Book Vouchers and a New Year

Happy 2010! A new year brings a new semester and that means spring registration. Classes have already started and hopefully you are all in the swing of things. Just a few quick points about this semester:

• Book vouchers are now available for print through January 22, 2010. If you are having trouble printing your book voucher, you may need to come into the office and a financial aid officer can assist you in obtaining your book voucher.
• If this is your first semester and you are just now submitting your FAFSA, be sure to check back with us to verify that we have all of the information we need to complete your FAFSA.
• If you are selected for verification, we will send you a letter notifying you of the documents we need. please be sure to return with all of the requested documents. This will allow us to process your FAFSA in the quickest manner possible.
• If you are receiving student loans for the very first time here at GTC, be sure to complete a session of Entrance Loan Counseling at: http://mappingyourfuture.org/FAP/ and also complete a Master Promissory Note with your chosen lender

These are the high points for right now. As always, if you have any specific questions, please feel free to leave a comment and we will get back with you as quickly as possible.

Mid Semester Check-Up

The temperature is dropping. The leaves are falling. Tests and other school work have entered into a frenetic pace. Christmas is just a little over 2 months away. This time of year brings to mind a few things: picking apples, carving pumpkins (and roasting pumpkin seeds!!), raking leaf piles, and unfortunately, FLU season. With the threat of the regular Flu and this new fangled H1N1 virus, many doctors are warning us all to be wary and constantly monitor our symptoms. I would like to propose a somewhat gloomy analogy…. Just like our doctors have given us warnings and precautionary measures to protect ourselves from getting the FLU, there are also some things that you can do to make sure your financial aid doesn’t keep you out of school for next semester! Stick with me, because I think you will find this information very helpful!

Tip # 1: Make sure your financial file is complete!

Hopefully by now you have already submitted a FAFSA and you have already heard back from our office letting you know whether or not we can complete your file, or if we need more information. If you have received an award letter and returned it back to our office, then rest easy, your file is complete. If you have not received an award letter, please contact our office as we will need additional documentation to complete your file.

Tip # 2: Make sure you have received all of the awards you are eligible for!

Run a quick check on your award letter and compare it to your account summary on Campus Cruiser. If the numbers don’t seem to add up, please take a moment and see if you can determine where the shortcomings might lie. If you still cannot seem to decipher the numbers, give us a call and we can look into it for you. If you have been awarded grants, loans, or scholarships that are not accounted for in your account summary, please give us a call.

Tip # 3: Have you gotten your refund check?

We have been working frantically to get all loans certified and all refund checks mailed out to students as soon as possible. I am very happy to report that as of today we are up to date with loan certifications. What this means for you is that if your loan has not been certified then there is a problem with your loan eligibility. I would recommend contacting our office to determine what you can do to correct this. Secondly, if you have not received your refund check you may wish to check with us, but if you have received your “Official” award letter, then rest easy, because your refund is on the way!

Tip # 4: Are you maintaining Satisfactory Academic Progress?

In order to maintain your eligibility for federal financial aid in the next semester you must maintain a minimum 2.0 cumulative GPA and maintain a cumulative 2/3 completion rate. How are your grades looking for this semester? Are you in danger of slipping below the critical 2.0 GPA mark? If so, there are numerous ways to find help in ensuring that your GPA does not suffer this semester and you can maintain your financial aid well into the future. You could contact Student Support Services and request a tutor, you could contact your professor and see if they can provide additional assistance, you could form a study group with your classmates to try and get help from your peers, you could even visit the GTC library and utilize their resources. If you think you might be in danger of falling below these standards, please contact our office. We can sit down with you and discuss your specific situation and see what can be done to keep you above the standards and maintain your financial aid.

I hope you have found some of these tips helpful! We want to hear from you so please let us know if you would like to see more of these tips, if these tips did not apply to you, or if you have additional questions outside of these tips!

As always, thank you for visiting and please tell all of your friends. Together we can make financial aid work for you!

What Do I Do Next?

Registration for the 2009 Fall semester started last week and student traffic in the financial aid office is beginning to increase. We have seen a huge increase (already 34%!!) in the number of FAFSA applications that are sent to our office and we anticipate that this will equate to an increase in the number of students who receive financial aid in the next academic year. Since many of you have already applied for financial aid and many of you have already received an award letter from us, I wanted to tackle the topic of: “What to do now?”

You submit your FAFSA early; you complete your verification; you receive your award letter back in the mail; you accept all of your financial aid and complete your promissory note and entrance loan counseling so you will be able to borrow a student loan; you register for your classes; you are now done with all of your necessary steps and cannot wait to begin your classes……but what do you do next?

Many students decide to use a book voucher which allows them to purchase their textbooks using an advance on their financial aid awards. If you have completed your financial aid you should have a book voucher available to you when they begin on August 12 at 10:30 AM immediately after Convocation.

Many students who receive financial aid rely solely on financial aid to cover their tuition bill. If you have registered for classes for the Fall 2009 semester you have already received a billing statement from our Business Office. This statement serves to inform students that 1.) They have an outstanding tuition bill because they registered for classes and 2.) If students do not have confirmed financial aid then they will need to make plans to pay for their tuition by the dates specified on the billing statement. If you have submitted an award letter back into financial aid accepting your awards, this means you have confirmed financial aid. We will transfer financial aid awards to the Business Office in the beginning of September and pay off your tuition bill if you have sufficient financial aid to cover your tuition bill.

