Reading Your Aid Letter

ktupper Author

02/10/2022 Added

29 Plays

Description

Staff review the aid letter sent to students and families and how to decipher it.

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[00:00:00.450]Kristy leads a student services team
[00:00:02.810]that helps students with financial aid, scholarships,
[00:00:05.993]course registration, the FAFSA and student accounts.
[00:00:09.728]Plus, they are just really helpful
[00:00:11.730]and really just so darn nice to work with.
[00:00:13.880]So it is a great team that is here to serve all of you.
[00:00:17.081]Kristy has a wealth of knowledge and experience
[00:00:19.534]in financial aid, new student orientation,
[00:00:22.097]and first generation scholars.
[00:00:24.028]She is an expert in all things financial aid.
[00:00:27.430]So please help me welcome Kristy Saunders.
[00:00:32.310]Hello everyone.
[00:00:33.860]Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day
[00:00:35.940]to hang out with me a little bit
[00:00:37.510]and talk about award letters, financial aid,
[00:00:40.340]and the whole like.
[00:00:41.720]So we have a relatively small group today,
[00:00:43.940]so feel free to throw questions in the chat
[00:00:46.709]or also of course save them for the end.
[00:00:48.900]I do have planned time for you
[00:00:51.870]to ask me plenty of questions.
[00:00:53.210]So feel free to throw anything out there
[00:00:56.230]and we'll be happy to go through those with you.
[00:00:58.913]So today, like, Greg very nicely just said
[00:01:01.530]we will be going through receiving
[00:01:02.780]and interpreting the award letter.
[00:01:04.770]And the reason why is because this can
[00:01:06.390]be a very confusing thing for students
[00:01:08.404]and how to best use it.
[00:01:10.980]So I always like to go through some of the common mistakes
[00:01:13.448]or kind of confusion students may have so that way
[00:01:16.460]if they come to you with this and say, what does this mean?
[00:01:18.770]You can then also help them interpret this.
[00:01:22.170]So like Greg said, my name is Kristy Saunders.
[00:01:25.060]I'm the Assistant Director of Husker Hub.
[00:01:26.596]So if you have ever been chatting with our office,
[00:01:29.850]this is basically where I consider it the fun stuff
[00:01:32.890]of college, which is the business side.
[00:01:34.590]So financial aid, your student bill,
[00:01:36.980]basically all of the things
[00:01:38.780]that students tend to get a little bit confused about,
[00:01:41.730]but once they get the hang of it, make their job
[00:01:43.840]at school so much easier.
[00:01:45.800]But our goal is that if as a one stop, if they come to us,
[00:01:49.115]that they can get this all taken care of in one spot,
[00:01:52.230]that way they can focus on the things they need to,
[00:01:54.120]like academics, and of course, enjoying college,
[00:01:57.200]actually making friends and growing and developing
[00:02:00.840]as a person.
[00:02:02.580]If you can hear my dogs in the background, I apologize.
[00:02:04.830]I'm working from home at the moment.
[00:02:06.550]They also feel very strongly about financial aid.
[00:02:09.150]So they just are sharing their support.
[00:02:12.810]So to start off,
[00:02:14.350]I wanna talk a little bit about steps
[00:02:15.830]to receive an award letter.
[00:02:17.060]Since this is kind of the first point of anxiety that
[00:02:19.940]we see students have, which is I haven't gotten one yet.
[00:02:23.030]So I wanna kind of go through how they should get
[00:02:26.220]that award letter and all the steps that they should take
[00:02:28.390]to make sure that they get a comprehensive award letter
[00:02:31.470]that shows all the aid they could be eligible for.
[00:02:34.320]So first step of course apply for admission
[00:02:37.400]to the University of Nebraska Lincoln.
[00:02:39.040]So they have to apply, be accepted and have us see them
[00:02:42.380]as a student, in order for us to, of course know,
[00:02:45.320]to send them an award letter.
[00:02:47.440]Next, they should complete the scholarship statement
[00:02:50.290]by February 1.
[00:02:51.480]Of course, this is not necessarily required,
[00:02:53.770]but it is strongly encouraged.
[00:02:55.920]That way students get everything they deserve.
[00:02:57.894]So that due date was on February 1st.
[00:03:00.700]So if you have any students who are not sure if they
[00:03:02.980]submitted it, they can absolutely call the admissions team
[00:03:05.950]and they can check to make sure it's submitted properly.
[00:03:08.880]If however, they have not done it yet,
[00:03:10.650]unfortunately is past the deadline.
[00:03:12.340]So just let them know that there are other opportunities
[00:03:15.443]that will come up as a continuing student,
[00:03:17.600]but they unfortunately can't submit one late.
[00:03:19.980]So that's already a bummer.
[00:03:22.800]The next one would be FAFSA
[00:03:25.150]by the April 1st priority deadline.
[00:03:27.440]So for those of you who don't know a priority deadline,
[00:03:29.850]basically what we mean by that,
[00:03:31.300]is when it comes to institutional aid
[00:03:34.340]and I'm not talking about those big academic scholarships
[00:03:37.531]or even this scholarships that come
[00:03:39.710]from the scholarship statement.
[00:03:40.950]I'm talking about more of that institutional funding
[00:03:42.970]that we give to students based on need.
[00:03:45.310]We have a limited pot of those funds.
[00:03:47.497]So when it comes to getting the FAFSA,
[00:03:50.402]we actually have a cutoff date to say,
[00:03:53.160]if you submit your FAFSA by April 1st,
[00:03:55.032]you are in that priority group for that institutional aid.
