Financial Aid » Types of Aid

Types of Aid

The Financial Aid Office is available to help students meet the educational costs of attending the Institute. The Institute encourages its students to take primary responsibility for financing their graduate education; to this end, self-help financial aid in the form of loans, assistantships and work-study are the primary, though not sole, sources of financial assistance available to students. A limited scholarship fund is also available with preference given to priests and religious.

 

Financial aid is any grant, scholarship, loan, assistantship, or federal work-study offered for the purpose of helping a student to meet educational expenses. The sources of this aid are generally federal, institutional, or private sources.

To assist students in affording graduate education, the Institute has developed a financial aid program that includes assistantships, scholarships, work-study, educational loans, and payment plans. Students must demonstrate financial need as calculated by federal methodology for all need-based financial aid by completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) located at the website: http://www.fafsa.ed.gov.




Assistantship Program

Assistantships require 10 hours of service work per week, for a total of 140 hours for the semester. Clinical, teaching and research assistantships are available to second year M.S. students and to Psy.D. students. These are determined and assigned by the faculty. General assistantships are available to first year M.S. students, and are assigned by the staff. All student workers are required to submit bi-weekly time records, signed by their supervisors, to the financial aid office. In so doing, students may earn the full amount of the tuition reduction associated with their assistantship award. The amount of tuition reduction associated with each assistantship award may vary, and all awards are primarily merit-based, and secondarily need-based. Students apply for the assistantship by submitting an Application for Institutional Aid.

Federal Work Study Program

The federal work-study program is need-based, and positions and hours per week vary. Students may be placed on-campus, or off-campus as reading tutors. Time records, signed by the supervisor, are required for this program, which is paid by the hour in a bi-weekly pay check. The total amount of the award is stated in the award letter, and is determined by the level of need and type of position in which the student will work.

 

For both programs, the Application Deadline for the 2010-2011 Academic Year is March 15, 2009. 

Federal Financial Aid
Students attending the Institute have access to federal student financial aid programs. 

Federal Loans

Title IV federal student loans are available to assist students in meeting their educational costs. These Title IV federal aid funds include both subsidized and unsubsidized loans up to a maximum award of $20,500 for the academic year. Grad Plus loans or private loans are available for the remaining cost of attendance should the student desire this option. The Institute for the Psychological Sciences participates in the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP), and thus the federal loans available to its students are accessible through private lenders. IPS currently works with KeyBank, SunTrust and Wachovia because of their fiscal stability and renown for satisfactory customer relations. However, each student is free to use any lender of their choice and is not obligated to use one of the lenders suggested by the Institute.


Other Financial Aid

Students are encouraged to obtain private sources of grants and loans whenever possible. Many private organizations and foundations provide grant funds to students. In addition, private educational loans are available to students based upon credit worthiness. Students are also encouraged to visit the Financial Aid department’s portion of the IPS website, where a scholarship page is located. A scholarship database is provided there for the convenience of our students.


Financial Aid Policies and Procedures
The Institute has a Program Participation Agreement with the United States Department of Education to participate in the Title IV federal student (Title IV) financial aid program.

 

Satisfactory Academic Progress

All students must meet Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) requirements to receive federally sponsored financial aid at the Institute for the Psychological Sciences. SAP for financial aid recipients is a policy distinct from the Institute’s Academic Standing policy. The Institute’s SAP includes both qualitative and quantitative components in compliance with federal regulations. Students must maintain a cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA) of 3.0 or higher and must earn at least 50 percent of their attempted credit hours each semester. Students who fall below these standards become ineligible for federal financial aid.

 

Under certain extenuating circumstances, students who fall below the SAP requirements may appeal to the Financial Aid Office within 30 days of ineligibility notification. During such an appeal due to extenuating circumstances, the student’s aid may be continued for one semester, if the appeal request is granted. If the student has not met the SAP requirements by the end of the appeal semester, she or he is no longer eligible for federally sponsored financial aid. Restoration of federally sponsored financial aid becomes possible when the student achieves SAP requirements, based on official end-of-semester grade reports.



Withdrawal and Incompletes

Withdrawal of courses and incompletes will not be considered satisfactorily completed. Each of these types of courses will be considered courses attempted but not completed.

 

Students who receive financial aid and who carry a grade of “Incomplete” into a following semester risk loss of financial aid for that semester. Carrying an “Incomplete” grade reduces the student’s overall grade point average and lowers his or her credit hours attempted to completed ratio – either or both of which factors can create a failure to meet the requirements for Satisfactory Academic Progress.


Repeated Courses
Repeated courses are eligible for financial aid.

Financial Aid Academic Year
The academic year consists of Summer, Fall, and Spring semesters. 

Non-Credit Remedial Courses
Financial aid is not available for audit or non-credit courses. 

