1. Financial Aid, Scholarships and Student Accounts Presentation Wed., February 24, 2016

2. Presented by Patti Bowman, Associate Director for Financial Aid and Tyler Smith, Senior Assistant Director for Financial Aid

3.  Defining Satisfactory Academic Progress as it relates to Financial Aid  UNC Charlotte’s Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) policy  Forgiveness Policy  SAP Appeals  SAP Notifications  Prior Prior Year (PPY)

4.  Citations ◦ Federal Reg. 34 CFR 668.34 & FSA Handbook Volume 1 ◦ All schools must have a qualitative and quantitative component within their institutional policy ◦ Our SAP policy can be found at http://finaid.uncc.edu/keeping-your-aid/satisfactory-academic- progress/sap-policy http://finaid.uncc.edu/keeping-your-aid/satisfactory-academic- progress/sap-policy  Schools and Students have equal responsibility ◦ Students – maintains satisfactory progress in the enrolled program of study according to the school’s published standards ◦ School – Establish, publish, and apply reasonable standards for measuring Satisfactory Academic Progress in a student’s educational program

5.  Requirements: ◦ Cumulative GPA of a 2.0 or better (qualitative) ◦ Minimum Completion Rate of 66.6% (transfer hours accepted by UNC Charlotte must be included in both attempted and earned hours) (quantitative) ◦ Maximum Timeframe of 150% of program (transfer hours are included) (quantitative) ◦ SAP is reviewed annually at the end of the spring term for students. Students on probation are also reviewed at the end of each term. (Probation status = approved SAP appeal)

6.  According to federal regulations, there should be NO provision for the concept of academic amnesty or academic renewal. Forgiveness Policy can NOT be used for Financial Aid eligibility.

7.  Re-admitted students are given the opportunity to return to school but the act of being re-admitted or re-instated does not equate that a student is automatically eligible for financial aid.  Student who are conditionally re-admitted for the summer only (after a suspension) are not eligible for financial aid during the summer term(s).

8.  Student is re-admitted under the forgiveness policy after not attending the University for 5 years. Student left the University having a 1.52 cum. GPA. Upon being re-admitted, the student’s cum. GPA was updated to 2.58. Is the student eligible to receive financial aid if they completed their FAFSA?  ANSWERS to come during the round-table discussions.

9.  Limit of 2 SAP appeals permitted (NO summer appeals)  SAP deadlines: ◦ Fall – July 1 st ◦ Spring – November 15 th  Appeals are allowed for special circumstances: ◦ Must include why the student failed to meet SAP and ◦ What has changed in the student’s situation that will allow the student to demonstrate SAP at the next evaluation and ◦ Any supporting documentation that would support the information provided in the appeal letter (medical documentation, death certificate, etc.)

10.  Students are placed on PROBATION for the term with an Academic Plan of Action (APA). ◦ Students must sign and agree to the APA before financial aid is disbursed ◦ At the end of the term on Probation, each student is reviewed to see if they meet the APA and /or meeting the SAP standards on their own ◦ Warning and Probation cannot be used interchangeably

11.  Student are ineligible for federal, state, and institutional financial aid  Some alternative/private lenders allow students to apply for a private loan(s) when not meeting the institution’s SAP policy

12.  SAP is measured at the end of the spring term for students and for those students on probation with an APA  Students not meeting SAP standards, their financial aid is immediately suspended for all future terms  Students are notified by email that they are not meeting SAP standards and our appeal process  Notifications also go to students at the beginning of the spring term letting them know that are in danger of not meeting the SAP standards based on previous term grades and hours earned.

13.  First year student attends fall semester with 12 credit hours and earns all 12 credit hours and earns a 3.0 cum. GPA. Student enrolls for spring term with 12 credit hours and only earns 3 credit hours and has a 4.0 GPA for the term. The Financial Aid office runs the SAP process and determines that student is not meeting the completion rate standard. Her completion rate is 62.5%. Can the student receive financial aid in the upcoming summer term and the following fall term?

14.  President’s Announcement ◦ FAFSA start up on October 1 st ◦ Use of Prior-Prior Income Data  Beginning with the 2017-2018 FAFSA ◦ October 1, 2016 ◦ 2015 Tax/Calendar Year for Income

15. If you plan to attend college from: You can submit the FAFSA from: Using Tax Info. from: July 1, 2015- June 30, 2016January 1, 2015 – June 30, 20162014 July 1, 2016 – June 30, 2017January 1, 2016 – June 30, 20172015 July 1, 2017 – June 30, 2018October 1, 2016 – June 30, 20182015 July 1, 2018 – June 30, 2019October 1, 2017 – June 30, 20192016

16.  Outreach – High School Financial Aid nights will be conducted in late summer and early fall  Professional Judgements – special circumstances will most likely increase  Resolving conflicting information from 2016-2017 FAFSA data to 2017-2018 data  Verification

17.  FAFSA becomes available much earlier in the senior year of high school (Oct.1 st vs. Jan. 1 st ) and it is more aligned with the active recruitment efforts at the high schools. (apply now means both for admission and financial aid)  Scholarship and financial aid awards may now be available much earlier (Dec. vs March), which means that students and families could have complete financial aid packages in their hands as early as December.  Families will be able to utilize the IRS Data Retrieval Tool (DRT) since almost all taxes will be completed by Oct. 1 st, eliminating estimation and hopefully, selection for verification.

18. Presented by Mark Walter, Director, University Scholarship Office

19. Make it easier for students to find and apply for scholarships Streamline administrative processes within colleges, departments, and offices Award donor gifts efficiently to meet student need Effectively recruit and retain high-performing students Provide reporting capabilities for more efficient use of scholarship funds and consistent donor stewardship Why develop a new scholarship system?

20. Researched donor agreements and documentation for more than 950 scholarship funds Established a network of 55 scholarship administrators Worked with scholarship administrators to review and verify scholarship data Developed master scholarship database Created e-Scholarship Files Analyzed departmental applications to identify common requirements Developing the NinerScholars Portal

21. Pre-screened pool of applicants who meet scholarship criteria Eliminates paper applications and other required documents Online application review and award processes Sortable data points to compare students (GPA, Class, Major, Test scores, etc.) NinerScholars benefit to administrators?

22. Single online application for multiple scholarships Match vs. Search Pre-populates student data from Banner Common application requirements across scholarships are met with a single submission Built-in reference request functionality Student dashboard NinerScholars benefit to students?

23. scholarships.uncc.edu

24. Presented by Heather Vetzner, Assistant Controller, Bursar & Student Accounts

25.  ManageYourMoney.uncc.edu ◦ Earn  Links to on and off campus employment ◦ Save  Tips for saving money ◦ Borrow  Student loans  Credit cards ◦ Spend  Hints and tips for tracking spending and being a smart shopper

26. 3.0 GPA 30 Credit Hours Earned $300 Saved

27.  Registration hold ◦ Code = FB ◦ Description = Student Accounts ◦ March 22, 2016 ◦ Prevents students from registering until their account balance is paid in full  Transcript hold ◦ Code = RT ◦ Description = Financial hold ◦ Official transcripts will not be released until account balance is paid in full