[00:03:58.900]If we get your FAFSA after April 1st,
[00:04:00.978]you still may get some of that funding,
[00:04:03.450]but it's not as much of a guarantee.
[00:04:05.813]So getting students to get this into us on time
[00:04:08.415]is very important.
[00:04:11.600]And also, we'll talk about this in the third webinar,
[00:04:14.060]but that's also the deadline for Nebraska Promise
[00:04:16.361]for that very reason.
[00:04:17.834]So if you have somebody who is an Nebraska resident,
[00:04:20.142]who is under $60,000, AGI,
[00:04:23.794]tell them to get it done as soon as possible.
[00:04:28.466]Of course, to in order for us to get that FAFSA,
[00:04:31.030]we need them to list us as a school.
[00:04:32.990]So this is unfortunately a very common mistake
[00:04:36.450]that students make.
[00:04:37.670]So just because they file it does not mean it got sent to
[00:04:40.580]where it needs to go.
[00:04:41.490]So they just need to make sure that they list
[00:04:44.677]our school code of 002565 on that FAFSA for us to get it.
[00:04:48.726]And finally, complete all verification
[00:04:51.307]and supporting documents by June 1st.
[00:04:54.070]So we're gonna talk about this in our next session,
[00:04:56.516]but some of you may know that there
[00:04:58.710]is something called financial aid verification,
[00:05:01.250]which is basically the process of
[00:05:02.470]us checking all the answers on the FAFSA to make sure that
[00:05:04.863]they are receiving the amount of aid that they should be.
[00:05:08.324]And so with that comes some extra documentation
[00:05:11.255]that they more than likely need to submit to us.
[00:05:13.830]So they have about a month between the priority deadline
[00:05:16.168]and the prior deadline for documents to get that into us.
[00:05:19.869]So it's very important they're on top of it.
[00:05:22.410]And if they have any questions to come talk
[00:05:23.970]to us pretty quick.
[00:05:27.680]So once again, we're gonna go through this more next time,
[00:05:30.730]but just a couple of tips to take with you,
[00:05:32.710]cause these are the true mistakes that we see way too often.
[00:05:40.260]Number one,
[00:05:41.630]students should never estimate or guess ever on the FAFSA.
[00:05:45.950]If they are not entering in a number or an answer
[00:05:49.050]with a hundred percent knowledge that is true,
[00:05:53.150]they should pause and check.
[00:05:55.420]And that goes for if they're listing income,
[00:05:58.019]we see students say, I made around $4,000.
[00:06:02.308]You grab that W2 and you make sure that if it was $4,001,
[00:06:08.240]you put $4,001.
[00:06:10.213]Same thing goes for sometimes you may need to know
[00:06:12.827]when did parents get separated?
[00:06:16.320]If they don't know the exact year, talk to mom,
[00:06:19.610]get that exact year, get her on the phone.
[00:06:22.300]So the big thing here is that if they estimate or guess,
[00:06:25.847]that's one of the ways they could potentially be flagged
[00:06:28.680]for verification, which we will talk about next time,
[00:06:31.430]but we wanna try to avoid that as much as possible.
[00:06:34.480]So with that in mind,
[00:06:35.700]if you are helping a student with their FASA,
[00:06:37.628]that data retrieval tool is amazing.
[00:06:42.000]Since they brought this into play,
[00:06:43.540]it has been a game changer.
[00:06:45.360]What this is is basically a tool in the FAFSA
[00:06:47.570]that links the FAFSA directly to the IRS
[00:06:49.697]and the IRS can just input that information for them.
[00:06:53.910]So it saves them a step and also, if just say,
[00:06:58.278]we need a copy of their taxes,
[00:07:00.614]we can count the data retrieval tool
[00:07:02.810]as a copy of their taxes.
[00:07:04.450]So they're already thinking ahead just by using this thing.
[00:07:07.290]So if they can use it, tell them it's worth it
[00:07:11.709]to go through that process.
[00:07:14.960]Another common mistake we see is that both the student
[00:07:17.117]and the parent don't sign FAFSA so
[00:07:19.370]if they are considered a dependent student,
[00:07:22.140]meaning they have to include parent information.
[00:07:24.540]Sometimes a student will sign, not have mom sign
[00:07:27.248]or vice versa that can cause the FAFSA to hang out in limbo
[00:07:31.062]and we don't actually get it.
[00:07:33.460]So just make sure that they know
[00:07:36.012]to have both people sign it.
[00:07:37.880]And then finally especially
[00:07:39.260]when we're talking about deadlines,
[00:07:40.960]this is the important part.
[00:07:42.213]A lot of students don't realize that the FAFSA
[00:07:45.710]isn't instantaneous.
[00:07:47.610]There are some waiting periods involved.
[00:07:50.270]So when we're talking about the priority deadline,
[00:07:54.200]if just say the student has never created an FSA ID
[00:07:57.332]and they've never started the process at all,
[00:07:59.882]just creating the FSA ID,
[00:08:02.270]which is basically the kind of fancy login
[00:08:05.700]that students have to fill out the FAFSA,
[00:08:08.500]to sign off on their loans,
[00:08:10.129]to do all these things.
[00:08:11.935]It can take one to three days for that to even process
[00:08:15.470]for the student to use it.
[00:08:17.176]So if they are creating it,
[00:08:19.384]they may not be able to use it the same day to file
[00:08:21.920]that FAFSA.
[00:08:23.016]And then next, once they file that FAFSA and submit it,
[00:08:27.100]it can still take three to five days for us
[00:08:29.050]to even receive it.
