Policies and Definitions

Eligibility

To be considered for financial aid, including Federal grants and loans, many alternative loans, and institutional grants and scholarships, a student must:

• Have a high school diploma or equivalent.
• Be formally admitted to a program leading to a degree or certificate at UAS.
• Maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress in his/her course of study.
• Not be in default on any of the following:
  • Federal Title IV loan (Stafford, Direct, FFEL or Perkins)
  • Owe a refund on any federal Title IV grant or loan (Pell, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG) or Perkins).

If applying for federal need-based assistance, demonstrate financial need as indicated in the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

You may check your student loan status by accessing the National Student Loan Data System.

Repeat Courses

The U. S. Department of Education has recently published new regulations which impact students who repeat courses. These regulations are part of a series called Program Integrity Rules and are effective July 1, 2011.

Students may only receive federal financial aid funding for one repetition of a previously passed course. 

All repeated courses do affect financial aid satisfactory academic progress calculations. A repeated course along with the original attempt must be counted as attempted credits.

Further resources:

• Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) Policy 
• Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)

Terms & Conditions

This page includes all the terms and conditions of your financial aid awards. You are expected to read and understand this information. Please contact our office if you have any questions.

A printable PDF version of this page is also available.

• You must be enrolled in an eligible degree or certificate program to receive any financial aid at UAS.
• Failure to accept the Offer of Financial Aid within 30 days of the date listed on the Offer may result in the cancellation of the Offer.
• Federal Direct Loans require you to complete a Promissory Note and an online Loan Entrance Counseling session.
• Your credit hours will be locked on Census Day. The date is updated every semester on the University’s Financial Aid website. Financial aid awards will be adjusted based on enrolled credits on Census Day.
• All funds offered must first go toward payment of direct educational expenses as reflected on your student account (e.g. tuition, fees, room and board). Remaining funds may be disbursed to you in the form of a refund check after the 5^th day of the semester. You may only use this money for education related expenses.
• Students receiving any Tuition Waiver funds are only eligible to use that waiver at the campus designated (e.g. you cannot use a Juneau Tuition Waiver for credits at Ketchikan, Sitka, UAA or UAF).
• You are required to report any additional tuition waivers, scholarships, grants, or loans not shown on the Offer of Financial Aid to the Financial Aid Office by email at uas.finaid@alaska.edu. Failure to do so may void your funding.
• Financial aid will be prorated based on your enrollment level. In general, full time will receive 100%, three-quarter time will receive 75%, half-time will receive 50%, and less than half-time students will receive 0% of grant aid.
• Financial aid will only cover required classes for your program of study; you may not use any form of financial aid to cover non-required classes. If this may apply to you, you must contact the Financial Aid Office.
• Credits enrolled per semester must meet the Federal Repeat Rule as defined in the UAS catalog.
• The total of all financial aid (scholarships, loans, etc.) may not exceed your Cost of Attendance for a given year. The Cost of Attendance figure listed on your Offer of Financial Aid is based on information obtained from your FAFSA.
• You are required to view the Financial Aid tabs in UAOnline every two weeks during periods of enrollment. UAS will post important information about your financial aid on UAOnline exclusively.
• By accepting any part of this and subsequent Offers of Financial Aid, you certify that you have read, understand, and accept the Satisfactory Academic Progress and Return of Title IV policies. Your Offer of Financial Aid is void if you become ineligible for any reason, including not making Satisfactory Academic Progress or academic disqualification.
• The University of Alaska Southeast’s Financial Aid Office reserves the right to review, modify, or cancel Offers of Financial Aid at any time on the basis of information affecting your eligibility. This includes, but is not limited to, changes in your financial, marital, residence, or academic status, or changes in the availability of federal, state, private, or University funds and may occur without notice. Offers also may be modified based on disciplinary action taken against a recipient or on the discovery of processing errors.
• Students must commence attendance in all registered classes to be eligible for financial aid.
• UAS is not responsible for debts incurred by students before or after financial aid refund checks are issued.
• You cannot receive Financial Aid for audited classes.
• You may only receive Financial Aid at one school per award period (semester, trimester, quarter).

Disbursement Procedures

When Will Disbursement of Funds Start?

Financial Aid funds are disbursed to your student account no sooner than 10 days before the start of the term as long as you have completed the necessary requirements for the fund. Financial aid disbursements will pay your allowable charges first, including tuition and fees and housing costs. Any remaining balance owed is the responsibility of the student to be paid before the tuition and fee due date published in the University of Alaska Southeast Catalog every year.

When Will My Outside Scholarship be Disbursed?

Outside scholarship funds will not be disbursed to your student account until the funds from your donor have been received at the Financial Aid office. Once the scholarship funds arrive they will be used to pay any charges owed on your student account. Any remaining funds will be issued to you as a refund check. The promise of scholarship money does not absolve you from your requirement to pay all of your tuition and fees by the posted fee due date.

When Will My Alternative Loan be Disbursed?

Alternative loan funds have a mandatory federally required waiting period on their disbursement of 10 days. This disbursement delay is regulated by the student’s lending institution. Once the funds have been disbursed to the school, they will be disbursed to the student’s account and used to pay any listed charges. If any funding remains, this money will be given to the student in a refund check.

