BUDGETING and FINANCIAL AID

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For most UVI students, financial aid is an important factor when choosing a program. It is crucial to explore plans for financing advanced study early in the application process. Most funding is administered directly from graduate departments or universities, and it is important to complete the schools’ financial aid application and requirements early.

Outside sources of financial aid are also available for graduate study. These often have very early deadlines, sometimes making it necessary to take graduate admission tests and obtain letters of recommendation by October the year prior to the start of your studies. Special fellowships, grants, and scholarships can be researched through various financial aid directories and data bases available in the UVI library and the Counseling and Placement Office.  Some good web scholarship search sites are listed on gradschool.com’s website: http://www.gradschools.com/info/financial.html.

All schools require that you complete one or more standardized forms.  The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) you are already familiar with if you are receiving financial aid here at UVI.  The FAFSA is revised annually and can be obtained in our office in January or on line at www.fafsa.ed.gov.  After the FAFSA data are reviewed, a needs analysis document is sent to you; you will be asked to verify the information and submit the report to the schools where you have applied.  The schools then decide whether to award you assistance and determine how much funding you will receive. Other required forms may include:

• Separate School financial aid application
• Private “need analysis” form (such as the Profile form from the College Scholarship Service – http://www.collegeboard.org/profile/index.html.
• Your prior year’s IRS 1040 forms
• Financial aid transcripts (FAT’s) from any post secondary school that you attended (this form comes from the Financial Aid Office of the schools where you are applying.

Be sure to personally contact each of the schools to which you are applying to ensure that you receive the appropriate forms and that you comply with the schools’ requirements.  Begin early in the fall of your senior year and complete your taxes as early in January as you can.
Need-based financial aid programs include work-study programs; private, federal loans, grants, fellowships; and tuition-remission programs.  Merit-based aid is awarded primarily on academic accomplishment, talent, or promise.  Financial aid sources are administered both from universities and from outside sources for special populations (the economically and educationally disadvantaged, disabled students, veterans, women, and minorities).

After receiving your acceptances and offers of financial aid you need to review the packages and decide where you’ll attend school.  Your choice may not be the school that offered you the largest scholarship.  You need to weigh the merits of the financial aid package against the desirability of the school itself and your match with it.  Ask yourself the following questions:
 

What is my contribution expected to be?

How much will I be expected to borrow?

What kinds of loans are offered and are they loans with attractive    rates?

Will I have to work while I am attending school?

Is the package guaranteed over my entire academic career?  If not,    what factors may cause it to change in the future?

 

 
 

For more information about Counseling and Placement, please contact Doris Farrington-Hepburn at (340) 692-4187 or send email to dfarrin@uvi.edu. For more information about the University of the Virgin Islands, contact the Public Relations Office at (340) 693-1057.

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