[00:08:30.630]So I always tell students just to be perfectly safe,
[00:08:33.469]that April 1st deadline, they should be starting their FAFSA
[00:08:37.000]at least a week prior to that,
[00:08:39.290]just to make sure that we get it and they can rest easy,
[00:08:42.304]but obviously the ideal is they already have it done,
[00:08:45.870]but we all, I know we all know on
[00:08:47.220]this channel you're like, I know,
[00:08:49.466]but if they can definitely a week ahead of time.
[00:08:55.850]So now I'm gonna go into the award letter
[00:08:58.140]and I'm gonna take snippets from an example award letter
[00:09:00.850]and kind of break down some of the verbiage we use
[00:09:03.184]and some of the common confusion
[00:09:05.320]that we see our students have, especially since, I mean,
[00:09:08.460]a lot of these students are it's their first time really
[00:09:10.670]diving into thinking about budgeting,
[00:09:12.590]thinking about like making big pay payments on bills,
[00:09:16.220]so to how they can best use this to their advantage
[00:09:19.200]to plan for the year and just plan for making these payments
[00:09:22.830]if necessary.
[00:09:26.580]So the first part of the award letter that you will see
[00:09:29.570]is going to talk about the estimated direct cost
[00:09:31.940]of attendance, as well as the estimated indirect costs.
[00:09:35.323]Now, right there already students are kind of like,
[00:09:38.040]what the heck does that mean, right.
[00:09:39.502]So to kind of break it down in general,
[00:09:42.860]when we're looking at cost of attendance,
[00:09:45.035]what we're talking about with that is
[00:09:47.680]that every single thing that a student may have to purchase
[00:09:52.791]or spend money on in order to attend a university.
[00:09:56.470]So some of that are things that they will pay us directly.
[00:09:59.720]Sure, like tuition and fees, if they're living in housing,
[00:10:03.080]housing, and meals,
[00:10:04.840]but some of it are things that they will never pay us,
[00:10:07.390]but we know they're gonna have to purchase in order
[00:10:09.750]to just live and be successful in school.
[00:10:12.340]So that could be their books if they don't purchase
[00:10:14.720]in the bookstore, that could be travel.
[00:10:17.570]If we're, I mean, we're hoping to visit mom and dad,
[00:10:20.260]so gas for going home, gas for going to see friends
[00:10:23.651]and then personal costs like their hygiene items
[00:10:26.770]or just other things that make
[00:10:28.030]them feel like a whole person experiencing life, right?
[00:10:31.511]So we take all that into account to make the full cost
[00:10:35.720]of attendance that they may have in a year so that what
[00:10:39.490]they understand that while yes,
[00:10:41.610]they may only be paying us a certain amount of that,
[00:10:44.000]they can still plan that the total cost of attendance
[00:10:47.230]for that year could be $26,000.
[00:10:49.650]So that way they can budget effectively when they're here
[00:10:52.520]for school.
[00:10:53.950]So when we're talking about direct costs,
[00:10:55.797]what we mean by that is that's how much they can expect
[00:10:58.440]to pay UNL.
[00:11:00.050]So that's gonna show up on their bill
[00:11:01.986]and that they will have to make payments to us over time.
[00:11:04.821]So for this, we will break it down by estimate.
[00:11:09.480]So you'll see tuition and fees,
[00:11:11.130]which is of course the classic of the cost per credit hour,
[00:11:14.046]as well as housing and meals,
[00:11:15.720]especially since first year students are more than likely
[00:11:18.119]going to be living on campus due to that requirement.
[00:11:22.173]For the tuition and fees, it is worth noting that
[00:11:25.200]we are basing this off of 15 credit hours per semester.
[00:11:28.708]And that's because that's what we usually recommend
[00:11:30.780]for students in order to graduate in four years.
[00:11:32.970]So their advisor is going to more than likely tell them
[00:11:35.950]to shoot for 15.
[00:11:37.607]If just say they take over 15, under 15,
[00:11:42.118]this number could change.
[00:11:44.170]So make sure they understand that it's an estimate.
[00:11:47.100]This is not their official bill.
[00:11:48.880]So it could be different once the official bill is created.
[00:11:53.970]Another thing that could cause tuition and fees numbers
[00:11:56.130]to be slightly different would be if they're part
[00:11:58.890]of a major they might have
[00:12:00.810]what's called differential tuition.
[00:12:02.877]Differential tuition is basically
[00:12:04.719]when a certain college might have slightly higher tuition
[00:12:09.919]in order to cover the costs of the supplies
[00:12:12.454]or the additional software for their program.
[00:12:15.420]So the common ones that you're gonna hear about are College
[00:12:18.340]of Business, architecture, or engineering.
[00:12:21.437]It is worth noting that as a first year,
[00:12:23.940]they're probably not gonna have many of those courses
[00:12:26.310]because they're starting off, you know,
[00:12:27.773]with their GEN EDS and just getting started.
[00:12:30.370]But students should be aware of that moving up,
[00:12:32.900]because as they keep going up in their career,
[00:12:35.197]more than likely they're gonna keep getting more specialized
[00:12:37.980]and have more of those classes.
[00:12:39.930]So if just say they have one or two College
[00:12:42.790]of Business courses in here,
[00:12:44.480]this number could also be a bit higher.
[00:12:46.948]When it comes to housing and meals,
[00:12:50.130]we are basing that off of a traditional double room.