So, if you have completed all of these steps then a “Congratulations!” is in order. You can now sit back, relax, and prepare your mind for your Fall classes.

Am I being audited by financial aid???

No you are not being audited. However, you have been selected for verification. You can think of this as a similar process to being audited, except at the end you won't have to pay back money and fees if the numbers don't add up!

If you receive a letter in the mail from the Financial Aid Office informing you that you have been selected for verification, then you are joining roughly 30% of students around the country who have to go through this process. The reason you were selected is so the Department of Education can verify that the information you submitted on your FAFSA is accurate according to your tax returns. Any discrepancies can be cleared up during this process. While we will look at your financial information, we will also verify your family situation. Many times students are selected for verification because of a unique family situation that we need additional clarification on. This is just to ensure that we can give you the maximum amount of financial aid that you qualify for.

One of the most important aspects of verification is the paperwork (I know you are excited!!). However, by turning in ALL of the requested documents and verifying that the appropriate signatures are in place, you can ensure a smooth verification process.

One more note: whenever you receive notice that you were selected for verification, turn your documents in as soon as possible. The quicker you turn them in, the quicker we can process them, and the quicker we can get your file completed and award you your financial aid!

Look at this process as quality control. Without these benchmarks built into our system we would not be able to offer the extensive options within financial aid that allow you to go to school!

As always, if you have any questions regarding this process or anything else concerning financial aid, please contact our office at 864-250-8128 or financialaid@gvltec.edu.

Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you!

Understanding Academic Years

I have met with a lot of students recently who have completed their FAFSA for 2009-2010 and want to start taking classes this summer. In lieu of that mistake, and to hopefully avoid any future confusion, I wanted to spend a minute and talk about academic years and how financial aid works within those academic years.

When we award financial aid we have to award within specific boundaries. These boundaries are mandated by the Department of Education and we refer to them as “Academic Years”. An academic year runs from August –July, which translates into a fall, spring and summer semester sequence. So if a student wanted to submit a FAFSA and receive financial aid this summer, he or she would still be considered in the 2008-2009 academic year because we have not reached the fall semester yet. Once we reach the fall semester, we will begin awarding financial aid based on the 2009-2010 academic year FAFSA results.

At GTC we have many programs with various start and end dates so it is always important to note which academic year your classes fall within before you submit your FAFSA to be qualified for financial aid.

As always, you can submit a Free Application for Federal Student Aid at www.fafsa.ed.gov

If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please feel free to leave a comment and a financial aid officer will respond shortly. 

Avoid Long Lines and Frustration?? Am I Dreaming?

Spring is in the air! There is always something exciting about the first blossoms of spring and knowing that within a few short weeks the temperature will be warming up and we will be well on our way to summer. In financial aid, we are in the middle of spring time also. We are enjoying the calm before the storm, and by “storm” I am referring to Fall registration. So, you may be thinking “How in the world can I avoid standing in those long lines at Financial Aid?” If you were not thinking that and were still focused on summer vacation, fear not, you might still find this useful!

FAFSA Tips and Pointers!

• Start Early! By submitting your FAFSA early (beginning January 1st, 2009) you will ensure yourself access to ALL of the financial aid award programs, and the opportunity to have all of your financial aid completed before you begin classes. Complete your FAFSA here: http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/ Also make sure you are aware of Greenville Tech's Priority Deadlines: http://prod.campuscruiser.com/q?pg=home_news&tg=News-detail&id=111178&cx=22.168
  


• Be Accurate! We all realize that the FAFSA can be confusing. So, consult the guide on the FAFSA’s website that walks you through the process. By ensuring that your information is accurate, you will greatly decrease the length of time it will take to complete your financial aid file.
  


• Follow Up! Once you submit your FAFSA, expect a letter from our office letting you know if we need any additional information, or letting you know all of the financial aid you have been awarded. If we have requested any documents to be returned…make sure they are returned in a timely manner.
  


• Read! There will always be instructions that accompany any financial aid mailing. Take a few moments to read all of these instructions and you could potentially avoid a trip to the financial aid office, or solve your problem with a simple phone call. Remember, financial aid does not have to be confusing; make it rewarding!
  


• Be Thorough! Double checking and triple checking your financial aid forms is always a good idea. Once again, by ensuring that your forms are accurate and complete, you exponentially decrease the time it will take to complete your financial aid file. Make sure all necessary steps are followed to receive certain awards (Complete Entrance Loan Counseling at http://mappingyourfuture.org/ and a Master Promissory Note with your chosen lender: http://www.salliemae.com/ , https://www.wachovia.com/personal/page/0,,325_496,00.html, http://www.slc.sc.edu/students/signapromissorynotempn.aspx if you have been awarded a student loan).
  


• Remain Positive! Make your financial aid work for you. Take advantage of all financial aid that has been awarded to you and use it as a tool to empower your future. Take advantage of the resources and information around you and take a proactive step in your financial aid. By remaining focused and positive you can ensure that your financial aid package is best tailored to you.

All of these tips can greatly impact the effectiveness of your financial aid experience. Our financial aid staff is devoted to helping our students obtain the best financial aid awards packages available. By following these tips above we feel that you will have a more rewarding experience in financial aid and truly benefit from all that financial aid has to offer!