Framingham State University Financial Aid

Financial Aid My Way

Financial Aid FR AMI NGHAM. E DU/ F I NANC I AL A I D FINANCIAL AID PROGRAMS AT FSU Students and parents of dependent students have the primary responsibility to pay for college. Financial aid is meant to supplement that responsibility. The information provided on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) determines an expected family contribution (EFC). This is an estimate of the amount of money you (and your parents, if you are dependent) could reasonably contribute toward college costs for one year. You have financial need when your EFC is less than your estimated cost of attendance (COA). Most types of financial aid are offered on the basis of financial need. Framingham State par ticipates in a variety of federal , state, institutional , and private f inancial aid programs that can assist you with f inancing your college education. These programs consist of grants and scholarships, work, and loan programs. When reading the following section, please refer to the aid listed on your offer let ter. GRANT AND SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMS Federal Pell Grant - is a need-based fund offered to full and par t-time undergraduate students who are seeking their f irst bachelor ’s degree. Eligibility is set by the federal government each year based on EFC. Federal Supplemental Educational Oppor tunity Grant (SEOG) - is a limited need-based fund offered to full -time undergraduate students who demonstrate high f inancial need. MASSGrant - is a need-based fund offered to full -time, high-need Massachusetts undergraduate residents based on EFC levels set by the Massachusetts Office of Student Financial Assistance each year. This offer is estimated until the state sets funding levels over the summer. MASSGrant Plus - The MASSGrant PLUS is a state grant awarded to full -time students that qualify for a Federal Pell Grant based on the FAFSA. This grant is intended to f ill unmet need for tuition, fees, and books for high-need Massachuset ts residents. Because of the grant ’s strict awarding rules, we may need to reduce or cancel your MASSGrant PLUS if you receive additional grant or scholarship aid. Your MASSGrant PLUS could also be canceled if your EFC changes as a result of f ile verif ication. This offer is estimated until the state sets funding levels later in the year. John and Abigail Adams Scholarship - is a merit-based fund that provides a 100% tuition waiver for full -time undergraduate Day Division students. Generally, students are informed of their eligibility for this scholarship program directly from the Massachuset ts Depar tment of Elementary and Secondary Education during the fall semester of their senior year in high school . Students must submit a copy of their eligibility let ter from the state to the FSU Financial Aid Off ice. Need-Based Tuition Waiver and FSU Grant - are need-based funds offered to full -time undergraduate Day Division students and funded by the state for Massachusetts residents. The University determines who is eligible and the offer value. A student ’s tuition can only be waived once, so if you receive another tuition waiver from the state (such as the Adams Scholarship) the Need-Based Tuition Waiver will be canceled. These funds are typically awarded to students living on-campus. Campus Housing Grants and Fee Grants - are need-based funds offered to undergraduate Day Division students. Students generally must be full -time to receive these funds, and preference is given to on-campus residents. Scholarships - Students admit ted to the Honors Program at FSU will receive a $3,000 merit-based scholarship if they enter the program. High-achieving students that are not admit ted to the Honors Program may be awarded a $1,000 Presidential Scholarship. Both scholarships may be renewed for up to eight semesters, as long as students meet the appropriate GPA requirement , and for Honors Scholarships, remain enrolled in the Honors Program. Students will be notif ied by the Admissions Off ice if they qualify for either scholarship. Merit Scholarships are only applicable to Day Division courses. FSU Scholarships and Foundation Scholarships - are offered to both new and returning students. Foundation Scholarships are made available through the generous support of donors to the University. These scholarships are part of the overall pool of financial aid resources available, and many are based on financial need. If you have been offered need-based aid by the University, a Foundation Scholarship may be offered later to replace some of the funding you have received. You may be asked to write a letter to the scholarship donor if you receive such an offer. Without the support of the Foundation, we would be unable to offer need-based financial aid to students at current levels. The Independent Association of Framingham State Alumni (IAFSA) offers scholarship oppor tunities from 25 funds each year. Upperclass students are eligible to apply for scholarships directly through IAFSA.