[00:12:53.290]So basically just the standard room that you would get
[00:12:56.560]as the first year student living like in Abel Sandoz.
[00:13:00.010]So if just say your student decides
[00:13:02.530]they wanna upgrade a bed, which totally fair.
[00:13:06.691]But if they wanna have a suite,
[00:13:07.524]if they wanna have their own individual room,
[00:13:09.351]then also this estimate will be a bit off
[00:13:11.452]because this is the standard without all the bells
[00:13:15.560]and whistles.
[00:13:17.013]So that being said, we will put the estimated direct costs
[00:13:20.510]here on this red line and that's without any aid applied.
[00:13:24.000]So sometimes students see this and they get very scared,
[00:13:27.096]but we show later how that aid comes off,
[00:13:30.610]but it gives them an idea of what to expect
[00:13:32.440]of what their cost will be per semester.
[00:13:36.080]Then below that you're gonna see other estimated costs.
[00:13:38.208]And this is what I was talking about with those other things
[00:13:41.160]that we round out the cost of attendance with.
[00:13:43.660]So once again, they probably will not
[00:13:45.470]be giving us this money through their bill,
[00:13:48.344]but we want them to be aware that this is what
[00:13:50.436]we expect based on other students,
[00:13:53.100]how much they are paying towards other costs outside of
[00:13:55.832]their student bill.
[00:13:58.420]So that could be books if they don't go
[00:14:00.100]through the UNL bookstore, which I hope all of you know,
[00:14:03.480]shop around.
[00:14:04.960]The bookstore's lovely,
[00:14:06.151]and oftentimes do have the best price for books,
[00:14:09.969]but not always.
[00:14:11.240]So we encourage students do your research shop around.
[00:14:16.150]You might find that UNL bookstore is the best.
[00:14:18.030]Sometimes they may be able to find a cheaper book elsewhere.
[00:14:20.900]We encourage whatever is most cost efficient.
[00:14:24.220]And then of course, like I said, travel
[00:14:25.860]and personal expenses.
[00:14:27.410]So this, while they may not be paying this to us,
[00:14:30.920]they can expect that this is the amount that, oops, sorry.
[00:14:33.620]That is the amount that they will be seeing in the future.
[00:14:37.090]So after we scare them with that number,
[00:14:39.140]now we show them the good numbers,
[00:14:40.690]the numbers that mean us coming off that amount.
[00:14:43.360]So we move into scholarships and grants.
[00:14:45.700]This is the aid we love to see because we call
[00:14:48.370]this gift aid, meaning they do not have to pay it back.
[00:14:52.430]So everything listed here is basically things that
[00:14:55.140]they've already been awarded by the institution.
[00:14:57.950]So this could be just say they have one
[00:14:59.950]of those big academic scholarships.
[00:15:01.950]They will see it here.
[00:15:02.850]So things like the Regents
[00:15:04.086]or if they're an out-of-state student,
[00:15:05.690]like Leverton George Beetle,
[00:15:06.950]things such as that.
[00:15:08.460]Also be where they'll see things like Pell Grant
[00:15:10.959]or Federal Supplementary Educational Opportunity Grant,
[00:15:14.615]which yes, I have had to practice saying
[00:15:17.270]that for many years, it is not easiest to say,
[00:15:20.780]so it will show everything here that they've received,
[00:15:23.720]but it will not show things like external scholarships.
[00:15:26.560]We'll get there.
[00:15:27.840]So if your students worried about that, that comes later.
[00:15:31.260]So we'll show how much they're receiving
[00:15:32.900]and how it breaks down per semester.
[00:15:34.619]And then in red, once again, it will show how much
[00:15:37.560]you can expect to pay out of pocket if
[00:15:39.840]you're just using your gift aid.
[00:15:41.920]And the reason why this is important
[00:15:43.350]is that not all students are necessarily gonna wanna take
[00:15:45.940]out student loans.
[00:15:47.082]So we always like to give them the option to say,
[00:15:49.552]is this number per semester feasible for you to pay
[00:15:53.370]without needing to take out loans?
[00:15:55.370]If so, then you can use this line to make that budget.
[00:15:59.300]If not, those loans come off later and we can show you what
[00:16:02.350]that amount will be.
[00:16:04.380]So it's also worth noting that obviously scholarships
[00:16:07.460]each have their unique eligibility criteria.
[00:16:09.633]Some are renewable, some are not.
[00:16:12.330]So students should also take note of that to make sure that
[00:16:14.907]for future years, if just say this university scholarship
[00:16:19.092]is not renewable, that they should plan ahead to know that,
[00:16:23.100]okay, I'm good this year, but next year,
[00:16:25.420]that thousand dollars won't be there.
[00:16:29.750]So then we go into still wonderful options,
[00:16:33.420]we love 'em, but they're not the ideal,
[00:16:35.640]which is student loan options.
[00:16:38.090]So from here, this is the part where the student must accept
[00:16:41.610]this in order for it to truly apply.
[00:16:44.550]And this is the type of aid that has to be repaid
[00:16:47.260]and with interest.
[00:16:48.980]So depending on the type of loan they are eligible for,
[00:16:52.911]we will list them here for you.
[00:16:54.380]And as a first year student,
[00:16:56.151]as a dependent first year student,
[00:16:58.754]the most that a student will be eligible for
[00:17:00.770]at this time is $5,500.
[00:17:03.800]As they move up in their career,
[00:17:05.220]that number will go up and they can take out more.
[00:17:08.440]But for the most part for a first year student,
[00:17:10.560]this is about what you're gonna see.
