The most important step is to file a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
New, incoming first-year students in our undergraduate program can estimate their financial aid by filling out our Net Price Calculator to understand how much it will cost to attend Chaminade.
You will need the following in order to complete your FAFSA:
- Your Federal Student Aid ID (FAS ID)—this will be used each year so make it something memorable.
- Apply for a Federal Student Aid Username and Password.
- The Chaminade University school code: 001605.
- Your Social Security number and your parents’ numbers (if you are a dependent student).
- Your most current tax information. We recommend all eligible students use the IRS data retrieval tool. Dependent students must provide their parents’ tax information. If you have not filed taxes for the current year, you can estimate your tax information and make corrections later.
- Current bank statements (checking & savings).
- Any information pertaining to the value of any owned businesses and investments.
- Any information pertaining to the value of non-taxable income that is not reported on the tax return, e.g. Social Security benefits, etc.
After you submit the FAFSA, two reports are generated. The SAR (Student Aid Report) is the report that the students receive. The ISIR (Institutional Student Information Record) is the report that the educational institutions receive.
The SAR: The Student Aid Report, or SAR, will commonly be returned back to you within four weeks of the date of submission (either through the mail or online). The SAR is a multi-paged document that will provide confirmation of the specific information you filed and the results of the review process. The report will give you an EFC (Estimated Family Contribution) amount. The report may also indicate specific problems that you may need to correct.
Make corrections if needed. Check to see that a copy of the report was electronically forwarded to Chaminade.
The ISIR: The version of the report sent to educational institutions is called the Institutional Student Information Record, or ISIR, and should reach our office within two weeks of submission. Once your ISIR reaches our office, we will begin reviewing your application as soon as possible.
We should receive your ISIR about two weeks after you submit your FAFSA, provided that:
- You indicated Chaminade University on the FAFSA, and you entered our six-digit institutional code number: 001605.
- You have applied for admission to Chaminade and given us your Social Security number on the application for admission, and that your name matches exactly the name on your FAFSA.
Your award letter should be finalized within one to two weeks of our receiving your ISIR.
To request that an ISIR be sent to Chaminade or another institution, or to obtain a duplicate SAR, call the federal processor at 1-800-4FED-AID, or 1-800-433-3243. You will need the FAS ID you used on your FAFSA.
If you have not heard from us when you expect to, be sure to contact the Financial Aid Office so we can check to make sure that the information on your application for admission and the information on your FAFSA is matched correctly, and that we are processing your award.
We should receive your ISIR about two weeks after you submit your FAFSA. However, if your FAFSA results are selected for verification, you are required to submit additional documentation to verify the accuracy of the information you initially provided on your FAFSA. This means submitting a federal tax return transcript for the previous year, which can be requested free of charge from the IRS.
In the case of an independent student, a copy of only the student’s (and spouse’s, if applicable) federal tax transcript is needed. For a dependent student, a copy of both the student’s and parent(s)’ federal income tax returns must be submitted. If either a student or parent will not file a federal tax return, then a statement certifying that a tax return will not be filed and declaring other sources of income must be completed and returned in lieu of the tax return. Verification documents may also include forms completed to verify household size, number of household members currently in college, child support received and other forms of non-taxable income.
See Financial Aid Forms.
If the documentation provided results in changes being made to your original responses to the FAFSA, it may require that your ISIR be re-filed electronically. If this is the case, our office will process this re-filing automatically. While you do not need to do anything, this process may cause a delay in the eventual finalization of your aid offer since we will have to wait for the changes to be re-processed by the federal processor.
Verification is triggered by certain kinds of information reported on the FAFSA. It may be because your income seems unusually low considering the number of people in your household, your assets are now considerably different from your previous year’s application or the number of people in your household attending college seems a bit excessive.
Whatever the reason, you are not alone, as verification happens to approximately one-third of all applicants. You will know that you have been selected for verification if you see an asterisk (*) next to your EFC number on the upper-right portion of the first page of your SAR.
In order for your financial aid to be processed, you must notify the Financial Aid Office of which awards you would like to accept. The Financial Aid Office will award you the maximum amount of aid you may qualify for; however, you may not require the full financial aid package. In order to ensure your receive the amount of financial aid you would like to use, you must communicate to your financial aid counselor which types of aid and in what amount you would like to accept.
To accept or reject the full amount of an award that is listed on your award letter, you may complete the online accept/reject financial aid form in WebAdvisor. If you wish to accept only partial values awarded to you, you must contact your counselor at the Financial Aid Office.
