

The unsubsidized loan means the opposite. It will accrue interest while you are an undergraduate student.

Down on the bottom here you can see the term deferment federal direct student loans have the opportunity for students to defer any payments until at least six months after they are no longer enrolled as an undergraduate student. That means for most Holy Cross students they are beginning to make payments on their loans six months after graduation.

That does that mean you cannot make payments along the way. Some students are going to take out an unsubsidized loan which accrues interest each year. Students who are very careful and thinking about the debt that they are going to take an will maybe pay off that interest at the end of each year. Otherwise, if you don't pay off that interest, it rolls into the principle for the next year, and then you're going to accrue interest on top of interest. Not really a smart thing to do if you don't.

Have to.

So that's difference between subsidized and unsubsidized loan. The better of the two will always be the subsidized loan and we will maximize that as much as possible. For families who decide that they're going to take out loans. I just checked the federal student loan website. The current fixed interest rate for both of these loans for dependent students is 4.53%. So reasonable rate with some protections in place like deferment. Also the opportunity for.

Income based repayments. Once you enter repayments of your loans after graduation.

Here also on this slide you see some yearly limits of these loans. In total, the first column is for a student who is dependent, meaning they are claimed as a dependent on a parents tax form. The second column is for students who might be an independent student. Also, there are some students who are dependants whose families are denied the Parent plus loan, then they become eligible for the independence.

Limits of these federal direct student loans so you can see here in Year 1A, typical student is going to be offered $5500 in federal direct student loans gear two 6500 year three an beyond 7500, but altogether student cannot take out more than 31,000 in both subsidized and unsubsidized loans over the course of their undergraduate education.

Again that year, one limit of 5500 could be split between subsidized and unsubsidized loans. A typical breakdown between these two types of loans for student might be 3500 in a subsidized loan and then 2000 in an unsubsidized loan. An I did right here that you are in control of your debt and I want you to remember that although we are going to.

Offer you your full eligibility for these loans. You have the choice as to whether or not you accept these loans, so every time Holy Cross offer issue a subsidized or an unsubsidized loan you can come back to us and say I'm going to request to reduce or remove one or more loans for this upcoming year. It is very typical for a student to maybe be offered 2000 in an unsubsidized loan.

But then come back to us and say, well, because it's not subsidized. I actually don't want that loan and then we can simply remove it from your financial aid notification. So just because you've been offered these loans doesn't mean you have to take them. But many students are taking these loans to help assist and the payment of their semester bills at Holy Cross College.

And again we talked about different that deferment, once more means that your loans are in deferment so you're not making payments until at least six months after you're no longer a full time student. Typically that is going to occur six months after a student has graduated. Also, take note that these are student loans. They will be in the student's name, not the parents name. It is actually a very great way for young people to begin building some credit history.

It's often maybe the first debt that a student would assume, and then if you are making timely payments after graduation, you are showing that you can manage your debt, make repayments and is helping to build some credit history for our young adults.

Every financial aid notification will include the line item for either campus employment or work study, and I'm going to explain what that means. This is a representation of money that you can earn yourself for future purchases or to put down on future semester bills. It is an opportunity to work. It is not a requirement to work and also the amount that we've placed on your financial aid notification.

I believe this year for everyone. We're doing it at $2000. That's simply an estimation of what you might make over an academic year. If you are working 10 hours a week during the time in which classes are in session, so that's not.

I'm at a minimum that you must work 'cause there's no requirement to work. That's also not a maximum of your earnings. That's kind of a midpoint for students who might have 10 hours of a campus job while classes are in session. Do you know that we have to limit hours to students who are working on campus that limit during the school year is 20 hours per week.

Many students have jobs on our campus at Holy Cross. Some of our students take advantage of part time employment across the Tri Campus as well. If you're looking for one of those jobs on our campus at Holy Cross, it is at the end of the summer that we update our job board where we're going to post the jobs that are available for that upcoming semester and then allow you to apply for those jobs through the application that goes to each job manager. If you were interested in looking for one of those jobs.