Student Rights and Responsibilities

Student’s Rights

Each student has the right to know:

  1. The financial aid that is available, including information on all federal, state, institutional, and private financial aid programs;
  2. The deadlines for submitting applications for each financial aid program;
  3. The cost of attendance and the policies regarding refunds to students who drop out of the Institute;
  4. The criteria used to select financial aid recipients;
  5. How financial aid need is determined (including consideration of costs for tuition, room and board, fees, books and supplies, transportation, and miscellaneous expenses);
  6. The resources (such as assets, other financial aid, etc.) considered in the calculation of need;
  7. The details regarding various programs in the financial aid award package (and a student may request reconsideration of any award which was offered if it is believed that he or she was treated unfairly);
  8. The portion of financial aid received which must be repaid and the portion which is grant aid;
  9. The interest rate, total amount to be repaid, the date that repayment must begin, and the length of time allowed to repay loan funds;
  10. Terms and conditions of any employment that is part of the financial aid package;
  11. How the Institute distributes financial aid among its students;
  12. The Institute’s refund policy and order of financial aid distribution;
  13. How the school determines whether a student is making satisfactory academic progress, the consequences of not meeting those standards, and how to reestablish satisfactory academic progress;
  14. The academic programs offered by the Institute;
  15. The office designated for providing financial aid information and for administering financial aid programs or general institutional issues;
  16. Institute retention and completion rates;
  17. Information regarding accreditation and licensing organizations;
  18. Special facilities and services available to disabled students;
  19. About Institute facilities;
  20. Institute faculty and other instructional personnel;
  21. About campus security from an annual campus security report also upon request of the Business Office;
  22. Actions taken by the Institute for any violation (and to prevent violation) of the provision of the Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1988);
  23. Data for the general student body;
  24. Program participation agreement requirements; and
  25. Students’ rights and responsibilities as financial aid recipients.

Student’s Responsibilities

It is the student’s responsibility to:

  1. Complete all applications for financial aid completely and accurately and to submit the application(s) to the appropriate federal, institutional, or private organization prior to the deadline. Intentionally misreporting information on any application for financial aid is a violation of law and considered a criminal offense subject to applicable penalties;
  2. Submit and return any required documentation, including verification, corrections, or other information requested in a timely manner;
  3. Read, understand, and retain copies of all information provided and submitted;
  4. Inform the Institute and the lender of any changes in name, address, marital status, financial situation, or enrollment status;
  5. Report all financial aid to the Financial Aid Office, regardless of the source;
  6. Maintain satisfactory academic progress;
  7. Apply for financial aid each academic year, as required; and
  8. Complete entrance and exit counseling as required for all federal loans.

If the student disputes the terms of the loan in writing and the Institute fails to resolve the dispute, the student may contact the Student Loan Ombudsman’s Office of the United States Department of Education for solution. For further information, please refer to www.ombudsman.ed.gov, or the U.S. Department of Education, FSA Ombudsman, 830 First Street, NE, Fourth Floor, Washington, D.C. 20202-5144, telephone: 1-877-557-2575.


Return of Title IV Funds

Federal law and regulations require that the Institute calculate a refund of tuition and fees for any student who withdraws from the Institute’s programs.

 

In addition, the Institute must calculate a Return of Title IV funds for any student receiving financial aid used for the student’s tuition and fees for the period. The calculation is based on the percentage of the enrollment period completed and the amount of the Title IV aid disbursed. The Return ofTitle IV funds calculation is separate from the Institute’s tuition refund policy.

 

The Institute utilizes software provided by the United States Department of Education (ED) to calculate the Return to Title IV funds. The following paragraphs describe the procedure andbasis for the calculations:

 

The Institute calculates the Return of Title IV funds based upon the official withdrawal data as determined by the Registrar’s Office. Using ED software, the Institute divides the number of days completed by the number of days in the enrollment period to identify the percentage of time the student has completed in the enrollment period. If 60 percent of the semester is completed, there is no return of the Title IV funds for the period.

 

When a return of funds to ED becomes necessary, the Institute multiplies the amount of funds disbursed to the student in Title IV funds by the percentage of time the student has completed. Then, the Institute subtracts the total amount of aid earned from the amount of aid disbursed. The Institute calculates its share of money to return by subtracting the amount the school must return from the total amount due. If the amount due to ED from the Institute is greater than the tuition and fees owed to the Institute, the school returns the greater amount. If the calculation shows a return of less than the refund calculation, the school returns the difference to the student.

 

In addition to the possibility of returning Title IV funds not earned during an enrollment period, students are required to repay loans obtained through the lender based on the terms and conditions detailed in their promissory notes. The student and the Institute are both required to return appropriate amounts to ED. A student’s failure to return funds they are not eligible to receive will result in the student being ineligible for further financial aid. In addition, the Institute and ED are required under federal regulations to seek legal action against the student to collect any funds the student is not entitled to retain.

 

This is the order in which ED will receive returned funds: unsubsidized Stafford loan funds first, then subsidized Stafford loan funds. The Institute will return unearned Title IV funds to ED by electronic transfer or draft to the Institute federal account within 30 days of determining that a student has withdrawn from the Institute.

 

The Institute will provide examples of these calculations to students upon request.