Financial Aid Basics

Financial Aid Basics

Spring 2014

Slide 1

Hello. Thank you for joining me for this presentation about Financial Aid Basics. My name is Laura Boesler and I am the Director of Financial Aid at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School.

This presentation is geared towards federal financial aid, for US Citizens and Eligible Non-Citizens.

Slide 2

First, let’s look at the contact information for the Office of Financial Aid. Please make note of our phone number and email address. Most inquiries and questions can be handled through email or by phone. There are 3 staff member in the financial aid office, so you will be speaking to one of us.

Our website: carey.jhu.edu/finaid has a lot of valuable information. Please take the time to visit our site and review all the webpages.

Slide 3

When you visit our website you will find information on:

-Financial Aid Priority Filing Dates

-the Financial Aid Process

-Types of Assistance

-Financial Aid Policies (including Satisfactory Academic Progress standards, and Returning Title IV funding if you drop or withdraw from courses)

-And Forms and Helpful Information

Under Types of Assistance, you will see Private Scholarships and Scholarship E-bulletin as links, to begin your outside scholarship search.

Slide 4

There are 4 main sources of financial aid.

These include Federal, State, Institutional, and Private.

Federal Aid includes the Pell Grant (only for undergraduate students) and federal loans. The federal loans account for most of the federal aid.

State Aid is for students going to a school in the state where they are a legal resident. So, for Maryland residents going to Hopkins, they may qualify for state aid. For graduate students, Maryland has a senatorial and delegate scholarship that you may be eligible for. Go to for more information.

Institutional Aid includes any aid from the institution. This includes the named, endowed scholarships and the tuition payment plan through the Student Accounts Office.

Private aid consists of aid that comes from outside sources. It includes private scholarships, employee tuition benefits, and private, or alternative loans.

Slide 5

Aid consists of both gift aid and self-help aid.

Scholarships and grants are considered gift aid. They are “free” money that does not need to be repaid. Typically scholarships are based on the merit of the student. Grants are typically need-based; looking at the financial situation of the student.

Slide 6

Self-help aid includes work-study and federal loans. Work-study is not awarded at the Carey Business School because we do not have the funding.

Most students rely on the federal direct loan to help pay for their schooling. This loan does not require a credit check, but students do need to complete entrance counseling and a master promissory note electronically before they can borrow the loan.

Repayment begins 6 months after you complete your studies. Standard repayment is based on monthly payments for up to 10 years, though there are other repayment options. Please only borrow what is needed.

Slide 7

Students should view borrowing as an investment in their future and be aware of the amount they are borrowing. We encourage you to take the entrance counseling seriously.

We provide information about financial literacy on our website, so feel free to use this.

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact our office.

Slide 8

There are loan limits in regards to the federal direct loan. There is an annual loan limit as well as an aggregate loan limit.

Graduate students can borrow up to $20,500 each academic year in the federal direct loan.

The federal Graduate PLUS loan is limited to the student’s Cost of Attendance (COA) each year. We will discuss a student’s cost of attendance in a later slide.

Students can borrow a total of $138,500 in the federal direct loan, which is the lifetime limit.

Slide 9

The direct federal loan has a fixed interest rate of 5.41%, which is rest each July 1. The federal Graduate PLUS has a fixed interest rate of 6.41%, which is reset each July 1. Due to sequestration, the origination fee on the federal direct loan is now 1.072%, up from 1.051% after the first round of sequestration; it used to be 1%. The graduate PLUS loan has an origination fee of 4.288%, up from 4.204%; it was 4% prior to sequestration.

This means that if you borrow the full $20,500, only $20,280 will be disbursed to the school. The origination fee of $220 will be retained.

Slide 10

There are other sources that you may be able utilize to finance your education.

Tuition Reimbursement or Remission may be available from your employer. Speak with your HR department and review their policies regarding tuition assistance.

The Student Accounts Office offers a payment plan. We will speak more about this on the next slide, but it allows you to make payments over several months.

If you are a veteran, you may be eligible for veteran benefits. You can go to to review these benefits.

There may also be education tax benefits. You can research benefits at and searching education benefits and be sure to review these with your tax preparer.