Maybe across the street from Holy Cross at the University of Notre Dame you would go through, not their student employment office, but their HR Office and they have many jobs that are part time and those are the ones that students can take advantage of. Again, because then you're not working more than 20 hours per week.

Again, it is an option, not a requirement, to have a campus job. We have found in our experience, especially these most recent years, every student who's wanted a job has found one, whether that's on our campus or on Notre Dame's campus, and also keep in mind you are in charge of your hours, and also that your payment is directly paid to you to direct deposit. It is not expected that you take any money that you earn from campus employment and pay it back to Holy Cross. However, many students are using campus employment.

To maybe help save up some money to buy books or a new computer, whatever that might be, but do know that we list this on a financial aid notification because it's the easiest way for us to communicate that this is a very common opportunity that students take advantage of to make Holy Cross and their educational experience much more affordable.

Some other tasks that you might have to complete after completing the FAFSA. As I mentioned, if you are selected for the verification process, we will let you know in your email and let you know in that packet that we mailed to your home. Verification is a randomized process by the federal government. They will flag maybe 3 in 10 students to say we would like you meaning Holy Cross College to verify information.

That this family has submitted on the Fasa. The verification process includes a verification worksheet where we learn a little bit more about your family. The number of people in your household, plus the number of individuals who are going to be enrolled in undergraduate studies for the upcoming year, and then we also are looking at official tax information to verify that matches what was put on the Fasa itself.

If you were selected for verification and you do not complete the process, none of the federal or state or need based Holy Cross assistance will be applied to your student account until that process is completed. All of your aid remains an estimate until the verification process is completed there. On this slide, you do see the verification website, where you can download that verification worksheet.

But also see, uhm, how you can submit officially your tax information. Alittle tip here to reduce the chances of being selected for verification when you fill out the FAFSA you have the opportunity. Most students do to use what is called the IRS data retrieval tool. the IRS data retrieval tool is connecting your fasa with your families tax information through the IRS.

So it comes through official and then it is recorded on your FAFSA as being official tax information. Families who used the IRS data retrieval tool are often less likely to be flagged for verification because that information has already been verified.

You can also, if you are marked for verification, go back into your fasa, use the IRS data retrieval tool, re submit your FAFSA and that completes the step in which you're supposed to provide to us that official tax information.

Also, if you receive any outside or private scholarships, please inform us of those because it becomes far part of your financial aid notification at Holy Cross. So send us where this money is coming from. What type of expenses can it be used? Can it be used just for tuition or any educational expenses? How much we should expect to receive in a check, whether that's a one time or a re occuring scholarship?

And then we will add it to your financial aid notification as a note to expect that this money is going to be coming from an outside source.

Also, if you will be taking on those federal direct student loans, each student must complete what is called the master promissory note or NPN, and also a process called insurance counseling.

Both of these steps can be completed at the student loan website, which is here on that slidestudentloans.gov.

The NPN serves as the loan details. The loan terms, and this is a way for soon it to read over the terms an ultimately agree to those terms that they are accepting and taking on debt through the federal direct student loan program. Entrance counseling is educational. It's letting students learn more about the loan process and what to expect first year, and then want to ultimately expect after they graduate from.

Holy Cross.

If you do not complete the NPN and or do not complete entrance counseling, your loans will not be posted to your student account, so you might find that you have a bill that you don't expect, meaning it's a little bit larger because your loans aren't yet posted. Complete NPN an entrance counseling. As soon as you know that you will be accepting loans, whether you're attending Holy Cross or any other school, these are required steps.

And then we talked about that FSA ID and password that you use to complete the FAFSA. You will use your FSA ID and password to complete these two necessary steps.

Change in circumstances so you remember way back when we talked about the FAFSA we said that the upcoming FAFSA uses 2018 information.

Some things might have changed since 2018 and we understand that we also understand that some things might change during this academic here that are unexpected, so we do have a change in circumstances process away for families to share with us. Some changes that have may be adjusted income one way or the other that wasn't necessarily recognized on your 2018.

