Office of Student Financial Assistance

Overview

SFA’s Office of Student Financial Assistance is committed to helping graduate students meet their financial needs. SFA provides graduate students traditional financial assistance in the form of state grants, work-study programs and student loans. To be considered for these funds, an applicant must complete a Free Application for Federal Student Aid online at fafsa.ed.gov. For priority consideration, applications should be received by the Office of Student Financial Assistance by March 15; however, applications received after this date will be accepted and processed. Once this information is received, students will be evaluated for all available funds. Electronic notification of awards will be made within two weeks after receipt of all required documentation.

Typically, graduate students qualify for grant funding through the state TPEG and institutional Lumberjack Grant programs and benefit from elevated federal loan eligibility. Graduate students must be enrolled in at least six credit hours to qualify. For more information or to speak with a counselor, contact the Office of Student Financial Assistance at (936) 468-2403, or visit sfasu.edu/faid. Dropping courses may result in a reduction of financial aid funds for the current term. In addition to a reduction in aid, dropping courses also can affect the student’s ability to make satisfactory academic progress. For information concerning Policy 6.16, Satisfactory Academic Progress for Financial Aid Recipients, students should contact their counselor or visit sfasu.edu/faid.

Attendance Policy

Federal regulations require that students attend all classes in order to receive federal financial aid funds. Eligibility for federal student aid is, in part, based on your enrollment status for the term in which you are enrolled. Enrollment will be checked beginning the first class day of each term through the census date. Students will be administratively dropped by the registrar’s office from any course where attendance cannot be demonstrated. Based upon this information, your financial aid will be re-evaluated accordingly.

Return of Funds by Financial Aid Recipients

When a student has received financial aid payments to cover educational costs for a semester and subsequently withdraws from the university during the semester for which payments were received, these funds can no longer be considered as being used for educational purposes. Therefore, the funds must be repaid to the aid programs from which they were received. Funds returned to the federal loan program will reduce the student’s loan balance with the lender. The student will be responsible for reimbursing the university for any funds returned by the university on behalf of the student. In the event that non-federal financial assistance programs or privately funded scholarships have their own return policy, their policy supercedes this policy.

Per Diem Return Policy for Federal Financial Aid Recipients

Federal regulations require the university to perform a return calculation for all students who receive federal financial aid and withdraw during the semester. The return amount due to the program(s) is calculated on per diem basis with a formula established by federal regulations. The student will be responsible for reimbursing the university for any funds returned by the university on behalf of the student. In the event that non-federal financial assistance programs or privately funded scholarships have their own return policy, their policy supercedes this policy.

In addition, federal regulations require that this return calculation be done for students who stop attending their classes and do not officially withdraw and receive a grade of all QFs or any combination of Ws and QFs for the semester. Per regulations, these students will receive a calculation using a 50-percent completion rate or a percentage based on the last documented date of attendance. It is the responsibility of the student to provide the Office of Student Financial Assistance with documentation of continued attendance if she or he receives all QFs or any combination of Ws and QFs for the semester. Documentation must be provided within 21 days of the end of the semester, unless an extension is announced.

Assistantships

A number of departments offer graduate assistantships to carefully selected students. The stipends vary according to the office in which employment is offered and the extent of the assignment. To be eligible for an assistantship, a student must have clear or provisional admission to Research and Graduate Studies and be in good academic standing.

There are three types of graduate assistantships:

Teaching Assistantship - A graduate teaching assistant works with students in a specific course or laboratory to provide support for the faculty member in charge, and, in some cases, to teach the course as the primary instructor, under the guidance of a faculty member.

Research Assistantship - A graduate research assistant is normally employed by the principal investigator of a funded research project or may be employed by an academic department in the pursuit of its broader research mission. The GRA will be assigned a range of duties, such as library searches, fieldwork, laboratory experiments and preparation of reports. Work on a research project often leads to a thesis or dissertation or a professional presentation or publication, and provides long-range direction for the student’s development as a scholar.

Administrative Assistantship - A graduate administrative assistant works with the administrative staff of a department, college or campus office primarily in gathering, organizing and analyzing information.

Graduate assistants assigned to the 50-percent rate are required to serve 20 clock hours per week in the department to which they are assigned. Those assigned to other percentages are required to work a proportionate number of clock hours per week. To aid the completion of degree requirements at the earliest practical date, department chairs are not encouraged to offer graduate assistants additional responsibilities beyond the 20-hour norm.

A graduate assistant must be enrolled for at least six hours of graduate coursework in the fall or spring semesters and three semester hours during the summer (if the student holds an assistantship during the summer.) Should a graduate assistant fall below the six or three semester hour minimum for a semester or summer session, she or he will not be eligible for an assistantship the following semester.

A graduate assistant who receives veteran’s benefits, scholarships or other resources, especially from the federal government, may be required to take nine hours in order to receive the additional benefits. A student eligible for additional benefits should consult the source of the additional funding to determine the number of hours in which she/he must be enrolled to receive the benefits.

Except for the Ph.D., Ed.D. and M.F.A. programs, graduate assistantships are usually limited to four semesters.

A student interested in a graduate assistantship should contact the appropriate academic department well in advance of the semester in which she or he is interested in the assistantship. Also, the student should apply for graduate admission by the first of March for the subsequent fall semester or by the middle of October for the subsequent spring semester.

If the student accepts, she or he will then contact Human Resources to set up an appointment for new employee orientation and complete the appropriate paperwork.

A graduate assistant orientation program is offered to all new graduate assistants at the beginning of the fall semester each year. Details as to time and place for the orientation session will be provided through the academic departments. They also are available through the Office of Research and Graduate Studies upon request.

Information regarding responsibilities of graduate assistants, assignment of duties, benefits and pay schedules can be found at the Research and Graduate Studies website. Graduate assistantships are considered security sensitive positions by the university, and criminal histories will be checked.

Student Employment

In addition to graduate assistantships, which are processed through Human Resources, numerous other jobs are available to graduate students both on and off campus. Jobs are kept current and posted on the job board, located in the Student Employment Center on the third floor of the Rusk Building and on the Jobs4Jacks system.

Students must have a complete financial aid file indicating that they qualify in order to be employed in the Federal Work-Study Program. Students must be progressing satisfactorily in their academic work in order to qualify to work in the Federal Work-Study Program.

All student employees and prospective employees must fill out a student data sheet, I-9 form and verification and a W-4A form in the Student Employment Center. International Students also must provide an I-20 and I-94 as part of their student employment paperwork process.

Scholarship Awards

The university has hundreds of scholarships available to new and returning students. Scholarships are based on need, merit, or athletic and special skills. Selection criteria may include, but are not limited to, an applicant’s academic record, degree goals, financial status and performance on standardized tests. If applicable, other factors may be taken into consideration, which may include socioeconomic background, first generation college student, rank in class, and the applicant’s region of residence, involvement in community activities, extracurricular activities and career plans. SFA has a centralized scholarship office within the Office of Student Financial Assistance. The scholarship office has developed a single application for the majority of scholarships. Scholarship applications are due Feb. 1 each year. Scholarship applications are evaluated by a scholarship committee based upon specific requirements for each scholarship.

The university complies with all state and federal laws concerning awarding scholarships and other financial assistance.