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Announcements

Filing the FAFSA and Correcting Tax Information

 

Students can begin completing your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) online beginning January 1st of each year. In the U.S. Department of Education’s effort to make filing the FAFSA a little easier, as long as you have filed your 2012 federal tax return, you can link to the IRS from the FAFSA, retrieve the tax information directly from the IRS, and it will automatically populate the FAFSA questions related to the tax return. We strongly encourage you to file your taxes early so that you can take advantage of this process.

Using the IRS data retrieval process will potentially result in faster processing of your financial aid file because of more accurate FAFSA data. The faster we are able to process your file the better chance you have of receiving maximum financial aid eligibility. It may also give you freedom from having to contact our office during the peak processing time when the wait on both the phones and in the office can be long.

If you have not filed your taxes in time to use this feature and meet our priority filing date, you should still file the FAFSA. Once you have filed your taxes you can go back to your FAFSA and use the IRS data retrieval to update estimated information. Using the IRS data retrieval to correct estimated information will allow us to satisfy certain requirements if you are notified by our office that you have been selected for the verification process. Verification is a process mandated by the U.S. Department of Education that requires schools to gather additional documentation to check the accuracy of information submitted on the FAFSA.

If you are notified by our office that you have been selected for verification, you are required to submit certain documents. The documents that we can now accept have changed based on policy changes by the U.S. Department of Education. We will now only accept as documentation of tax information either

  1. A tax return transcript from the IRS or
  2. Updated FAFSA with the IRS data retrieval.

The data retrieval from the IRS has become vital in filing the FAFSA and in the financial aid process. Filing your taxes early to take advantage of this feature prior to the March 1st priority date should help make the financial aid journey a smooth one.

Click the play button to view the 2013-2014 IRS Data Retrieval Tutorial FAFSA Video

 

 

Federal Student Loans Update
Beginning with the 2012-2013 academic year, graduate students are no longer eligible for subsidized loans. Graduate students will be awarded unsubsidized loans only for use in their educational programs.

For the 2012-2013 academic year, the Direct Subsidized Loan interest rate will increase to a fixed rate of 3.4%. The interest rate on the Direct Unsubsidized Loan will remain the same fixed rate of 6.8%. The interest rate on Direct PLUS Loans will remain at fixed rate of 7.9%.

The Department of Education will no longer offer borrower repayment incentives at the time of disbursement for Direct Loans first disbursed on or after July 1, 2012. As a result, the up-front interest rebate (currently 0.5% for Direct Subsidized and Direct Unsubsidized and 1.5% for Direct PLUS) that has been provided to Direct Loan borrowers at the time of their loan disbursements will no longer apply.

The origination fee deducted by the Department of Education for the 2012-2013 year will be 1% for Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans and 4% for Direct PLUS Loans. With the termination of the up-front interest rebate, the amount of loan money disbursed to your student account will be slightly less than previous years. These changes in terms and conditions will be effective unless implementation is changed by the U. S. Congress. Your loan servicer will notify you of any changes.

Effective immediately, if you would like to decrease, increase or cancel any Direct Loans that were awarded to you, then you must fill out the form titled “Loan Change Request” on the Financial Aid website and copies are available in the Financial Aid office. 

***Please Note: The Loan Change Request form must be filled out completely.  If your Banner ID number is not included on this form, your request will not be processed.

2012-2013 Changes to Federal Pell Grant
Students will only be allowed to receive 12 semesters of full-time Federal Pell Grant awards or 600%. You are limited to one full-time award per year. There will be no eligibility to receive a second Pell Grant award in summer if you were enrolled full-time during the fall and spring semesters. For students who enroll on a part-time basis, the total Federal Pell Grant award amount you may receive will be the equivalent of 12 full time semesters. The U.S. Department of Education will notify you on your Student Aid Report (FAFSA output) of your remaining eligibility for this program. You can determine how much Pell grant you have used by accessing NSLDS (National Student Loan Data System) and logging in with your 4 digit PIN NUMBER. 

2012-2013 Changes to State Grant Programs
There will be an 8 semester limit to the NC Education Lottery Scholarship and a 9 semester limit to the UNC Need-based grants in order to spread the funds out to many students and to encourage degree completion of students.

Repeat Coursework
You should expect to have your aid reduced if you repeat a course a second time after you have already earned credit hours for that course. Financial Aid will only pay for one repeat of a class. This federal policy change impacts the disbursement of aid because you may be required to repay aid due to an award reduction.

Financial Aid for Summer 2013
Summer aid will be based on your 2012-2013 FAFSA and what you received for the fall and spring of 2012-2013. Generally, only Federal Pell Grant and student loans would be available for summer. You must be enrolled at least half time to be eligible for summer aid loans (Undergraduate - 6 hours, Graduate- 3 hours).  The Summer School application will not be available until March or April of the year.

Are You Maintaining Satisfactory Academic Progress?

You must complete 2/3 or 67% of your locked hours each semester to maintain satisfactory academic progress (SAP). You must also maintain a minimum of 67% of your cumulative hours attempted to remain in good standing.

Check Your Financial Aid Status on Brave Web

Brave Web  provides you with online access to your financial aid information 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This convenient feature, accessible from the UNCP Website, enables you to check your application status, loan and award amounts, student account charges, and outstanding requirements for financial aid.  You will need to know your Banner ID Number in order to log in.  

Check Your Financial Aid Status:

  1. Click on Brave Web and log in.
  2. Click on Banner Self Service
  3. Click on Student and Financial Aid
  4. Click on Financial Aid

Second 8 Week Courses

Students should be aware that enrollment in second eight (8) week courses can affect their financial aid eligibility and the amount and delivery date of their financial aid refund.

In accordance with federal regulations, the University of North Carolina at Pembroke establishes a “freeze date” each semester to determine a student’s enrollment status for disbursing federal and state financial aid. Financial aid will only pay for courses that are required for your major and are added before the freeze date. Hours will be frozen at the end of the schedule adjustment (“add/drop”) period. Students must be registered for all parts of term before the freeze date to receive federal and/or state aid for that class. Federal and state aid will not be available for classes added after hours have been frozen. If you are not registered for a minimum of 6 hours when hours are frozen, you will not be eligible for your student loan and you will not have an opportunity to add a class in order to be eligible. 

Financial aid award amounts associated with second eight (8) week courses will not be disbursed until attendance is confirmed in the second 8 week courses.  Students should plan accordingly with regard to financial aid refunds when enrolled in second 8 week courses. 

Students who are retroactively awarded financial aid (after the freeze date) will have hours frozen at the time the award is made and payment will be based on current enrollment at that time.

For more information about the locking of enrollment hours, visit the “Policies” section of the financial aid web page and review “Financial Aid Freeze Date” document.

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PO Box 1510 Pembroke, NC 28372-1510 • 910.521.6000