Taxes. Some of those most common types of circumstances or situations that the family might see are listed here. This could include extended loss of employment, whether that be in 2019 or in 2020 could be a divorce or separation that happened after 2018. So the current tax information is not necessarily reflective of what was submitted on 2018 tax information.

Also, we understand that sometimes families receive one time income that maybe was reported on 2018 taxes, but isn't recurring isn't appearing on 2019, isn't reoccuring or appearing on 2020. If any of these circumstances apply to your family situation, we do encourage you to complete this change in circumstances process and submit the required documentation. We actually ask families.

They had it all ready to do verification. In addition to this process so that we have as much information in front of us to see if there is, we can use some professional judgment. In re calculating an expected family contribution and administratively updating your current FAFSA. So if any of these circumstances and if you want to see the others that are most common, you can visit that change in circumstances page. If you go to our financial aid home page.

You can link to it from there. Again, this is a process that you might be doing right now, but also keep in mind as you go ahead that there might be a change in circumstance that happens mid year and there are opportunities than for you to submit that mid year as well. Ultimately the goal and a change in circumstances form, at least for us at Holy Cross, is to use the most accurate and up-to-date information to recalculate your expected family contribution.

And if that recalculation is taking you to a point where you now qualify for Pell Grant or maybe Indiana Grant, then it's working out to your situation. Quite fave.

Probably we cannot guarantee just because you've submitted this form, that there will be any change in your financial aid assistance, but we will look and try as hard as we can to see if there's additional aid made available to you based upon the information. The updated information that you are able to share with us and also leads me to a point that I can share that maybe I was going to few slides earlier. All the information about eligibility for the federal grant.

The Pell Grant and the freedom of choice Grant through the state of Indiana that is made public. Its on their website, state websites, federal websites. So if you were wondering what FC you must have to qualify for a Pell Grant or for freedom of choice grants, there are PDF an Excel charts with bands of F season. You can basically say if I fall between this FC in this CFC.

I'm going to receive X number of dollars in these grants, so the amount you receive in either a Pell Grant or freedom of choice grant is on a sliding scale based upon the expected family contribution.

And then I'm taking a look at the timeline were actually quite far in this timeline already, but there are some reminders for you for upcoming years and also still opportunities for you to take action right now. So the Fasa became available on October 1st of last year for students who would be enrolled in this fall. So fall 2020 that fast, of course, is live and you can submit it to Holy Cross submitted to other schools to which you are considering.

That October 1 opening is every year, so again, take note that financial aid process is a process you complete year after year. That means this fall during your fall semester in October. You could submit your FAFSA for fall 2021 and be well ahead of the game. Good news is lucky for you the second time, filling out the FAFSA is often much easier than the first time because so much of the information that you entered your first year.

Simply rolled over to the fast. So for the next year, and again, if you're using that IRS data retrieval tool, you don't even have to have your tax information in front of you because all of that information is going to be filled in through that tool directly to your fast, so.

The next date I'm going to point to your attention is April 15th. This is a very very, very important date for Indiana residents. It is the final FAFSA deadline to be eligible for Indiana State aid. As I mentioned, we were talking about 21st century scholars and freedom of choice that maximum grant that base amount this year $9200. You don't want to miss out a $9200 of.

Free money because you have missed the April 15th deadline, so don't start your application on April 15th in case it takes maybe more than one day to complete. But make sure well ahead of April 15th you have completed the Fasa.

And then here at Holy Cross, we're releasing those financial aid notifications on a rolling basis. So after you've submitted that fasa, we have your FC typically between one and two weeks were sending out those emails and sending those notifications to your home as well. And then finally, we are going to take a look here. May 1, 2020. This is our priority enrollment confirmation deadline. Most students who are going to be students this fall. New students at Holy Cross College.

Will let us know at Holy Cross, on or before May 1 whether or not they will be students. This is confirming your enrollment. We do have some flexibility with that date. If there are circumstances that prevent you from confirming by May one, let us know. Talk to your counselor. We're going to be able to give some flexibility there. A common reason why it may be. Some families aren't ready to make a decision by May 1.

Is because there are some challenges, maybe in the financial aid process that we're still working out. So if you're waiting to hear back from us for financial aid, that is a perfectly acceptable reason to have an extension. Beyond that, May 1st deadline.