WORK-STUDY Federal Work-Study (FWS) - is a need-based fund offered to full -time students. Work-study is not credited to the student account like other types of aid. If you are offered work-study, you will have the oppor tunity to secure a job on campus and you will be paid biweekly for hours worked. Students with this offer will receive a late summer email regarding job oppor tunities and the employment process at FSU. STUDENT LOAN PROGRAMS Federal Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans - These are low- interest loans offered to students enrolled at least half-time (generally 2 courses/semester). Students enter repayment on this loan 6 months af ter they graduate, withdraw, or drop below half-time enrollment. Repayment can be deferred for students enrolled in graduate school , and f lexible repayment plans are offered through the federal government. The f ixed interest rates for the loans are set by the federal government each summer for the upcoming academic year. The f ixed interest rate for the 2022-2023 academic year was 4.99%. There is also an origination fee taken by the federal loan processor at the time of each disbursement. In 2022-2023 this fee was 1.057%. You will need to complete Entrance Counseling and a Master Promissory Note the f irst time you borrow from this program. Students can borrow up to $5,500 through this loan program as a freshman, $6,500 as a sophomore, and $7,500 as a junior and senior. Students that demonstrate f inancial need will be offered some of the loan as a subsidized version; for that por tion of the loan, the federal government pays the interest on the loan while the student is enrolled at least half-time and for the 6-month grace period af ter enrollment. Massachuset ts No Interest Loan (NIL) - is a need-based loan offered to full -time students from Massachuset ts. Eligibility and the offer value are determined by the University. This loan will remain interest free for the life of the loan if the borrower maintains regular repayment. Repayment begins 6 months af ter you graduate or drop below half-time enrollment. You must complete Entrance Counseling and a Promissory Note each year to receive this loan. CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR ACCEPTANCE! Studies have shown that individuals wi th higher levels of education earn more and are more l ikely to be employed than those wi th a high school diploma alone. On average, a person wi th a college degree can earn over a mi ll ion dollars more than a high school graduate over the course of a l ifetime. The increased job securi ty and earnings potential enjoyed by college graduates may also resul t in l ife benef i ts such as greater access to heal th insurance and retirement plans. There are real benef i ts of higher education for individuals and society, and we applaud your desire to seek postsecondary education. Understanding that you are making a signif icant investment to pursue a bachelor ’s degree, we are prepared to assist you through the process of paying for college, star ting wi th the information provided in this f inancial aid guidebook. Sincerely, Carla Minchello, Director Financial Aid Off ice WE KNOW THAT EARNING YOUR COLLEGE DEGREE IS A HUGE INVESTMENT. FSU’S FINANCIAL AID COUNSELORS ARE READY TO ASSIST YOU WITH ANY QUESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE ALONG THE WAY.

Your Aid Offer FR AMI NGHAM. E DU/ F I NANC I AL A I D UNDERSTANDING YOUR OFFER LETTER Your f inancial aid offer is for the full academic year. The offer notice may also list any outside aid that you told us about. Your offer let ter indicates the enrollment status (full -time or par t-time) and housing status upon which your f inancial aid is based. ESTIMATED OFFERS Some students will receive an estimated offer let ter. Estimated offers are given to students who must submit additional documentation before their f inancial aid can be f inalized. The federal government selects some students for verif ication, a process that requires f inancial aid counselors to check the information repor ted on the FAFSA using documents provided by you. If your f inancial aid is estimated, information about the required documents is included with the offer let ter and must be received before a verif ied f inancial aid offer can be issued. Students should make every at tempt to submit all documentation as soon as possible. Estimated f inancial aid may change as a result of verif ication. Failure to submit required documents may also result in reduction or cancelation of f inancial aid. LOAN AMOUNTS Your offer let ter may contain Federal Direct Loans and/or a Massachuset ts No Interest Loan. You may choose to decline or reduce the student loans offered to you. To do this, you can email us at f inancialaid@framingham.edu. If we do not hear from you by the star t of the fall semester, we will assume that you plan to borrow the full amount of student loans available to you, and we will process those loans accordingly. Students can complete their Master Promissory Notes and Entrance Counseling requirements for Direct Loans at studentaid.gov. Borrowers in the Massachuset ts No Interest Loan program will be contacted by the Financial Aid Off ice to complete disbursement requirements early in the fall semester. OUTSIDE RESOURCES Students are encouraged to apply for outside scholarship and grant funding. Your high school counsel ing off ice is a great resource for local scholarships. You may also want to view scholarship websi tes such as collegeboard.org and fastweb.com. We discourage students from using any scholarship service that charges a fee. If you receive any type of outside/private scholarships or f inancial assistance, you must communicate the dollar amount of the offer to the Financial Aid Off ice. You may do so by submi t ting a copy of the notif ication let ter to our off ice and the Student Accounts Off ice. Types of assistance that must be repor ted include but are not l imi ted to: private scholarships, tui tion waivers, AmeriCorps, Veterans Benef i ts, and Massachuset ts Rehabi l i tation Assistance. Depending on the amount and type of funding, other f inancial aid offers may be adjusted. If your f inancial aid offer must be adjusted due to receipt of outside assistance, the pol icy followed at FSU is to reduce your f inancial aid in the following order : MASSGrant PLUS, Direct Loans, other self-help, (such as Massachuset ts No Interest Loan, Federal WorkStudy), and Grants. State regulations may require us to reduce your MASSGrant PLUS if you receive outside grant/scholarship aid.

