Understanding My Award Letter
- Download Understanding My Award Letter PDF
Your award letter shows you your costs and the total amount of aid (Federal, State and CSP based aid) you qualify for in a given academic year to cover those costs. The academic year runs from fall (August 2009) through summer (July 2010).
Your award will only show aid for fall and spring; summer aid is awarded during the end of the spring semester for those students who enrolled for at least 6 credits and complete a summer financial aid application. The application is available in the BEAR Center.
Most charges are listed in the COST area of your award letter. The most common costs are tuition, room and board. The cost of tuition for a traditional student is based on the credit load taken, the costs are as follows:
| 1-5 credits | $550 per credit |
| 6-11 credits | $1,100 per credit |
| 12-19 credits | $13,200 per semester and $26,400 for the 2009-2010 academic year |
Standard room and board is $3,625 per semester for students. Single room options or alternative meal plans will incur additional fees. For specific costs, please speak with the Residence Life Manager or a BEAR Center representative.
Some additional charges that can increase the tuition costs:
- Music Lessons cost $200 for 30 minute lessons and $400 for an hour lesson. Classes with labs will commonly have lab fees
Reference other costs here or with the BEAR Center at (651)603-6300 or bearcenter@csp.edu
Offered aid is listed in two sections, Gift Aid (money that doesn?t have to be paid back) and Loans (money that you eventually repay).
Gift aid is commonly academic, athletic or departmental scholarships, as well as Federal or State grants. Since gift aid doesn?t have to be paid back, there isn?t any additional documentation needed to accept this aid.
This amount is your costs minus gift aid. This amount does not reflect any non-CSP grants and scholarships OR loans you may have applied for. This balance reflects the additional aid you need to secure to cover your balance.
Notify the Financial Aid Office of any non-CSP scholarships and grants that you are expecting. You can deduct the scholarship amounts from the balance due and then consider if you will pay any portion out of pocket.
If you will not pay any funds out of pocket, you may consider applying for student loans to cover the remaining amount. If you are paying a portion or all of the remaining balance out of pocket, then you can make a payment via the BEAR Center cashier or online at: one time payments. You may also want to consider a payment plan. Information on payment plans is available at: payment plans.
We offer you multiple loan programs because there are different regulations with each and some programs may be more appealing to you. Also, some loan programs have annual limits and one loan may not cover all of your costs, so you may need to apply for more than one. Specific questions can be answered by a BEAR Center representative or a financial aid officer.
Usually, NO! We commonly offer loan amounts above what you may need but that doesn?t mean you have to accept the offered amount. The award letter is a reflection of the MAXIMUM amount of aid you qualify for; you can request a reduction in any of the offered aid. You should only apply for the amount of loan funds you need.
If you plan to be enrolled in both the fall and the spring semesters your student loan will be set for one disbursement each semester, if you are graduating after one semester, then you can apply for a fall-only or spring only loan.
In most situations, you should apply for the loan for both semesters and the funds are sent in two equal disbursements. This way, you apply for the loan in the fall semester and funds will come in the fall and spring.
One thing to remember is that with Stafford loans, and some other loans, there can be loan processing fees charged. The fee is commonly 2% of the total amount and this fee is taken out of the total loan amount. So, if you are offered and accept $3500 in Stafford funds, you will receive $3,430 for the year ($70 is the 2% loan charge), which is $1,715 per semester. Please keep that in mind when you are trying to cover your balance.
Work-study funds are earned when you are hired for either an on-campus or certain selected off-campus positions. Those funds are earned as you work and are paid bi-weekly. You can chose to have your earnings paid directly to you or have them go directly towards your balance. Commonly students use the funds for miscellaneous expenses they incur. For more information on how to apply work-study funds to your balance, please speak with a BEAR Center representative.
When you have more aid coming in than your costs, you have a surplus of aid. You may use those funds to pay for your books. If aid is not received yet, and as long as all the proper documentation has been completed, we can ?charge? your books to your student account. To set this up see a BEAR Center representative.
Yes, you can use any of the offered aid to assist you with any educational-related expense. For instance, many students who live off-campus use the additional funds to rent, food, gas, etc.
Once your funds are received and your charges are paid, your funds will be sent to you. You need to set up direct-deposit for the funds to be released to the checking or savings account of your choice. You need to complete the direct deposit authorization form and send in a savings deposit slip OR a voided check.
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Tuesday thru Thursday 8:00 AM- 6:00 PM
Phone:(651) 603-6300
Fax:(651) 603-6298