Note: Accepting your financial aid is not a guarantee that you will receive all forms of aid accepted. If you make changes to your FAFSA or your eligibility status changes, the Financial Aid Office will adjust your award values.
To renew a federal student loan:
Be sure to accept your loan: Students who have applied for financial aid after their first academic year and have been issued an award letter must contact their financial aid counselor to notify them of the value they would like to accept (all or partial). Students do not need to resubmit any additional forms such as Master Promissory Notes or Entrance Interviews.
To renew a Parent PLUS or Graduate-PLUS Loan:
PLUS Loans must be renewed every year. Parents/students must apply for the PLUS loan and be approved to receive funds. Approval for prior years does not guarantee PLUS loan funding will be approved each year. Loan recipients can complete the PLUS loan application at StudentLoans.gov.
To renew an Alternative Loan:
Students who are receiving an Alternative loan must reapply for their loan every year. Just like the PLUS loan, alternative loans are credit approved loans, so they are not guaranteed each year. Students receiving an alternative loan must complete an application with their preferred vendor.
Your Chaminade invoice will arrive BEFORE your financial aid is disbursed to your account. Your bill may show a large amount due because the aid you are eligible for cannot be disbursed until the start of school.
If you’ve followed through on all the prior steps, your financial aid should be ready by the start of school. Federal regulations prohibit federal aid from being disbursed to students’ accounts any sooner than 10 days before the start of school.
The most important thing you can do stay eligible for financial aid is to maintain satisfactory academic progress. Several elements are used by financial aid administrators to evaluate your progress including your cumulative GPA, the percentage of courses you pass and a maximum timeframe/credit limit.
For more detailed information, see the satisfactory academic progress page.
Financial Aid is available for part-time and full-time students. Only full-time students are eligible to receive all forms of financial aid.
Full-time students (12 semester credits or more) may receive:
- Full Federal Pell Grant
- Institutional Aid & Scholarships
- Federal Direct Loans
Part-time students (3/4 (7-11 credits) or 1/2 (six credits) time students) may receive:
- Partial Federal Pell Grant; grant value is calculated by the credit average for 3/4 and 1/2 time status (9 or 6 credits)
- Federal Direct Loans
Less-than-half-time students (five credits or less) may receive:
- Partial Federal Pell Grant; grant value is calculated by the credit average for less than half time status (3 credits)
All Federal Financial Aid is determined by a student’s financial need. Students interested in receiving financial aid must complete a FAFSA to determine their eligibility for specific programs. Any questions about financial aid eligibility can be directed to your financial aid counselor.
Note: If a student drops below part-time status after receiving loans at Chaminade, the student must complete Exit Counseling and begin the process of repaying their loans.
Generally speaking, a dependent student is one who still must depend on parent(s) for support. Those students who are declared to be dependent according to federal regulations are those who have answered “no” to all of the criteria questions listed in the FAFSA. These are:
- If the student will be age 24 (specific date is required);
- If the student is or will be, a graduate student;
- If the student is married;
- If the student has dependent(s) for which he/she provides more than half support;
- If the student is an orphan or ward of the court or was one until age 18;
- If the student is a veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces
A student not meeting any one of these conditions is considered dependent and must have his/her parent(s) complete the FAFSA as well, providing relevant income, asset, and household information. The student’s EFC, as a result, will reflect both the student’s ability to contribute as well as the parent(s)’ ability to contribute towards the student’s educational costs.
An independent student is one who does not depend on parent(s) for support. A student that can legitimately answer yes to any one of these conditions is considered independent and can file the FAFSA without parental information having to be supplied. The student’s EFC, as a result, will only reflect the student’s ability to contribute.
Please see the financial aid office if you need assistance because your circumstances have changed, such as your family’s income was reduced due to loss of a job, or other unforeseen issues have arisen, or your status changes in any way.
In some of these circumstances, your financial aid counselor may exercise Professional Judgment based on your unique situation. Professional Judgment is the phrase associated with the federally approved discretion.
EFC stands for “Expected Family Contribution.” It is an amount determined by information entered on the FAFSA. It is a product of a formula intended to measure both a student’s ability to contribute to their own education as well as the parent’s contribution. The EFC is the amount the family is expected to be able to contribute that year towards your education. If the family has no available funds to contribute, (such as a portion of income or savings,) it represents the amount the family should be able to borrow in order to contribute.