[00:17:12.800]So when it comes different types of loans,
[00:17:14.242]there is subsidized versus unsubsidized loans.
[00:17:19.100]For subsidized loan, that means that
[00:17:21.200]it does not accrue interest while someone's in school.
[00:17:23.920]So I always like to tell students,
[00:17:26.240]that's the friendly one.
[00:17:27.310]If you have it, start there.
[00:17:29.215]And the problem with this is that not every student
[00:17:33.410]is eligible for the subsidized loans.
[00:17:35.380]So if you find yourself questioning,
[00:17:37.330]like why does this student have both
[00:17:39.040]and this student doesn't have both?
[00:17:40.384]The reason why is because subsidized loans
[00:17:43.170]are actually considered need-based.
[00:17:44.740]So that means that they must display financial need in order
[00:17:48.390]to be eligible for that type of loan due
[00:17:50.990]to it not accruing interest.
[00:17:53.340]If just say you have a student
[00:17:54.430]who does not display financial need,
[00:17:56.184]basically any student who is considered title four eligible,
[00:17:59.930]which is a fancy way of saying they are eligible
[00:18:02.680]for financial aid, is can actually receive
[00:18:05.740]that unsubsidized loan.
[00:18:07.470]The only time they not is if they are enrolled in fewer
[00:18:11.700]than six credit hours,
[00:18:13.024]or if just say they have an incredible scholarship
[00:18:16.890]that covers the entire cost of attendance,
[00:18:19.438]but that would be a scholarship for $26,000,
[00:18:23.680]which is relatively rare when it comes
[00:18:26.610]to scholarships in our world.
[00:18:30.600]So if just say the student wants to take out the full amount
[00:18:33.130]of loans, we will show the total amount per semester
[00:18:36.159]and then showing how much their direct cost will be after
[00:18:39.180]those loans apply.
[00:18:40.730]So it's worth noting that the student does not need
[00:18:42.930]to accept the full amount.
[00:18:44.370]So if just say the student's like I could absolutely pay
[00:18:46.987]$9,000 per semester,
[00:18:49.000]they could take out the amount needed to get them
[00:18:51.560]to that 9,000 rather than this full amount.
[00:18:56.730]And like I said, this will show that estimated direct cost.
[00:18:59.194]And so just say they do not have any other aid options such
[00:19:02.930]as the Parent Plus Loan and we'll get there
[00:19:04.778]or other types of aid.
[00:19:06.830]This is the number they should be looking at to say,
[00:19:09.380]okay, if I accept all the eight options I currently have,
[00:19:12.538]this is how much I'm looking per semester.
[00:19:15.730]And that's when you start asking questions of payment and
[00:19:19.570]is, are they able to split that into three payments
[00:19:21.900]with a Husker payment plan?
[00:19:23.430]Do they have ways to make that payment each semester?
[00:19:26.520]If it doesn't seem like it's feasible,
[00:19:28.063]have them come talk to us immediately,
[00:19:30.800]as soon as they get this letter,
[00:19:32.372]so we can talk with them about their options and make sure
[00:19:35.220]that they feel comfortable.
[00:19:36.840]Sometimes it could be that other aid has come in
[00:19:39.040]and was after this letter,
[00:19:40.780]but other times it's also being able to give
[00:19:42.950]us the opportunity to talk to them
[00:19:44.504]and make sure that they are comfortable with that number
[00:19:47.000]and how to make it feasible for them so they are successful.
[00:19:52.920]So now we get into the additional aid options
[00:19:56.100]and the reason why we put it in its own little section
[00:19:58.580]is because either it is a Parent Plus Loan,
[00:20:01.450]which means there's an additional process the student must
[00:20:03.740]go through in order to receive those, that type of aid,
[00:20:07.320]or it's a type of aid that we don't technically own as UNL,
[00:20:10.300]so therefore we can't really speak
[00:20:12.560]to the eligibility criteria or make sure
[00:20:15.740]that the amounts are correct, or it has a very strange type
[00:20:19.720]of disbursement.
[00:20:21.137]So the most common ones you're gonna see here though,
[00:20:24.410]number one will be Parent Plus Loan.
[00:20:26.400]So the Parent Plus Loan is always going to show up
[00:20:29.020]as probably the biggest type of aid offer that
[00:20:32.130]you're gonna see on here.
[00:20:33.520]And the reason why is because Parent Plus can basically
[00:20:36.280]be borrowed up to the cost of attendance.
[00:20:39.130]So basically the student has a parent who has the ability
[00:20:43.430]and the want to take out the Parent Plus Loan,
[00:20:45.750]they can actually apply for that
[00:20:47.250]through the studentaid.gov website, same website,
[00:20:50.240]they filed the FAFSA.
[00:20:52.107]The reason why I put it under additional aid is
[00:20:54.120]because the student can't accept it on behalf of the parent.
[00:20:56.850]Thank God that would be a mess,(laughing) but also two,
[00:21:00.980]because the parent actually has to be eligible for it
[00:21:03.400]and part of that is by credit check.
[00:21:05.600]So there are plenty of willing parents
[00:21:07.460]who unfortunately are not able to take out this loan.
[00:21:10.154]And of course, plenty of parents who don't wish
[00:21:12.590]to take out this loan,
[00:21:13.500]which is a hundred percent their right.
[00:21:15.600]So they can see this number
[00:21:17.550]and see what they could potentially do,
[00:21:19.430]but they also can take out a smaller amount.
