Graduate Students Applying for Aid

General Information
Several of the University's graduate schools have separate Financial Aid Offices. Students at the Law School or Medicine/School of Public Health should contact the financial aid offices listed below.

Students interested in scholarships, assistantships or other aid offered by the graduate divisions should contact the appropriate graduate division. The graduate divisions award their own scholarship funds. The Financial Aid Office then calculates a student's eligibility for additional federal aid to supplement the award made by the Graduate Division.

Graduate students must complete the 2010-2011 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to be considered for federal financial aid.

Students can complete the FAFSA online at www.fafsa.ed.gov. Students who choose to complete their FAFSA online will need to register with the Department of Education for a PIN. Students who complete the FAFSA online MUST electronically sign their application OR print out, sign, and mail the "Signature Page" to the Central Processor; the application will not be processed until one form of signature is received. Tulane's school code for the FAFSA is 002029. For more information regarding financial aid for graduate students, please consult with the Graduate Financial Aid Sourcebook 2009 - 2010 .
Graduate Financial Aid Sourcebook 2010 - 2011 (Coming Soon)

Application Deadlines
Application deadlines for each graduate division are as follows:

Once the FAFSA data is received by Tulane, it goes through several processing steps in both the graduate/professional school and the Financial Aid Office. The graduate/professional school decides what aid, if any, it will offer. Then, the Financial Aid Office determines need and makes its decision on the Federal Perkins Loan and/or Federal Work Study employment certification and/or Federal Stafford Loan eligibility. All federal aid decisions for Law students are made at the Law Financial Aid Office. All federal aid decisions for Medical and Public Health students are made at the TUHSC Financial Aid Office.

Status of FAFSA Application
Students can verify that their online application was received immediately after it is submitted by returning to the FAFSA main page and selecting "Check my submitted FAFSA". The online status allows students to check the status of their application from initial submission to processed Student Aid Report (SAR). Students with a PIN can also access their processed EFC. Students can also call FAFSA on the Web Customer Service at (800) 801-0576 and perform an automatic status check over the phone.

Students can verify that their paper application was received by contacting the Department of Education at (800) 433-3243. This automated system allows students to check the status of their application or corrections and even allows students to request duplicate copies of the Student Aid Report (SAR). Students must call from a touch-tone phone to utilize this service and press #1 to select this feature.

Verification Requirements
Some applicants are selected by the federal processor for verification of information submitted on the FAFSA. Students selected will be notified by mail. In most cases, the prior year's federal tax return (2009 income tax return for the 2010-2011 academic year) is used to verify the information. If the applicant did not keep copies of their tax returns, they can contact the Internal Revenue Service for a copy. The IRS has established a site that provides online copies of tax forms as well as answers to frequently asked questions.

Students who did not earn enough in 2009 to file a federal tax return can complete the 2010-2011 Student Non-Filer Certification form.

Additional documents may be requested depending on the information to be verified. Some applicants may need to provide verification of Social Security benefits received by their family. Others may need to provide verification of their Social Security number. Still others may need to provide documentation of the type and amount of their Veteran's education benefits.

WITHDRAWALS AND RETURN OF TITLE IV FEDERAL STUDENT FINANCIAL AID FUNDS

A student must officially withdraw from the university to obtain a refund of tuition. Failure to attend does not constitute an official withdrawal. The U.S. Department of Education requires that schools are able to document that students are actually in attendance to finalize their Federal Pell Grant eligibility. “If a student doesn't begin attendance in all of his or her classes, the school must recalculate the student's award based on the lower enrollment status. A student is considered to have begun attendance in all of his or her classes if the student attends at least one day of class for each course in which that student's enrollment status was determined for Federal Pell Grant eligibility.” To obtain a remission of tuition, the student must complete drop/add form(s) with the dean of the college in which he/she is enrolled.

Tulane's refund policy for a typical semester (68-70 class days) is based on the following schedule.
Through the 9th class day 100%
Through the 13th class day 75%
Through the 18th class day 50%
Through the 33rd class day 25%
After the 34th class day 0%

Please consult the academic calendar for specific dates. Percentages above do not apply to the summer term. Fees are not refundable.

Tuition refunds due to withdrawal are not directly related to the determination of whether financial aid funds must be returned when a student withdraws. When a recipient of federal financial aid funds withdraws from the university during a period of enrollment (i.e. semester) in which the recipient began attendance, the institution must determine the amount of federal loan or grant assistance that the student earned as of the student's withdrawal date.

The percentage of aid that has been earned by the student is equal to the percentage of the semester that the student completed as of the student's withdrawal date. If this date occurs after the completion of 60% of the semester, the student is considered to have earned 100% of the federal grant and/or loan assistance for the semester. Please note that in cases where a student ceases attendance without providing official notification to the university of his or her withdrawal from the university, the institution must consider the midpoint of the semester as the official date of withdrawal. The student must contact his or her academic Dean's Office to provide official notification of intent to withdraw.

If the total amount of federal grant or loan assistance, or both, that the student earned is less than the amount of federal grant or loan assistance that was disbursed to the student or on behalf of the student in the case of a PLUS loan, the difference between these amounts must be returned to the federal aid programs within 45 days of the date the financial aid office was made aware of the withdrawal. The amounts of unearned federal aid must be returned regardless of whether the student is eligible to receive a refund of a portion of university fees, such as tuition, fees, or room and board fees. The amount to be returned to the federal student financial aid accounts will be returned to the programs from which the student received aid up to the amount of aid disbursed in the following priority order: Unsubsidized Federal Stafford loans, Subsidized Federal Stafford loans, Federal Perkins Loan, Federal PLUS loans received on behalf of the student, Federal Pell Grants, ACG and Smart Grants, Federal SEOG grants, and LEAP grants.

The total amount of federal grant and loan assistance received by the student must be certified by the school. If the total amount of federal grant or loan assistance, or both, is greater than the total amount of federal grant and/or loan assistance that was disbursed to the student or on behalf of the student as of the date of the institution's determination that the student withdrew, the difference between these amounts must be treated as a post-withdrawal disbursement. If federal loan funds are used to credit a post-withdrawal disbursement, the university must provide the student, or the parent in the case of a PLUS loan, the opportunity to cancel all or a portion of the post-withdrawal

disbursement. The university has 30 days to provide this notice to the student or parent. The student or parent must respond to the notice within 14 days of the date the institution sent the notification. If the student or parent does not respond, the university cannot make a post-withdrawal disbursement of federal loan funds.

After determining the return of funds to federal student financial aid, any amounts of institutional tuition or room and board refunds in excess of the amount of aid returned to the federal aid accounts will be returned to the Tulane aid accounts on a pro-rated basis up to the amount of aid disbursed. Any remaining amounts of institutional refund left over are then returned to the student and his/her family.

Federal Work-Study funds are not included in the Return of Federal Title IV Funds formula because these funds were received for work performed.

Students considering a full withdrawal should consult with a financial aid counselor to discuss the impact of withdrawal on financial aid funding.

Last updated October 9, 2009