89% OF FUL L - T IME F I RST- YEAR STUDENTS RECE I VE F I NANC I AL A I D FSU's Financial Aid Office is here to assist with any financial aid questions you may have. “ It cost significantly less for me to gain a bachelor ’s degree here than at a private college or out-of-state. I ’m so g l ad I made t he a f fordab l e cho i ce and came to FSU ! ” - Brittany B. Biology Ma jor RENEWAL OF FINANCIAL AID Students are required to f ile the FAFSA by March 1 each year to meet the University ’s priority f iling deadline for f inancial aid. Because our funding is limited, students who f ile af ter the priority deadline may see a signif icant reduction in their f inancial aid offer that year. It is also impor tant to return any missing documentation to the f inancial aid off ice within a timely manner. Students who respond to document requests late may be offered aid on a funds-available basis. Financial aid offers may change each year based on available funding and changes to family circumstances, such as changes to family size/number in college, income changes, and asset changes. Students who apply ontime and have similar circumstances from year-to-year have the greatest chance of receiving similar f inancial aid each year. Please note that the federal f inancial aid formula that determines federal and state aid will change signif icantly in 2024-2025. This could change your eligibility for aid in future years. SATISFACTORY ACADEMIC PROGRESS Upperclass students must meet Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) guidelines to be eligible for f inancial aid from one school year to the next. The U.S. Depar tment of Education requires that students receiving federal f inancial aid meet the University academic progress standards ensuring suff icient progress toward their degrees. The full SAP Policy can be found on our website. Please contact us if you would like us to send you a copy of the policy. CHANGES IN ELIGIBILITY FOR AID Your f inancial aid offer may change if your circumstances change throughout the year. Please contact us if any of the following factors change so that we may counsel you on how these may affect your el igibi l i ty for f inancial aid. • A change in enrollment from full - time to par t- time OR par t- time to full - time • A change in enrollment from Day Division to Continuing Education OR Continuing Education to Day Division • A change from commuter to on- campus resident OR on- campus resident to commuter • A change in f inancial need as a resul t of the verif ication of FAFSA information and/or addi tional information submi t ted to the Financial Aid Off ice • F ai lure to complete disbursement requirements for cer tain funds may cause that offer to be canceled • N otif ication from the State of Massachuset ts regarding your el igibi l i ty for cer tain funding The Financial Aid Off ice checks enrollment and housing status af ter add/drop each semester, and wi ll adjust offers when necessary. If you wi thdraw from or stop at tending all courses during a semester, you may not qual ify for all f inancial aid avai lable to you. Your aid wi ll be adjusted in accordance wi th federal and state refund pol icies. Please see our websi te for more information. If changes occur to your financial aid after you have enrolled, you wi ll be notif ied via FSU student emai l . Most of our communication wi th enrolled students is sent via FSU emai l , so please check i t regularly.

Affordability FR AMI NGHAM. E DU/ F I NANC I AL A I D FINANCING YOUR EDUCATION There are several options available to a student and their family for managing the balance due. When considering any one of the following options, costs for the entire year should be kept in mind. This can easily be done by taking the fall semester balance due to FSU and doubling it to determine the full year. Some families will choose one of the following options to cover the balance due and many families will use a combination of these. Monthly Payment Plans - FSU provides interest-free payment plans that assist students and their families to spread the balance due to FSU into monthly installments. A minimum enrollment fee is required at the time of enrollment. More detailed information is provided at summer orientation programs and accompanies the electronic billing statement for the fall semester. You can also check online at framingham.edu/admissions-and-aid/student-accounts or contact the Student Accounts Off ice at FSU. Federal Direct PLUS Loan - The PLUS Loan enables parents of dependent undergraduates to borrow for their child’s education. Repayment of this loan generally begins within 60 days of the date that the loan is disbursed unless parents apply for a deferment. The f ixed interest rate for the 2022-2023 academic year was 7.54%. There is also an origination fee taken by the federal loan processor at the time of each disbursement. In 2022-2023 this fee was 4.228%. Interest rates for the 2023-2024 academic year will be set during the summer of 2023. Parents may borrow up to the cost of at tendance annually, less any f inancial aid offered to the student. Parents can apply for PLUS loans and get specif ic information on repayment , deferment , cancelation, and default provisions at the Federal Student Aid website, studentaid.gov. Private Alternative Education Loans - Private banks and loan companies also offer student and parent loans, commonly known as alternative loans. Parents may borrow up to the cost of at tendance annually, less any f inancial aid offered to the student. Additional information is available at framingham.edu/admissions-and-aid/f inancial -aid/types-of-aid/alternative- loans. PAYMENT EXAMPLES You may use one or a combination of options to pay your bill . Below are some examples: Brian is a full -time undergraduate student who is living on-campus for the 2023-2024 academic year. His total direct costs are $25,164 for the full school year. He applied for f inancial aid and received an aid offer of $16,000 for the year. Brian’s Direct Costs = $25,164 – Financial Aid of $16,000 = Balance Due to FSU of $9,164. Option 1: Brian and his family decide to put the entire balance due of $9,164 on the payment plan. Beginning on July 1, 2023 through April 1, 2024 they would make 10 monthly payments of $916. Option 2: Brian’s sister is also in college and his parents have been using a monthly payment plan at her university. They plan to continue this for 2023-2024, so they decide to utilize the Federal PLUS loan program to pay the $9,164. Remember that there is a 4.228% origination fee taken out by the loan processor. Therefore, the PLUS loan amount requested should = $9,570 so that the net amount disbursed af ter the fee will pay his account in full . Option 3: Brian and his family determine that a $916 monthly payment is not manageable but a $300 per month payment is. If $300/month is set up on the payment plan, then $3,000 of the $9,164 balance due would be paid out of current income. The family would then turn to the Federal PLUS or an alternative education loan lender for the remaining $6,164 balance due to FSU. Using a combination of the payment plan and a loan program results in a lower overall cost than borrowing the full amount , as less interest will be repaid on the loan over time.