[00:21:22.320]So I always tell students that if a parent
[00:21:24.600]is considering it,
[00:21:25.937]they can just come make an appointment with us
[00:21:28.280]and we can talk with parent and student
[00:21:30.530]about what the plus loan looks like,
[00:21:32.360]what that process is and how much do they really need if
[00:21:35.320]they even need to take it out to begin with.
[00:21:38.700]The next really common one you're gonna see
[00:21:40.200]is federal work study.
[00:21:41.880]So for those who don't know,
[00:21:43.210]this is a federally sponsored program that provides funding
[00:21:45.620]for part-time work for students while they're in school.
[00:21:47.794]It's a great program if you have students who have it
[00:21:51.250]on their award letter, really encourage them to do it.
[00:21:54.115]It's a great way to network,
[00:21:56.660]great way to get some work experience while
[00:21:58.373]they're in school with the flexibility that
[00:22:00.977]we legally cannot schedule them during classes,
[00:22:04.680]which that is not the case for the places off the campus.
[00:22:09.000]So it's a great way for them to work while still having some
[00:22:11.580]work life balance with their schooling.
[00:22:14.900]But the reason why we put under additional aid
[00:22:16.630]is that it doesn't disperse like your other type of aid.
[00:22:19.530]So let's just say they see they have $1,500
[00:22:21.920]in federal work study per semester,
[00:22:23.478]that won't disperse towards their bill.
[00:22:25.840]That's actually gonna be paid out to them
[00:22:27.250]in a biweekly paycheck.
[00:22:29.050]So we like to tell our students that this is a great thing
[00:22:33.110]to use for those personal expenses, the indirect cost,
[00:22:36.350]because you're just gonna get paychecks.
[00:22:38.043]And you can use that for those types of expenses
[00:22:40.990]that you don't need to pay towards UNL.
[00:22:43.180]Of course, you can always use it to pay towards UNL,
[00:22:45.848]but it's not gonna happen automatically.
[00:22:48.101]And finally, external scholarships.
[00:22:51.750]So let's just say you have a student
[00:22:53.440]who was awarded the buffet.
[00:22:54.870]It will show up here, or if, just say,
[00:22:57.258]they've been working their butt off
[00:22:59.180]and they have been applying for scholarships like crazy.
[00:23:01.970]If they've been reporting to us that
[00:23:04.100]they're going to receive these,
[00:23:05.750]they will also see them listed down here.
[00:23:07.839]The reason why we don't list it above with the scholarships
[00:23:10.810]and grants is that unfortunately,
[00:23:12.670]sometimes students list the wrong amount and we don't want
[00:23:16.181]them to plan on that if that turns out to be incorrect.
[00:23:20.560]Two, we also cannot actually disperse the aid until
[00:23:23.920]we receive the aid from the donor.
[00:23:26.350]So sometimes donors may have their own set
[00:23:30.470]of criteria like gray checks or something else where
[00:23:34.460]it may not disperse till the end of the semester,
[00:23:36.350]rather than the beginning.
[00:23:37.270]So while the aid may be coming,
[00:23:39.510]they may not be able to count on it for
[00:23:40.770]their very first pay check or their very first bill.
[00:23:43.550]So we want them to have it on there,
[00:23:45.540]but not completely plan on it just in case.
[00:23:52.670]And so finally, so some other scholarship items to note.
[00:23:55.737]So if just say a student has been awarded one of
[00:23:59.320]our big academic scholarships on their award letter,
[00:24:01.640]which first of all, congratulations,
[00:24:03.395]always a huge achievement.
[00:24:06.231]So as you probably know,
[00:24:07.890]that this is based on a holistic review, that is,
[00:24:11.420]and we're test optional right now.
[00:24:13.550]So what that means is that a student could have received
[00:24:16.040]the scholarship based on GPA only.
[00:24:19.440]So other words, they just had this incredible GPA
[00:24:21.738]and didn't even need to look at a test score in order
[00:24:24.690]for them to receive it, or it could also be that
[00:24:27.880]they did actually submit that test score
[00:24:31.000]and we did take that into account
[00:24:32.960]and through that test score, they were awarded the award.
[00:24:36.470]Due to this,
[00:24:37.303]if we have to wait until the official documentation comes in
[00:24:40.838]to officially award that scholarship.
[00:24:43.560]So you may see it show up as a Regent's estimate.
[00:24:46.040]And that means that we are waiting for
[00:24:48.440]that official test score or that official GPA
[00:24:51.530]to actually, fully award that scholarship.
[00:24:54.269]If just say their self-reported GPA and ACT is correct,
[00:24:58.874]the student has nothing to worry about except
[00:25:01.230]for remembering to submit the documentation to us.
[00:25:04.720]But for the most part, if it says an estimate, just say,
[00:25:07.493]get that the official will test score in,
[00:25:10.000]get that official transcript in, you're fine.
[00:25:12.936]And finally students will receive the renewability
[00:25:16.150]and eligibility criteria for any scholarships awarded
[00:25:18.688]for their first year only.
[00:25:20.900]So we will send them the congratulations letter
[00:25:23.891]and it will have a go link in there that basically
[00:25:27.062]takes them directly to the renewal criteria area
[00:25:29.830]for that scholarship.
[00:25:32.040]In subsequent years, they won't get that specific
[00:25:34.720]of a letter.
[00:25:35.560]They'll be provided a link that includes all
[00:25:37.627]of our scholarship renewal criteria.
[00:25:39.860]And they must go through and find the scholarship along
[00:25:43.170]with the year in which they first were admitted.
