Your Financial Aid Offer

When you have taken all the appropriate steps to apply for aid and have been admitted to SSU, you will receive an award offer from our office. This page contains the following sections:

Notification of Award

2024-2025 - As the Department of Education (ED) works through their FAFSA processing issues for the 2024-2025 academic year, SSU can only determine the types and amounts of financial aid you qualify for using the FAFSA information we have received from ED at that time.  As ED makes updates to the student FAFSA data and sends SSU corrected or updated information, SSU will revise your financial aid award offer and email you a modified award notification.  It is important to check your email frequently to see if your award offer has been adjusted.

The award offer lists the types of financial aid you are eligible for based on the information you provided on your FAFSA, your academic program, your grade level, and Cost of Attendance (COA). The totals are listed for the academic year as well as per semester. Amounts listed are based on full-time enrollment (12 units or more for all students except master’s candidates, for whom full-time is 8 or more units) and could be prorated if you enroll in fewer than 12 units. For more information regarding particular types of aid, see Types of Aid.

Carefully read and review the Student Aid Report (SAR) that was sent to you by the FAFSA processing center. If you used FAFSA on the Web, you may have received an email with a web link to your SAR. Follow all instructions given to you in the comments on your SAR. If you used the IRS Data Retrieval tool, you’ll see “Transferred from the IRS” for many of the income information values. IRS Data Retrieval is the easiest way to get accurate information in your FAFSA, and you don’t have to worry about mistakes in those values. If any information, especially income, tax liability, household size, and number in college, is missing or incorrect, make the corrections immediately. Changes in the information on your SAR could result in a change to your award offer. If your award offer changes, we will send you a modified award offer email notification explaining the changes.

Carefully review your award offer and READ ALL of the information sent to you by the Financial Aid Office (FAO). If you have been offered Direct Subsidized or Unsubsidized Loans, or Federal Work-Study, you must accept or decline those awards through MySSU. Only Direct Loans that have been accepted by you will be processed with the federal processor and funds made available once school begins. A work-study award may be cancelled if you do not accept it. Additional requirements for loan disbursement and instructions for accepting/declining student loans and work-study are contained in the Viewing and Accepting Your Aid Offer section of the Help Book.

You must use a Change Notification Form (CNF) to inform the FAO of changes in your housing or enrollment plans, to report additional outside resources such as scholarships, sponsors, and fee waivers, and to request a reduction in work-study. The CNF is downloadable from our website at the Change Notification page.

New Students

Students newly admitted to SSU will receive an Award Letter that will be sent to the student's mailing address on record once the student has been admitted and we have a valid financial aid application on file.  Notification of a revised award, and any new financial aid offers after June 1 will be sent through email notifying the student when they can view their award offer in MySSU.

Until you have been admitted, paid your Enrollment Reservation Deposit (ERD), and been granted full student access to registration, emails will be sent to the personal email address on file with SSU. Once you have an SSU Email account all emails that we send you will go to your SSU Email address. If you do not have a valid personal email address at the time your award offer is constructed, we will mail a letter notifying you that your award offer can be viewed through MySSU. Detailed instructions on accessing MySSU are available at the Using MySSU webpage in our Help Book.

Estimated Award Offer

If you have outstanding items on your "To Do List" in your MySSU Portal your financial aid award is preliminary and is subject to change. To receive an official award offer, you will need to submit all of the outstanding tasks listed in your MyFA Forms portal for processing. After review is completed additional task(s) may or may not be assigned. When all tasks are completed you will receive an email notification letting you know that your financial aid award has been finalized. If you have not completed all of your tasks in MyFA Forms by June 1st your award offer will be canceled and you will be required to pay your mandatory registration charges on your own.

Official Award Offer

If you have no outstanding items on your "To Do List" in your MySSU Portal your financial aid is official.

Continuing Students

Continuing SSU students (including Extended Education) will receive an email notification that their award offer is ready for viewing through MySSU after all tasks are completed in MyFA Forms and no financial aid items appear on your "To Do List" in MySSU.

Paying Mandatory Registration Charges and On Campus Housing Charges

Prior to the start of each semester, payments for mandatory registration charges and on campus housing charges are deferred as long as you have a sufficient award offer in place. Applying for financial aid DOES NOT relieve you of your responsibility to meet payment due dates for any registration charges, non-resident charges, or on campus housing charges. As a financial aid awarded student, your payments up to the amount of your financial aid award are deferred until the first disbursement of aid each semester if you have completed all documentation and other requirements. If you do not follow through with these requirements, you might lose your classes (also known as disenrollment), be charged penalties for late payments, or lose your chance to participate in early registration for the next semester.

Authorizing Financial Aid to Pay Other University Charges

You may authorize the university to apply some types of your federal and state financial aid to charges other than registration and on campus housing. Granting this permission may expedite any refund of excess funds that may be due to you from your financial aid disbursements. Also, your permission reduces the possibility of registration and service holds being placed on your student account.

Instructions for granting permission are at the Authorization to Apply Financial Aid to Other Charges webpage.

Using Financial Aid Funds to Pay for Books and Other Expenses

Be prepared to pay for books, supplies and personal items out of pocket as your financial aid will not disburse until the first week of the semester, at the earliest. Depending on documentation requirements and other factors, your financial aid might not disburse until later in the semester. Be sure that you have reviewed your aid offer in MySSU and fully understand any requirements that must be met before your aid disburses and that you know how much financial aid is available to you beyond your direct university charges for registration and housing, if applicable.

Financial aid will begin to disburse the first week of each semester. Summer aid will begin to disburse in June for courses that are in progress.

Authorization and disbursement of financial aid funds generally occurs every Monday throughout the semester, including during the summer sessions. However, there are exceptions. Please refer to the appropriate disbursement calendar from our Disbursement Calendars webpage.

Student Aid Index (SAI)

The Student Aid Index (SAI) is a new term starting with the 2024-2025 academic year and has taken the place of the Estimated Family Contribution (EFC).  The Student Aid Index (SAI) is an eligibility index number that colleges' financial aid office uses to determine how much financial aid you would be eligible to receive.  This number results from the information that you provide on your FAFSA form.  This number is not a dollar amount of aid eligibility or what your family is expected to provide.  The SAI calculation considers both taxed and untaxed income, as well as any assets and benefits received, such as unemployment or Social Security (and those of your spouse or parents, if applicable). The index number is used to determine your eligibility for some state and federal grants and to determine whether or not you qualify for an interest subsidy in the student loan programs. A negative SAI indicates the student has a higher financial need than someone with a positive SAI.

Expected Family Contribution (EFC)

For 2023-2024 academic year and prior, your Expected Family Contribution (EFC) was calculated by the FAFSA processor according to a formula established by your congressional representatives in the federal House and Senate. If your parents were required to provide their financial information on your FAFSA, then their income and assets were considered in calculating your EFC. If not, then only your income and assets (and those of your spouse, if applicable) were considered in calculating your EFC. Your EFC is not the amount you will pay to the University to attend school. Instead, your EFC represents an index of your financial strength and your ability to contribute to your own educational expenses from your income or assets (and those of your spouse or parents, if applicable) or by borrowing through student and parent loan programs. The index number is used to determine your eligibility for some state and federal grants and to determine whether or not you qualify for an interest subsidy in the student loan programs.

Remember to Apply Every Year

Each year you must renew your FAFSA. Complete the new FAFSA beginning October 1st of each year, at fafsa.gov. SSU’s early applicant deadline is November 30th. The on-time applicant deadline is March 2nd. As long as you have a previous FAFSA on file, you'll be given the option to pre-fill portions of the new FAFSA with the information about you that's not likely to change from year to year.