COSTS FOR 2023-2024 Cost of At tendance (COA) is the amount we estimate it may cost you to at tend Framingham State University (before f inancial aid) for one academic year. These costs have been developed as a guide to help students anticipate their educational expenses. Some students will spend more than the estimated amounts, others less, depending on individual choices and circumstances. The total COA includes direct and indirect costs. Direct costs are the charges that appear on your University bill and include tuition, fees, and on-campus room and board. Indirect costs are the costs of items such as books, supplies, off-campus room and board, personal expenses (clothing, laundry, recreation), and transpor tation needs. Students entering their f irst year at FSU are also required to purchase a laptop that meets the University ’s specif ications. The total COA has been estimated based on costs for the current academic year. Any increases to direct costs for 2023-2024 will be f inalized by June 2023. ELECTRONIC BILLING Students are electronically billed (eBill) by the University ’s Student Accounts Off ice each semester for their Direct Costs. Student eBills for the fall semester are generally sent in early July with a due date of early August and spring bills are sent late November and due late December. The eBill will generally only ref lect the charges due for that semester. The eBill will also ref lect a total of any f inancial aid that is in a “Ready to Disburse” status for that semester. IN-STATE TUITION* Tuition & Fees (full-time) $11,380 Residence Halls** $8,964 Unlimited Meal Plan† $4,820 TOTAL DIRECT COSTS: $25,164 OTHER ESTIMATED EXPENSES: Average Direct Loan Fee $68 Books $1,200 Laptop Computer $1,000 Personal $1,560 Transportation $750 TOTAL OTHER COSTS: $4,578 OUT-OF-STATE TUITION* Tuition & Fees (full-time) $17,460 Residence Halls** $8,964 Unlimited Meal Plan† $4,820 TOTAL DIRECT COSTS: $31,244 Part-time undergraduates (1 or 2 courses per semester) pay pro-rated tuition & fees. ** The expenses listed above are estimated for 2023-2024 as of the time of this publication. ** Average residence hall rate. *† Unlimited swipes and $100 Dining Dollars per term Estimated 2023-2024 Cost of Attendance

1 0 0 S T A T E S T R E E T • P O B O X 9 1 0 1 • F R A M I N G H A M , M A • 0 1 7 0 1 - 9 1 0 1 508- 626 - 4534 • f ramingham.edu/f inanc ialaid Contact us! Need Help? We look forward to working with you! Students and parents can make an appointment to speak with a counselor at any time during normal business hours. If your counselor is not available, another counselor can assist you. The Financial Aid Off ice is open Monday - Friday 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Financial Aid Office Framingham State University D. Justin McCarthy Center Student Services Center (Room 515) A-Di Alyssa Lombardi Dj -K Susan Lanzillo L-Q Maribeth Ford R-Z Traci Hickey All Students: Carla Minchello, Director Christine Sweeney Michelle Tosi Each student is assigned a financial aid counselor based on the first letter of their last name. Telephone 508-626-4534 Fax 508-626-4598 Email financialaid@framingham.edu framingham.edu/financialaid STUDENT LAST NAME BEGINNING WITH…

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