[00:25:45.230]So I always tell students, keep those links somewhere safe,
[00:25:49.623]even if it's just like a draft in their Husker email that
[00:25:52.600]they put those links down,
[00:25:53.953]that way as they go through their time here,
[00:25:56.794]when it gets close to the end of the semester,
[00:25:59.010]they can just check and say, okay,
[00:26:00.599]am I in enough credit hours, is my GPA where it needs to be,
[00:26:05.040]how many years do I get this thing?
[00:26:07.210]It can help you plan ahead for budgeting.
[00:26:09.790]And also like I said before,
[00:26:11.131]it also will tell you if it's renewable.
[00:26:14.010]So let's just say one of those scholarships is not renewable
[00:26:16.550]it's best they know now, then finding out next year
[00:26:19.770]when it's just not on their award letter.
[00:26:24.770]And so with that, I'm gonna give you our,
[00:26:27.360]all of our contact information.
[00:26:29.270]We are happy to help students,
[00:26:30.740]even if they just sign not to come to us.
[00:26:32.690]So we are in the business of just helping students get the
[00:26:35.520]aid they deserve and helping students get their degree.
[00:26:38.200]So even if just say they are deciding
[00:26:41.250]between multiple colleges, we love to help 'em.
[00:26:44.550]So please tell them to come to us if they have questions
[00:26:47.510]about their FAFSA or anything.
[00:26:49.310]And also we do encourage people to connect with us,
[00:26:53.233]with the counselor and the students.
[00:26:55.130]So we do plenty of meetings where the counselors
[00:26:57.550]with the student just say, the students does not know what
[00:26:59.750]to ask.
[00:27:01.210]So don't be shy.
[00:27:02.043]We love to help y'all as well.
[00:27:09.500]Okay, so, and with that, I'm gonna open it up to questions.
[00:27:14.490]And so you are welcome to either put it in chat
[00:27:19.690]or else just unmute and yell it out if you're as extroverted
[00:27:25.100]as I am.
[00:27:26.000]I do see a couple of questions have come through.
[00:27:29.710]So I'll go ahead and start with,
[00:27:32.400]so one of the questions we received is,
[00:27:33.967]"if a student receives multiple scholarships
[00:27:36.000]from the university, are those itemized on the letter
[00:27:38.640]or presented as one lump sum?"
[00:27:40.510]That is a great, great, great question.
[00:27:42.530]And they are itemized.
[00:27:43.780]So the student can actually see the different amounts.
[00:27:47.020]So, and that's by design.
[00:27:48.640]So that way, let's just say one of them's renewable,
[00:27:50.890]one of them's not,
[00:27:51.723]they can see which amount won't be there next year.
[00:27:55.710]And then another question came through,
[00:27:57.373]which is, "if parents are divorced
[00:27:59.310]and are sharing in expenses,
[00:28:00.510]can a student have two Parent Plus loans
[00:28:03.150]or just one?"
[00:28:04.410]Also an excellent question.
[00:28:06.520]So technically speaking, two parents can get
[00:28:09.221]their own Parent Plus Loan,
[00:28:10.984]but they would basically have to make sure
[00:28:13.110]that they are applying for the right amounts.
[00:28:14.840]So if they both hit Parent Plus Loan max,
[00:28:19.181]that means they both can be trying to take it
[00:28:22.047]out for the full cost of attendance.
[00:28:23.216]They're gonna get a call from us going, you can't do that,
[00:28:26.106]but if you split it and say, okay, dad's taking 8,000,
[00:28:30.450]I'm taking 8,000, then we can definitely do that.
[00:28:36.760]So, but yes, and then also some parents just choose
[00:28:39.040]to alternate years.
[00:28:41.310]You can do it that way too.
[00:28:43.840]Okay.
[00:28:45.970]So a question came through,
[00:28:47.217]"how will students and families be notified
[00:28:49.042]when award package is ready?"
[00:28:52.100]So, basically, there's a couple different ways.
[00:28:55.700]So the award letter will be actually mailed
[00:28:57.900]to the main address.
[00:28:59.800]So that way both parent and student can see
[00:29:02.260]the award letter, but also the student has,
[00:29:05.760]is logging into their MyRED.
[00:29:07.100]They will also get a notification through
[00:29:09.130]their MyRED message center saying, hey, you have awards.
[00:29:12.102]you can accept or decline.
[00:29:14.040]And as they are reporting things, or as other aid is added,
[00:29:17.135]they will get these emails saying, hey,
[00:29:19.650]your award has changed, woo.
[00:29:21.140]And so they can go in and see it happen in real time.
[00:29:24.270]But for that official award letter, it'll be mailed.
[00:29:33.040]So this question,
[00:29:33.873]"when you mentioned that receiving a full ride
[00:29:35.310]for 26,000 is very rare.
[00:29:37.100]Can you give us an example of when
[00:29:39.060]or how a student could earn this in a rare situation?"
[00:29:41.770]The one that I see the most common will be athletics.
[00:29:44.350]I'll be honest, but for the most part,
[00:29:46.694]when it comes to for institutional scholarships,
[00:29:49.870]we do not have one that is up to the full cost
[00:29:52.250]of attendance, but there are some out there
[00:29:54.900]that are external scholarships, but for like,
[00:29:57.440]I know like the Gates Millennium Scholarship is one that
[00:29:59.870]they can basically go up to anything.
[00:30:02.192]But like I said, it really just kind of depends
[00:30:05.270]on the certain circumstances,
[00:30:06.668]but when it comes to what I've seen here,
[00:30:08.430]it is primarily athletic students
[00:30:10.478]that are getting as close to that as possible.
