Frequently Asked Questions

1. Create your FSA ID at studentaid.gov. A parent will also need to create an FSA ID if you are classified as a dependent student based on FAFSA dependency guidelines. 

2. Complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) by logging in to studentaid.gov using your FSA ID and password. 

3. Under FAFSA® Form, select Complete the FAFSA® Form. 

*If you need assistance completing your FAFSA, we are happy to help! You may schedule an in-person FAFSA Help Session or a virtual Cocky Chat that occurs via Microsoft Teams to receive assistance completing your FAFSA. You can also find additional helpful hints and instructions for completing the FAFSA on the Federal Student Aid YouTube channel. 

JSU will receive your FAFSA 3-5 business days after it is submitted. Please monitor your JSU student email to be notified when it is received and to be notified if there is any additional information or documentation we may need before we are able to package you for financial aid. 

When your file is complete and your eligibility has been determined, you will be offered the maximum amount of federal financial aid (federal Pell Grant and federal direct loans) that you are eligible to receive based on your Expected Family Contribution (EFC) amount, dependency status, and student classification. You will be notified via your JSU student email once you have been packaged for federal financial aid. 

1. Log in to MyJaxState using your username and password. 

2. Select Financial Aid Self Service from the Student card on the home page. 

3. Use the Award Year drop-down box at the top right to select the correct aid year (2023-2024.) 

4. Select the Award Offer tab. 

1. Log in to MyJaxState using your username and password. 

2. Select Financial Aid Self Service from the Student card on the home page. 

3. Use the Award Year drop-down box at the top right to select the correct aid year (2023-2024.) 

4. Select the Award Offer tab. 

5. Scroll to the bottom to view your loan(s) offered and select whether you would like to Accept, Modify, or Decline using the drop-down box next to the loan(s.) 

*Scholarships and Grants are automatically accepted. 

Financial aid is not paid directly to students, it is applied directly to a student’s account. The only time that a student will receive aid directly is if there is refundable aid remaining after the student’s account balance is paid in full. 

U.S. Department of Education regulations require a student to be currently attending at least half-time, or 6 credit hours, for federal aid to disburse.

• If you are enrolled in multiple parts of the term, federal loan funding will not disburse until you are attending a minimum of 6 credit hours.
• Pell Grant funding is prorated based on the number of credit hours you are enrolled in. If you are enrolled in multiple parts of the term, a partial amount of your Pell Grant funding will disburse based on the hours you are currently attending, and the remainder will disburse once you are attending courses in your various parts of the term. You can view the amount of funding that will disburse based on your credit hours of enrollment on the Pell Chart.
• For certain types of aid, such as merit scholarships, you must be currently attending full-time, or 12 credit hours. If you are enrolled in multiple parts of the term, your financial aid will not disburse until you are attending all 12 credit hours.

Examples:

• If you are enrolled in 6 credit hours- 3 hours in fall A and 3 hours in fall B:
  • 3 hours of Pell Grant funding will disburse in fall A
  • 3 hours of Pell Grant funding will disburse in fall B
  • loan funding, if applicable, will disburse after fall B begins, since that is when you are officially attending half-time
• If you are enrolled in 12 credit hours- 6 hours in fall A and 6 hours in fall B:
  • loan funding, if applicable, will disburse in fall A
  • 6 hours of Pell Grant funding will disburse in fall A
  • 6 hours of Pell Grant funding will disburse in fall B
  • merit scholarship funding will disburse in fall B

Refunds are processed by the Office of Student Accounts within the 14 days following the day that our office disburses financial aid. If you received an email that your refund has been processed but you have not received it after 7 business days, please reach out to the Office of Student Accounts at studentaccounts@jsu.edu  or 256-782-5458. 

1. Log in to studentaid.gov using your FSA ID and password. 

2. Under Loans and Grants, select PLUS Loans: Grad PLUS and Parent PLUS. 

3. Select I am a Graduate or Professional Student and complete the loan application. 

• The Award Year that will be selected is 2023- 2024. 
• There are several Loan Period options available to select. You may select multiple loan periods.
  • Fall Semester = August- December 
  • Spring Semester = January- April 
  • Summer Semester = May- July 

The Parent PLUS loan application should be completed by a parent that is on the current FAFSA. 

*Parents who are not listed on the current FAFSA that submit a Parent PLUS loan application will be required to provide additional documentation once the application is received. 

