What is Financial Aid and what types are student eligible to receive?
Financial aid is funding to assist you in meeting cost of attending school. In some cases, student may be eligible to receive aid that goes beyond charges incurred while a student.
Please note: Financial aid for school is not designed for you live on; it is to assist you with school related expenses and costs only.
*There are 3 types of aid; Scholarships, Grants & Loans.
You can receive these aid awards individually or a combination of such from the state, the institution/university, an organization and the federal government.
*Scholarships are primarily based on academic merit and these awards may come primarily come from the institution (i.e. Coppin State University). However, they can come from outside private sources or organizations (i.e. Tom Joyner Foundation). They usually have deadlines and criteria’s in which students are selected and awarded.
*Grants are primarily based on “need” or do you fall below a certain income threshold or level as determined by the federal and state government.
Examples of such are the Pell Grant (Title IV aid) by the federal government and the EAG award for residents of the state of Maryland.
*Loans are primarily awarded, no matter what the merit achievement and income is for a student and offered by the Federal Govt. (Title IV aid). Parents of dependent student may have to obtain a Parent Plus
Have I been awarded and if not, why?
All awards are posted online.
As a new and continuing student, you will need to log in and review your EagleLinks account and accept, decline and reduce awards offered to you.
If you don’t have any awards, your account could still be under review for awarding, due to the verification process or just do to when your FAFSA was completed and submitted.
This process can take up to 4-6 weeks to be done, with priority awarding given to students who completed a FAFSA prior to May 1st.
Returning students will need to wait until final grades before awards are processed.
All full-time students are awarded before part-time students.
I have been selected for Verification, what does that mean?
Verification is a process in which students are randomly chosen (although you could be selected every year while you are in school).
This is a validation process or proof to the Department of Education of what you reported on your FAFSA.
Students should check their SAR (student aid report) for corrections after they submit their information to FAFSA.
The documents needed to complete the process are previous years IRS 1040 Tax Transcripts, W-2 work statements, Verification worksheet (Dependent or Independent for current academic year).
All document will need to be signed, dated and have your student ID# on them.
You can submit those documents directly into our database system via fax at 410-951-2551.
Additional documents may be needed, but that will be addressed on a case by case basis.
Once the verification is complete, you will be awarded financial aid.
Why hasn’t my financial aid been posted/disbursed and how long does it takes to be posted or disbursed?
If you have initial aid awarded, it will show in your EagleLinks as “Anticipated Aid.”
You may still see an outstanding balance owed to the school. That’s because aid has not been applied yet.
Disbursement of aid will depend on where we are in our awarding process and it will occur “on and after” a certain date after minimum enrollment of each semester.
This date is posted on our website: http://www.coppin.edu/FinancialAid/ and other information outlets (FaceBook @Coppin State University Office of Financial Aid, Twitter@CSUFinAid (CSU Blackboard for our students).
Many times, students who have been selected for verification have the longest wait, especially if there are corrections that need to be made to your FAFSA file, this could extend the award process.
Has my expense check been sent out?
Expense checks do not come from financial aid; they are processed through the Student Accounts/Bursar office (2nd Floor Miles Conner Administration Bldg.) Please go to their website: www.coppin.edu/Controller or contact them via phone at 410-951-3677.
An expense check can be expected, if aid awarded goes beyond your charges.
Students can check their EagleLinks account to see if aid has been awarded or posted and when the expense check has been sent.
An expense check can take up to 14 business days to reach you after aid has been posted or disbursed. That expense check will be sent to your home address as listed in EagleLinks (the university database system).
I don’t live with my parents, why do I need their info on FAFSA?
Unless you can answer yes to one of the following questions:
A) Am I a ward of the state?
B) Have I served in the United States Armed Forces?
C) Am I married?
D) Am I 24 years of age or older?
E) Do I have a child in which I have 51% responsibility for in care and can as dependent on my taxes?
If you cannot answer “yes” then you are considered a dependent student.
**They may be other “special” or unusual circumstances in which your financial aid can be considered as an independent student; however you will need to come into the office and talk with a financial aid officer about such, as it is considered on a case by case basis.
My son or daughter attends the university; can I discuss their financial aid?
Due to FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) law, the student must provide written permission for a parent and/or any other person to discuss their financial aid information.
This permission must be signed in our office or a statement must be notarized and submitted to our office identifying such.
When calling or emailing an inquiry, you will need to have the students’ school ID#, date of birth, current address as entered into the system, and the last 4 digits of the students’ social security number.
**Students must be able to provide such information when calling over the phone as well.
Students will also need to present their student ID card (policy in student handbook) or state ID card when entering in the office to inquire about their financial aid.
I dropped/withdrew my classes; will that affect my financial aid and ability to be eligible?
Yes!! Failures and withdrawals can affect the amount and duration that you are eligible to receive aid and place you in violation of SAP (Satisfactory Academic Progress, see Policy at: http://www.coppin.edu/FinancialAid/Policies.aspx), that could result in you being suspended from being able to receive financial aid.
Any time a student makes changes to enrollment status after the drop/add date; it can change the amount of financial aid they receive.
In addition, financial aid awarding can run out for those not making progress towards degree completion.
My billing shows that I am being charged out-of-state tuition charges. How do I correct that?
You may need to contact the office of Admissions or office of Records and Registration.
They will need certain documentation to update and validate your Maryland residency in order for you to be billed as an in-state student.
How can I contact the Financial Aid Department?
The financial aid department is a high volume office in terms of calls and foot traffic, you are welcome to contact the office via phone at 410-951-3636 and your questions may be answered, if not please leave a voice message.
However, email (student will need to use their Coppin email) will be the fastest response to all inquiries.
You can submit your general questions about financial aid to our email at: FinancialAid@coppin.edu or if you have specific questions, please email any team member in our department.