Given the unusual circumstances of our campus being closed, families being unable to visit, and many of us working remotely, we have made a little adjustment to how we handle this deadline.

Traditionally, May 1st is also the last date by which you could request a refund of your deposit. So when you are submitting that online confirmation form, you will also submit a confirmation enrollment and housing deposit. Secure your place at Holy Cross. Typically may one is the deadline to request a refund. We've moved that to June 1, so let's say may one you confirm your decision to enroll at Holy Cross an you submit your deposit.

If for whatever reason you decide before June 1 that you are no longer going to be enrolled at Holy Cross, we will refund that deposit, no questions asked. So that is the flexibility that we're given families knowing that this is just a very unusual time and we want to be able to make sure that students are making the best decisions possible and have the most flexibility possible as well.

Great, I know we have already gone over the 45 minutes that I expected this presentation to take. I very thankful the numbers are still up there so no one has has turned away, but we have just a few more slides and I think these are really important and I'll be going through these fairly quickly and we still do have a number of winners who are going to be winning those $50.00 gift card. So stick around to the end if you're still there.

We have some winners that we're going to announce just a few more slides. Again, very important information.

So within the same office space is the office financial aid is the office of student accounts. We work very, very closely together. The offices, student accounts overseas, all billing and payments. They will issue any refunds if that is necessary. The refund is if your financial aid in your payments exceed your bill or what your charges are. So you get money back that you can use to help pay for books or to help make payments on a new laptop or whatever that might be. And then also the office student accounts is very helpful.

Open you manage any monthly payment plans that you might register for to help a pay off your bill each semester.

Each student before each semester will have access to what is called a preliminary semester bill. These first preliminary semester bills for fall semester for new students will be mailed to homes this summer and then they will become available following that on a student's account. So it is after this first semester the students responsibility to log into their Holy Cross student account to view their preliminary semester bill to review their financial aid.

To see if it is as their expected and to settle their bill by those deadlines again, that preliminary semester bill will assume full time enrollment. It will also include those room and charges, a room in middle charges. If you're living on campus, the federal aid loans. If you accepted those will be posted there an other aid and scholarships and grants, including maybe outside scholarships. If we already have that money in hand and outside or private scholarship won't appear on your semester.

Chill until that money has actually already been received by Holy Cross College.

Some things to note here that you will not see on your semester. Bill no orientation fees, so that includes fees to cover. Welcome weekend or registration for classes and orientation over the summer. No fees for those activities. Also, no car registration fees for students, including freshman who might want to have a car on campus. No laundry fees, so free laundry within the residence halls on our campus.

And then finally, for those students who take advantage of the Tri Campus opportunity to take classes at Notre Dame or Saint Mary's no tuition fees. If you are taking classes at Saint Mary's or taking classes at Notre Dame through those agreements.

Other things that you should consider when you prepared to receive that preliminary semester bill. If you accept those direct loans and origination fee will be deducted from those and it is a fairly small fee, but I do just want you to be prepared that if you accept $5500 and direct student loans, that will be just a little bit less than that is ultimately posted to your student account.

After registering for classes, you may have some course fees or lab fees that are added to your student account when you are registering for classes. It will be made.

Clear there if that course.

Has a supply or a lab fee associated with it. Those are typically nominal, maybe 20 to $50 per lab fee. If you're in the Sciences taking chemistry or physics physics at Holy Cross. Also, if you decide to upgrade your meal plan, you would be charged for that upgrade fee so soon as have a standard meal plan and then they can upgrade to our any campus 19 plan that includes 19 meals.

Each week that can be taken at any dining Hall on our campus, or on Notre Dame's campus, the standard plan is a meal plan only on our campus and Siegfried Dining Hall. And then finally, you will see if you're living on campus a one time charge in the fall of your housing, damage deposit, and this will be a one time charge that will be refunded to your account at the end of the year. If there is no damage done to your dorm room.