Slide 11

The payment plan is offered through the Student Accounts Office. You can sign up on-line at This would allow you to pay your spring balance over 4 months. The Spring payments would be February to May. There is no interest charged, just an enrollment fee of $45, each semester. For example: if you could afford to pay $300 a month towards your tuition, that would be $1,200 less you would need to borrow for the spring semester.

Slide 12

There are some basic eligibility requirements for federal aid. These include being a US Citizen or an eligible Non-citizen. Students need to be fully admitted and be a matriculating student.

Students must maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress, meaning maintaining a cumulative GPA of 3.0, completing 67% of the classes you attempt, and completing your degree within a maximum time frame. The progress is monitored after each semester.

Students must also be enrolled at least half-time to be eligible for federal aid. Since we offer 2 credits courses, this means maintaining an enrollment of 6 credits each for the full fall semester and for the full spring semester.

Slide 13

Students need to apply for aid each year. We set a priority filing date of April 15th each year, which allows time for the file to be reviewed and aid to be ready before the start of the summer semester. Students can apply anytime throughout the year.

Please note: the academic year starts with Summer, so if you are starting your program in Spring 2014, your financial aid for 2013-14 will only be for Spring ‘14. Then you will reapply for aid for 2014-15 to cover Summer 2014, Fall 2014, and Spring 2015.

Slide 14

To apply for financial aid, you need to complete 2 items. You need to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or the FAFSA, and the Carey Financial Aid application. Both items can be found by going to

When you complete the FAFSA, be sure to put our school code on it, so it comes to us electronically. Our school code is E00475.

You may also apply for the Carey Endowed Scholarships. The deadline is April 15th each year. The funding is very limited, with the average award being $1000 for the year. If you have missed the deadline for this year, you are welcome to apply for the next school year.

Slide 15

There are some updates happening with the financial aid process for the 2014-15 academic year. We are implementing a new federal school code, when filing the FAFSA, and a new financial aid student system, so applying for aid will be a bit different for Summer 2014 forward.

Our website will be updated in mid-February with our new school code and the link to the electronic Carey Financial Aid application. Please wait until our site is updated with the current information before filing your FAFSA for 2014-15.

Slide 16

Once you have completed the FAFSA and Carey Financial Aid application, and we have received them, we are able to review for aid. First, we calculate a student’s cost of attendance, or COA.

The COA consists of direct costs and indirect costs. You can only receive aid up to your COA each year. The direct costs are what you are actually being charged, tuition and any fees. The indirect costs are estimates of costs needed while you are attending school. These include estimates for books, food and housing, personal, and transportation expenses and are used for all students.

Slide 17

Now let’s look at what a typical cost of attendance would be for a student who will be starting their program in the Spring and will be taking 8 credits in the Spring semester, over Spring 1 an 2.

The tuition rate is $1,170 for the 2013-14 year, so their tuition charge will be 8x$1170, which equals $9,360. There is also a matriculation fee for $250. This means the total charges for the spring will be $9,610.

With the estimated cost for books, food and housing (or living expenses), transportation, and personal, the total cost of attendance will be $18,922.

Since students cannot receive aid past their cost of attendance, a student in this situation could borrow a federal direct loan for $18,922 for the spring semester (instead of the full $20,500 maximum loan limit for a year).

Slide 18

Using our example cost of attendance, let’s look at the billing and aid for this student.

For a student starting in Spring 2014, who is enrolling in 8 credits, they will be charged their tuition and matriculation fee, a total of $9,610.

This student is eligible for their federal loan of up to $18,922 for the spring. Accounting for the 1.072% origination fee, the actual loan will disburse for $18,719.

In this example, the student would be charged $9,610 and their loan would disburse for $18,719 leaving a refund to the student for $9,109. They can use this refund to reimburse themselves for books they have bought, or for living, travel, or personal expenses.

If the student did not want the refund, they can request that the financial aid office return the excess on their student loan.

The student can also speak with a financial aid representative prior to accepting the full amount and only request enough to cover the balance, if no refund is needed.

In the next slide, we will look at an example of costs and aid for a full year. Some students, in planning ahead, may want to borrow more this semester to help with future costs.