Refund Checks

If you are scheduled to receive more financial aid assistance than you have allowable charges on your student account, you will be issued a refund check no sooner than the 10th day of the term. Please note that refund checks are not guaranteed to be available for your use on this date. You should not create debts payable with your financial aid refund check until the check has been cashed or deposited into your own private banking account. The University will remain harmless as to any debts created by the student with a promise to pay coming from a financial aid refund check.

The University of Alaska Southeast has two options available for refund checks. The student is defaulted into the paper check process. Through this process the student must present picture ID at the Student Account’s office located in Novatney Building to pick up their check. Through UAOnline, students may also enroll in Direct Deposit, allowing refund checks to be deposited directly into the student’s banking account.

Complete Withdrawal — Return of Title IV Federal Aid

This requirement applies to you only if:

1. You received federal student aid, and
2. You are withdrawing from all of your classes before completing 60% of the semester.

A federal law requires federal aid recipients to "earn" most of the aid they receive by staying enrolled in college at least half time. Students who totally withdraw before completing 60% of the term for which they received federal student aid may be required to return some of the aid they were awarded.

This law assumes that you used your Title IV student aid (Pell Grants, SEOG grants or Stafford Loans) to pay your institutional charges -- tuition, fees and on-campus housing -- whether you did or not. Thus, if you withdraw from all of your classes before completing 60% of the semester for which you were awarded aid, a professional percentage of your aid must be returned to the federal government. This percentage is based on the number of calendar days in the term that pass before you complete the course withdrawal form, you officially notify the Financial Aid Office or the Registrar's Office of your intent to withdraw, the midpoint of the term if you leave without notifying us, or your last date of attendance at a documented academically related activity.

Using the mandated Federal formula, UAS will restore to the appropriate federal fund sources a professional share of institutional charges that you have paid. If the amount returned by UAS is not enough to repay the entire amount that must be returned, you will be required to return portions of amounts that you received to pay for non-institutional charges books that are not in returnable condition, board, transportation, supplies, and off-campus living expenses.

Amounts that must be returned to federal aid sources, whether by UAS or by you, will first be applied to your federal loans. You will then be permitted to repay any federal loan amounts you still owe according to the original terms of the loans usually a ten-year repayment term after a grace period and deferments if you return to school. In addition, you may be required to repay portions of Pell Grants or Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (SEOGs) that you received. In the case of unearned portions of federally funded grants, you will be required to repay 50% of the unearned portion or to make satisfactory arrangements with the Federal Department of Education to repay that amount.

If you are entitled to a refund from UAS of amounts you paid to cover institutional charges (this might occur if you withdraw within the first 10 days of the semester), any refund due you will first be applied to your obligation to return unearned aid before you receive any money back. Thus, portions of institutional refunds may be applied on your behalf to your outstanding Stafford Loans or to your grants and not actually be refunded directly to you. View the Academic Catalog for a more detailed explanation of the Return of Title IV Funds policy. If you have questions concerning the policy or the effect that totally withdrawing from your courses will have on you, contact the Financial Aid Office.

This policy is based on 34 CFR, Section 668.22 of Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended.

UAS Policies for Outside Scholarships

• Students must notify our office of all outside awards received, including those that were paid directly to you. Please use the Financial Aid Update Form to do so.
• Scholarship agencies should send your awards directly to our office. See below for our contact information.
• We prefer that your scholarship check be made payable to University of Alaska Southeast in order to credit it directly to your university bill. Your full name and student ID number should be included in the memo section of the check.
• If your scholarship check has been sent to the Financial Aid Office, but is made payable to you or co-payable to you and UAS, you will need to stop by Student Accounts in the Novatney Building to endorse the check.
• Awards of $1000 or more are split in half and credited over the fall and spring semester of the academic year, unless an agency specifies otherwise.
• If you have multiple outside awards that impact your eligibility for need-based funds, you may want to postpone disbursement of some of the awards until future academic years. UAS cannot hold outside award funds for future years, so you will need to ask the scholarship provider if they would be willing to wait until a future year to disburse your award.

Stay On Track Requirements

To be considered for the Stay on Track/University of Alaska Grant award, fill out a FAFSA, register for 15 credits or more, and meet the requirements below:

• Must be in a UAS degree or certificate program
• Must be a sophomore or higher: minimum of 30 cumulative credits
• Must take at least six of the required 15 credits from the UAS Campus during the semester awarded and these cannot be placeholder credits while on an exchange program
• Must have a completed FAFSA before the UAS Pell Recalculation Date: January 27, 2024 at 6am
• Must be in at least 15 credits that are all eligible for Financial Aid (non-repeating courses and that go towards your program of study) on the Pell Recalculation Date each semester
• Must be eligible for Financial Aid. See the UAS Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy for more details

Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP)

In order to receive financial aid from the Federal aid program, the State of Alaska program or from institutional funds, a student must be fully admitted to an eligible degree or certificate program. In addition, the student must maintain satisfactory academic progress toward his/her educational goal as defined in the SAP policy. Students must meet minimum requirements for grade point average (GPA), course completion rates, and timeframe for program completion. If you receive a notification that you are not meeting the conditions for Satisfactory Academic Progress, please contact the UAS Financial Aid Office.

Additional resources

• Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy
• Satisfactory Academic Progress Calculator Tool