[00:30:14.830]But for the most part,
[00:30:15.810]students can absolutely get a patchwork of awards
[00:30:18.920]that can get them close.
[00:30:20.260]So they may not necessarily have one award
[00:30:22.910]that's getting them there,
[00:30:23.860]but they may have a Regents and then get all
[00:30:26.260]these other external scholarships that actually play nice
[00:30:28.479]with the Regents and they can still actually get
[00:30:31.350]a really good award package that can get them pretty close.
[00:30:38.399]Did that answer your question, Maureen?
[00:30:47.140]Okay.
[00:30:49.460]What other questions do you have?
[00:31:09.627]"What can delay the award letter?"
[00:31:11.690]That I love that question, Amy, thank you.
[00:31:13.300]So, one of the most common things that delays
[00:31:15.670]the award letter would be that if,
[00:31:17.910]just say the student did not receive any scholarships and
[00:31:20.210]they are only financial aid from the FAFSA
[00:31:22.995]and they haven't finished their checklist items.
[00:31:26.000]So if just say that they are so the best,
[00:31:29.650]which we'll go over this next week,
[00:31:31.325]but if they log into their MyRED,
[00:31:33.770]they actually can see under the financial aid tab,
[00:31:35.602]what we call to-do list items.
[00:31:37.358]And that will actually show you all the different things
[00:31:40.080]we may need in order to officially the student based
[00:31:42.690]on financial aid.
[00:31:44.440]So not necessarily scholarships,
[00:31:46.290]but things like Pell Grant loans, things such as that.
[00:31:49.690]So if just say they received an academic scholarship,
[00:31:52.898]but haven't finished their financial aid process.
[00:31:55.511]They may get an award letter that still just shows
[00:31:57.711]that scholarship, but it's not gonna be fully encompassing,
[00:32:02.130]but if they have not received any scholarships
[00:32:04.590]and are just waiting on financial aid,
[00:32:06.181]they need to finish that process before
[00:32:08.440]we can officially get that award letter out to them.
[00:32:14.460]So what is the deadline for changing their mind on awards
[00:32:16.673]they accepted or the amount of loan dollars they accept?
[00:32:20.130]Thank you, Wesley.
[00:32:21.440]When it comes to scholarships,
[00:32:23.928]we just tell them should be accepting
[00:32:26.281]their scholarship awards by decision day, so May 31st.
[00:32:30.095]So when they decide to come to us or whatever school,
[00:32:33.660]but we hope us,
[00:32:34.852]then they should also be accepting the scholarship
[00:32:37.282]and grant, so the gift aid.
[00:32:40.110]Loans they can accept really at any time,
[00:32:42.698]it's mostly just the decision of do they want the loans
[00:32:46.810]for that first bill due date?
[00:32:48.770]So if just say parents are doing a Parent Plus Loan
[00:32:51.670]or students using loans for that first bill,
[00:32:54.216]we say do that sometime in August.
[00:32:56.611]Just so that way it disperses in time.
[00:32:59.900]But if just say they don't accept loans at all and suddenly
[00:33:03.410]it's November and they have a bill,
[00:33:05.060]they can still accept them then,
[00:33:06.430]and then we can absolutely help them
[00:33:07.730]with determining the amount.
[00:33:08.730]So there's a lot more leeway for loan dollars because
[00:33:11.590]we understand it's a much harder decision since
[00:33:13.909]we want them to make an informed decision.
[00:33:23.120]Well, Kristy, thank you so much.
[00:33:24.780]As I mentioned at the beginning of our time together,
[00:33:26.700]Kristy is an expert and I hope you are seeing that
[00:33:29.460]in the delivery of her presentation.
[00:33:30.988]She's also really helpful if students
[00:33:32.950]and families have questions or if you do as well.
[00:33:34.830]So I think Kristy will be able to hang on
[00:33:36.810]for just a little bit longer.
[00:33:37.979]I just wanna give you a couple reminders as counselors,
[00:33:40.600]as we of sign off for today.
[00:33:42.157]But just a reminder that our Admitted Student Day is coming
[00:33:45.230]up on Saturday, March 26th,
[00:33:47.410]and you should be receiving some information.
[00:33:50.560]Your students should to be to invite them to the event.
[00:33:53.180]We're hoping to have a thousand students on campus
[00:33:55.370]with parents as well.
[00:33:56.800]So Admitted Student Day on Saturday, March 26th.
[00:33:59.280]Also the FAFSA is due on April 1st
[00:34:01.296]and a reminder that once a student submits their deposit,
[00:34:04.010]they'll gain access to the housing contract,
[00:34:05.872]which will then lead them to roommates and housing selection
[00:34:08.850]and all that fun stuff.
[00:34:10.150]And then the first week of May is when
[00:34:12.260]our new student enrollment registration will open.
[00:34:14.860]So Admitted Student Day, if they haven't visited already,
[00:34:17.470]we'd love to have them visit prior to that or on that day.
[00:34:20.290]FAFSA due April 1st especially for those students
[00:34:22.570]who will qualify for Nebraska Promise
[00:34:24.610]and then also deposits $250 will give them access
[00:34:28.170]to the housing contract and get them ready
[00:34:30.330]for new student enrollment.
[00:34:31.250]So thanks again for your time today.
[00:34:33.210]We hope to see you next Wednesday for verification.
[00:34:35.970]And then again on Wednesday, the 23rd for final session,
[00:34:39.060]the Nebraska Promise.

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Reading Your Aid Letter

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