1. Parents, log in to studentaid.gov using your own FSA ID and password. 

2. Under Loans and Grants, select PLUS Loans: Grad PLUS and Parent PLUS. 

3. Select I am a Parent of a Student and complete the loan application. 

• The Award Year that will be selected is 2023- 2024. 
• There are several Loan Period options available to select. You may select multiple loan periods.
  • Fall Semester = August- December 
  • Spring Semester = January- April 
  • Summer Semester = May- July 

Once your application is submitted, please have your student monitor their JSU student email in case any additional documentation is needed. PLUS Loan applications are typically received within 2- 3 business days. 

Please wait until after the Parent PLUS loan funding has been accepted by your student to complete the Entrance Counseling. 

1. Log in to studentaid.gov using your FSA ID and password. 

2. Under Loans and Grants, select PLUS Credit Counseling. 

Please wait until after the Parent PLUS loan funding has been accepted by your student to complete the MPN. 

1. Log in to studentaid.gov using your FSA ID and password. 

2. Under Loans and Grants, select Mater Promissory Note (MPN). 

3. Select I’m a Parent of an Undergraduate Student. 

Merit-based scholarships for first-time freshmen students and first-time transfer students are automatically awarded to all who qualify after being admitted. Merit scholarships for first-time freshmen are based on GPA or GPA & test score (ACT or SAT.) Merit scholarships for first-time transfer students are based on GPA and the number of credit hours being transferred in. Please see our first-time freshman merit scholarship structure and our first-time transfer merit scholarship structure for the scholarships offered. 

JSU offers over 250 competitive and institutional scholarships through one simple application, the JaxApp. The JaxApp opens in the aid year prior to the year the scholarships are being awarded for. It opens in the fall semester on September 1st and closes in the spring semester February 1st. You will not have to select individual scholarships to apply for- your application is automatically submitted for every scholarship that you meet the qualifications for. 

* Recipients will be notified via their JSU student email beginning in April. If an applicant is not chosen as a recipient, they will not receive any type of notification. 

Merit scholarship recipients must successfully earn a minimum of 24 credit hours per academic year and maintain the institutional GPA shown on their scholarship contract or agreement. 

There are countless outside scholarship opportunities available in your local community, companies, and scholarship searches. We have four websites listed on our scholarships webpage that we trust for locating potential outside scholarship opportunities. We also recommend speaking with someone directly in the department of your major or area of interest to find out about potential opportunities that are major-specific. 

You can conduct an internet search for specific outside scholarships related to your major or to your extracurricular interests, as well. 

A grant is need-based funding that does not have to be repaid. 

Pell Grant eligibility is determined by your Estimated Family Contribution (EFC) Amount. Eligible EFCs and the respective funding amounts for the 2023- 2024 aid year can be seen on the Pell Grant  chart.

The Financial Aid Office receives a set amount of federal and state grant funding per year to be awarded to students. This funding is awarded to eligible students, such as students who qualify for Pell Grant funding and have utilized all other aid offered to them, including federal loans, but that still have a balance remaining on their student account. 

A subsidized loan will not begin accruing interest until after you graduate, or are no longer enrolled at least half-time. An unsubsidized loan will begin accruing interest after the funding has been disbursed. Both types of loan funding have to be repaid after graduating. 

Subsidized loan funding is need-based aid. 

Please wait until after loan funding has been accepted to complete the Entrance Counseling. 

Please wait until after loan funding has been accepted to complete the MPN. 

As long as the loan has not already been disbursed to your student account. To complete a Loan Change Request Form, follow the instructions below. 

Loan Change Requests are typically reviewed and processed within 3-5 business days. You may contact our office at 256-782-5006 or finaid@jsu.edu if you need assistance. 

* To request a change in the amount of Parent PLUS loan funding, the parent borrower will need to send an email to finaid@jsu.edu from the email address listed on the application. 

The amount of federal loan funding that you are originally packaged for is the maximum amount of funding that you are eligible to receive within the aid year based on federal Department of Education aggregate loan limits. Please visit studentaid.gov for more information on federal student loan limits. If you find you need additional loan funding as a dependent student, you can ask a parent to apply for a Parent PLUS loan. This is a federal loan that goes in a parents' name, and they would complete the application at studentaid.gov by logging in with their FSA ID and password. If they are approved, you would have the PLUS loan funding in the amount that they are approved for, or up to your cost of attendance. If they are not approved, you would be eligible for additional unsubsidized loan funding due to Parent PLUS denial. You can also look into a private education loan. 