The fall semester bill must be settled by August 1st. Your spring semester bill must be settled by January 1st. These are the same dates and deadlines year after year, so be prepared for that. Not just the first year, but years after that. If your bill is not settled by those states, we may assess a $250 late fee when you have that preliminary semester bill in front of you and you see what is owed. There are a few ways that you can settle that.

Still an many families use a combination of these tools that includes direct payment.

That includes a payment plan, and then finally the federal direct parent plus loan. We're going to talk about those options and when and how you can take advantage of them.

First of all, direct payment students can log into their Holy Cross student portal and make a direct payment using a credit card or debit card or also using banking account information. We would encourage families to use banking account information because there is a processing fee. If you're using credit card now if you are a new student entering Holy Cross this fall, you do not yet have access to your Holy Cross.

Student portal, we will give you your username and password later in a few months. Once we're ready for students are to start using the resources and tools in that portal from this point or up to this point you have been using what is called the Holy Cross applicant portal. It's there that you'll submit your online confirmation form. It's there where you saw your decision. It's also there where you will see your new student checklist over these coming months with steps that you have to take to prepare to be a student at Holy Cross College.

We also offer semester payment plans and these are payment plans that you would sign up for semester by semester. So you could sign up for this fall semester and not doing next spring semester or you could signup want for one every single semester for which you were enrolled a student the payment plan does require a down payment and can have up to five monthly installments. An I actually have a little graphic here of a payment plan.

Buy a semester and this is actually for this fall semester. So if you would like to commit money to a payment plan, you could actually begin registering for a payment plan as early as tomorrow. So April 6th is when our payment plans open for the fall semester. If you register between April 6 and June 23rd, your down payment is 10% and then you have five months that you're going to pay off however much you commit to that.

Payment plan so you would have payments due in July, August, September, October and November. As you could see on this chart, the later you wait to sign up for a payment plan, the higher your down payment is and the fewer months that you have. The split that payment among. So the advice would be as soon as you know that you're going to use a payment plan, sign up for one as soon as possible, preferably if you can do so before June 23rd to take advantage of five months.

Of the payment again, when you sign up for this semester payment plan, you get to decide how much you commit to that payment plan. So when you're looking at your semester responsibility, you might say a certain amount I can pay as a direct payment before August 1st, and then a certain amount I can commit to a payment plan as well.

For those families looking for additional assistance even beyond a payment plan and being able to make that direct payment, we do want you to be aware of the Parent plus loan opportunity or option. So if you have submitted a Fasa, families going to be eligible to take out a parent plus loan, or at least apply for one. Unlike a student loan, this is a parent loan, so it would be in the parents name. The fixed interest rate is a little bit higher, I think maybe 6 to 7% currently.

And the parent would be responsible for repayment. However, deferment is an option, meaning parents can wait until soon it has graduated to begin making payments on a parent plus loan. And unfortunately these are unsubsidized, so it will accrue interest even if you are in deferment. Parent plus loans can be taking out up to the cost of attendance minus any financial assistance a student has already received.

And it takes a few weeks to process a parent plus loan. So if you know you're going to be taking out a parent plus loan, begin that application process early and be aware of course of how much you are going to take out. You can either on the application put a very specific amount for a parent plus loan, or say that you would like to maximize it. If you are going to maximize that parent plus loan, this is the calculation that we use. The cost of attendance, which includes.

Interact and direct costs, minus your financial aid package that includes any work study that includes campus employment, loans, grants and scholarships. Whatever is remaining is your maximum eligibility. Of course, we are going to caution families in taking out the maximum eligibility for a parent plus loan unless you absolutely have to, because we want families to be very deliberate in taking on debt.

And not doing so if you don't have to, but we do want families to know that the Parent plus loan is an option. So for those of you who are going to be at Holy Cross this fall as early as tomorrow, you can.

Submit an application for payment plan and even start thinking about maybe a parent plus loan. And again you don't have to use those. Both of those options, but you can use them as tools and a combination to reach what your semester net price or expected billing might be.