Slide 19

In this example, we will look at a typical enrollment for a full academic year in conjunction with the federal aid.

Most students take 4 credits over the summer, 8 credits in the Fall, and 8 credits in the Spring. Using the current tuition rate of $1,170; each year the tuition rate typically increases; the total tuition charges for all the three semesters is approximately $23,400. The tuition for the 2014-15 year is usually set and the students are notified in March of the new tuition rate for the year.

The Federal Direct loan maximum that can be borrowed each year as a graduate student is $20,500. Taking into account the loan fees, the loan will disburse at a net of $20,278.

The difference between the total charges and aid is $3,122. The student will end up owing this amount for the next year.

Some students may want to borrow more this semester, receive the refund, and hold onto to funds to pay for future semesters.

Slide 20

I will break down this example a bit further, so you can fully understand the difference between the charges and financial aid.

For a student, in 2014-15, enrolling in Summer, Fall, and Spring, their federal direct loan of $20,500 will be disbursed equally over the 3 semesters.

You can see on the slide, that since the loan is equally disbursed, but student is charged less over the summer, this student would receive a refund in the summer. If the student retains this refund, and does not use it to help pay for future semesters, the student will need more funds to help pay for the Fall and Spring semesters.

Please be aware of the amount of your tuition charges versus the aid that you receive.

Slide 21

Before all of this can take place, the financial aid file for the student will be reviewed to make sure it meets all the criteria to be eligible for aid. This includes having verification completed if necessary and resolving any databases matches that may occur.

When the FAFSA is completed, it is run through different database matches to make sure that the student is really a US Citizen, that the Social Security Number matches the name and date of birth, that males between the ages of 18 and 25 registered with the selective service, that there are no outstanding or defaulted federal loans, plus many others.

If the school requests any additional documents, please comply in a timely manner.

Slide 22

Once you have submitted all the requested items, the financial aid office reviews your file and mails an award notice to you.

Slide 23

The average processing time is around 5-6 weeks if additional documentation is needed from the student. If no additional documents are needed, the processing time reduces to about 1-2 weeks.

Slide 24

Once you receive the award notice from us, please review it and sign and accept the offer. If you are accepting the federal direct loan you will also need to complete the Master Promissory Note and Entrance Counseling. These can be completed electronically by going to

If your enrollment plans change from what your initial planned enrollment was, please notify our office as soon as possible, so we can let you know how it affects your aid eligibility.

Slide 25

If your financial aid is accepted and your promissory note and entrance counseling are completed, and you are enrolled at least half-time for the semester, your aid will disburse on the first day of class. For the Spring 2014 semester, that is 1/21/14.

Please be sure to register for the full Spring semester (both Spring1 and Spring2) to ensure you get into the classes you need and for your financial aid to disburse properly.

After the aid disburses, if you have a refund on your account, the Student Accounts Office will send that out to you. Only if you want the Student Accounts Office to hold a refund (to be applied to a future semester) would you want to complete an Authorization to Retain Credit Balances Form, which is mailed with the award notice.

If you have any questions regarding your billing, please direct them to the Student Accounts Office by phone at 410-516-9722 or by email, .

Slide 26

Remember to apply for financial aid each year. We set a priority filing date of April 15th each year, but you can apply at any time. The earliest you can complete a FAFSA is no earlier than January 1st.

Because the Carey Business School will have a new FAFSA school code and is implementing a new student system for 2014-15, please wait until our website has been updated with the 2014-15 financial aid information before applying for aid for 2014-15. The website should be available by the end of February.

Slide 27

Have you completed these “next steps” to ensure your financial aid ready for Spring 2014?

Have you signed and returned your award notice via fax or email?

Have you completed the Master Promissory Note (MPN) or Entrance Counseling at

Have you logged into ISIS self-service to view your financial aid and billing information?

Go to

Slide 28

I want to congratulate you on your admission to the Carey Business School and wish you the best of luck for the upcoming semester.

If you have any questions regarding your financial aid situation, do not hesitate to contact us at .

Thank you for participating in the Financial Aid Basics presentation.