Our office is unable to recommend a specific alternative lender. If you would like to review a historical list of private loan lenders to JSU students, you may visit FASTCHOICE. Another way to locate alternative lenders is to conduct an internet search for private education loans. Once you have applied and been approved with your lender of choice, your lender will contact our office to certify your enrollment and eligibility. Depending on the private lender, a student may be required to be enrolled in at least half-time status and/or meeting Satisfactory Academic Progress to be eligible. Lenders will verify your information with JSU via an electronic school certification request via ELM or other electronic communication. It is important to note that you cannot receive more financial aid funds (including loans) than your Cost of Attendance, regardless of the source of those funds. 

• Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP)- If you were placed on SAP suspension due to extenuating circumstances that prevented you from maintaining the minimum requirements for good SAP standing, you may file a SAP appeal. 
• Unusual Circumstance- There are special circumstances in which a student who would typically be considered a dependent student could be determined to be an independent student. If you have experienced/ are experiencing a special circumstance, our office can review your situation to determine if you may be considered an independent student for the current aid year. 
• Expected Family Contribution (EFC)- If your or your family’s current financial situation significantly differs from the tax year used for the current aid year’s FAFSA (due to an extenuating circumstance such as a job loss, death of a parent or spouse, etc.,) you may submit a Family Contribution appeal to have our office review your current household income and determine if you qualify for an adjustment to your financial aid package. 

Appeals are typically reviewed and processed within 7-10 business days, unless submitted during peak busy times, such as the semester payment deadline. You will be notified of the appeal decision via your JSU student email address. 

Please note that to be able to file an Appeal, you must have a FAFSA on file for the year you are appealing for. Example: If you are appealing for 2023- 2024 (Fall 2023, spring 2024, or summer 2024,) you will need to have a 2023-2024 FAFSA on file with JSU. 

Dropping a course may negatively impact your completion rate, which may result in being placed on SAP warning or SAP suspension. Dropping a course may also affect meeting your merit scholarship renewal requirements. If you are considering dropping a course, please speak with someone in our office to discuss potential impacts to your financial aid. 

When a student fully withdraws from a semester or does not earn credit in a semester that they received Title IV (federal) student aid for, the Financial Aid Office is required by federal Department of Education regulations to complete a Return to Title IV (R2T4) calculation. This may result in a portion or all of the federal student aid that you received for the semester being returned to the Department of Education. If you fully withdraw or do not earn any credit, we will complete a Return to Title IV calculation, and you will be responsible for repaying JSU any unearned aid that is returned. Please see the Return to Title IV Policy for additional information. 

Withdrawing from a semester or not earning credit for the courses you are enrolled in will negatively impact your completion rate and may negatively impact your GPA, which may result in SAP warning or suspension, not meeting your scholarship renewal requirements, or both. Completely withdrawing from a semester will not result in any institutional scholarship funding being removed from your student account, such as merit scholarship funding or competitive scholarship funding. 

If you have already completed a FAFSA for the current aid year, you will not have to complete a second/ separate application for summer financial aid. Summer financial aid packaging is completed manually. You must be enrolled in a minimum of 6 credit hours to receive federal financial aid. 

The amount of aid that you are packaged for will be based on the remaining eligibility for your aid year loan limit and the hours that you are enrolled in. Pell Grant funding is prorated based on the number of credit hours you’re enrolled in. 

Students must be confirmed as attending their courses each term to receive federal aid. If a student is not confirmed as attending a course, financial aid could be removed from their account. Instructors will receive an email reminder for attendance verification each semester with the deadline listed. 

Attendance verification should be submitted during the first week of classes. If a student is late added into a course, their attendance still must be verified using the same process. 

1. Log into MyJaxState. 

2. Select Financial Aid Attendance Verification from the Faculty card on the home page; this will open a new tab. 

3. You will see a list of courses that you are required to submit attendance verification for and a list of students within each course. Select the course you wish to verify attendance for. 

4. You will have the option to Select All, which will check all students to confirm attendance and you may manually de-select any that have not been attending your course. 

5. You may also manually select each student, if you prefer. 

6. Select Submit at the bottom when you have finished. 

You will receive a green pop-up bar confirming you have completed this. 

Please repeat these steps for each course you are assigned. 

A student should be either physically attending your course or have engaged in an academic-related activity for your online course to be verified as attending. The federal Department of Education defines academic engagement as active participation by a student in an instructional activity related to the student's course of study. This can include activities such as: 

• Attending class 
• Turning in an assignment 
• Taking a test 
• Participating in an online discussion 
• Interacting with the instructor regarding academic matters 

Please direct any questions or issues to the Director of Financial Aid, Charlotte Cole, at cacole@jsu.edu.