It is our philosophy to provide you with the maximum aid offer possible. This means, we do not presume that your family will be able to afford to pay the EFC. We generally provide an aid offer that is exactly what we have determined is your budget. This usually will result in the recommendation of a variety of loans, both need-based and non-need based.
For more information, see Understanding Your Award.
Your bill from Chaminade for the semester will be less than the cost of attendance.
Cost of attendance is an estimate of the funds needed for your support while you are a full-time student. In determining the costs of attending, financial aid offices will always consider both your direct and indirect costs for attending school. Direct costs are those charges owed to the school itself, like tuition and fees. Indirect costs reflect other necessary costs that should be factored in the student budget which would not be owed to the school, such as transportation, personal expenses, and rent for off-campus housing (if you live off-campus).
Chaminade’s Business Office handles all billing, payments, and sending refund requests. They can be reached at 808.735.4768. Their office hours are Monday–Friday 8:30 am–4:30 pm.
Our school delivers your refund with BankMobile Disbursements, a technology solution, powered by BMTX, Inc. Visit this link for more information: https://bankmobiledisbursements.com/refundchoices/.
If you have any questions, please contact the Business Office at (808) 735-4768.
The Financial Aid Office typically pays to your student account prior to the start of each term. If your financial aid is greater than the amount owed on your student account, a refund is issued.
If you have completed all the necessary steps, and are enrolled, then eligible aid will be paid out 10 days before the start of the term/semester. If you enroll in classes after the start of school, please contact our Office of Financial Aid at 808.735.4780 or email [email protected] to notify our office of your registration.
You must complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Once you’ve been offered a loan, you will need to accept it in our student portal, complete a loan agreement (also known as Master Promissory Note), and complete Entrance Counseling. Those two steps can be completed on the studentloans.gov website by logging in with your FSA ID and password. You will only need to do the Master Promissory Note and Entrance Counseling once.
Not only must you apply for financial aid by submitting the FAFSA, but you must meet specific criteria to be eligible for federal aid. This includes eligibility requirements, rights and responsibilities, and aggregate Pell Grant and loan limits. You can apply for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
The calculation which determines eligibility for federal aid is a standard methodology. There is no easy, straightforward “income cut-off” or other methods to help you anticipate whether you’ll be eligible. We always encourage students to submit the FASFA. You can visit our financial aid site’s Net Price Calculator which may provide you with general parameters about you
If you withdraw from Chaminade you may be required to return some of your federal financial aid to the Department of Education. You will also be required to complete Exit Counseling.
Anytime a student, who has received a federal student loan(s), falls below half-time status (under six credits) or graduates, the Financial Aid Office is required to notify them to complete Exit Counseling. Exit counseling provides important information to prepare you to repay your federal student loan(s). If you plan on returning to school or registering at least half-time, then please consult with your loan servicer to make sure it falls within your grace period.
The grace period can be thought of as a “waiting period” which affords a student loan borrower time before starting to repay a federal student loan(s). The grace period begins when a borrower graduates or drops below half-time (below six credits) enrollment. When you drop below half-time enrollment, the waiting period on your loan(s) starts to run and as a consequence, you start using up your grace period. When you return to half-time or greater enrollment, your loans return to an in-school deferment. But, as long as you do not use up all of your grace period before you return to school, then when you graduate, the grace period clock resets and your full six-month grace period begins again.
If you received loans at Chaminade, then you will need to complete your Exit Counseling on the studentaid.gov website and contact your loan servicer to set up a repayment plan for when your grace period ends.
The federal sites offer a lot of guidance and information to start your repayment journey. You can find out who your loan servicer is, your borrowed loan amounts plus interest, and access repayment tools on the FAFSA website. Your loan servicer will also contact you via the contact information you imputed in your FAFSA account.
Once you find out who your loan servicer is, you will want to create an account on their website. You may view all of your loans and options through their website.
Be aware of these options when your loans go into repayment:
- There are multiple repayment plans available.
- You may lower your interest rate by making electronic payments.
- Use the Department of Education’s Repayment Estimator to see what your payments would be under the various plans.
- Applying for deferment or forbearance may prevent you from having to default on your loan if you are having trouble making payments.
Students who filed the FAFSA early will receive and estimated award. All admitted students will receive a final award prior to the May 1 tuition deposit deadline.
The FAFSA is the only method for determining your eligibility for federal aid. You can file the FAFSA starting Oct 1 and throughout the admissions cycle. We recommend that students file the FAFSA as early as possible.