And then finally, where to find help? I do have on here the financial aid home page on that home page. You're going to find a calendar where you can register for a one on one personalized financial aid phone call and that would be either with myself or the assistant director. Financial aid autumn ganser. Very helpful. Either of us will take make your phone call and why we've created this calendar is because it allows us to prepare for the phone call. It is much better and easier, and we're more informed.

When we have some time to look over your record, look over your scholarships, look over your fasa before making that phone call rather than taking a phone call that might be just cold to our office. Also, on that home page you can download the personal planner and you can download that financial aid packet. So both of these are PDFs that are mailed to students. But if you've lost those mailings, you can find the generic ones there on their website. Also, links to completing verification and the change in circumstances.

Finally, at studentaid.gov, that's where you're completing the Fasa. That's where you're completing NPN. An entrance counseling and then that is the application for the Parent plus loan as well.

Now, Uhm?

Is I'm going to jump in and see if Maureen is still here? Uh, because I do want to.

Award some of our viewers who have been very patient. We've gone. We've gone an hour. There was a lot to cover here. Thank you for sticking around. Um, I'm going to see if we have any winners that have been selected for our gift cards.

And while I wait for that, going to maybe just a look through maybe one or two questions, I want to be very respectful to your time on this night, but also I want you to know that we will look through these questions. And because you registered using an email address, we're going to be able to.

Respond to you individually, so if you still have questions, it's still you can still drop them there in the box.

So here's a good question from Brad. Incoming student has a July birthday, so it cannot register for selective services until June. That's perfectly fine. You should register soon as you are eligible to do so if you are.

Not what basically what happens on our end. If we see that a student a male student is 18 years of age, we will confirm that that student has registered before dispersing any federal or state aid. So as long as you are registered when you are 18, the aid will not be delayed in anyway.

Is EFC considered when determining the amount of the signature scholarship? No, it's not so signature scholarship is our is a merit type scholarship and currently the maximum amounts that students receiving that has been up to $20,000. So some pretty significant Merit Award. However, we do use the FC when determining if you are eligible for any Holy Cross assistance. In addition to that signature scholarship.

Chris, great question here. Can a state grant from another state be used at Holy Cross College? I do believe that there is only I wish I had autumn here with me. She she knows all of these details, but I do believe there is only one other state in the nation. That or one state total that allows for a state scholarship grant to leave it borders. So again, if you're an Indiana resident you can only use that Indiana Grant if you go to a school.

In Indiana, I believe there is one school and I wish I had the answer. I think it's in on the East Coast where you have that state grant. They're going to let you take it. Any school, even outside of their own borders. Most states Indiana. Excuse me. Illinois, Michigan, Ohio. You're not using those state grants outside of a school within your state. And then I check here.

Awesome.

So we have three winners for a $50 digital gift card, so you receive an email from Holy Cross later this evening where you can redeem that gift card. So thank you so much for tuning in and for sticking around to the end we have.

Jessica Aber Ham.

Gabriela bent on XO.

And Melanie Serrano. So congratulations to you any of you still so in their viewing. Maybe drop a little, um, hurray in that chat box, um, we congratulations. You will get that. Yeah, great. So this has been great. I I'm sorry that we didn't have more time for some of those other questions, but we're going to go ahead and end tonight's broadcast. I hope this has been extremely informative and helpful and maybe even helped you. Think of some questions that you didn't even know.

That you might want to ask those one on one, phone calls are going to be very helpful. Go ahead and run to that calendar and schedule one of those because we want to help you understand how you can make Holy Cross affordable for you and your family. and I do have to give one more reminder that we have more Holy Cross lives coming up. I'm very excited about our next episode which will happen on Tuesday night, and it's called bursting the bubble.

Community engagement and overseas experiences. And so this is showing you how Holy Cross takes its students off its campus immediately to engage in our local community, but also to have overseas experiences through study abroad and our global perspectives courses. So go ahead and register for that to join us on Tuesday night and that ends it here and son starting to go down and a very beautiful Sunday here.

In South Bend. Very grateful and as we the same way that we anticipate Easter next week, we are anticipating with so much eagerness your arrival to Holy Cross in August we cannot wait to see all of you so goodnight and God bless and we will see you hopefully on Tuesday night.