Applying for Financial Aid

Revised February 2013

REMEMBER!

You must apply for Federal Financial Aid each year. You can apply for aid anytime on or after January 1 prior to the fall semester you plan to enroll. To receive your financial aid package, you must have accepted an offer for admission and paid a tuition deposit. If you have any questions about your admission status, please contact the Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine (OUWB) Admissions Office by phone at (248)-370-2769 or by email at medadmit@oakland.edu.

Selective Service

Males between the ages 18 – 25 who live in the United States are required by law to register with selective service and must do so to be eligible for federal aid. Registration can be completed on-line at the selective service system website www.sss.gov or at any U.S. Post Office. You can also indicate on your FAFSA that you would like to be registered through the Department of Education.

Verification

Your file may be selected for a process called Verification.

How to Fill out Your FAFSA

Step 1:

Go to www.pin.ed.gov and obtain a PIN number you will use to electronically sign your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

Step 2: Gather the information necessary to fill out your FAFSA.

Option 1: Federal Aid only:

To apply for Federal Direct and Federal Graduate Plus Loans, gather the following documentation:

Your social security card/number
Your driver’s license (if any)
Your (and your spouse’s if you are married, regardless of your tax filing status) 2012 Federal Tax Return(s) - IRS 1040, 1040A or 1040EZ
W2s from all of your/spouse’s employer(s)
Foreign Tax Return, or Tax return for Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Marshall Islands, the Federal States of Micronesia or Palau
Documentation of child support received or paid
Records of taxable earnings from Federal Work-Study or other need-based work programs
Records of student grant, scholarship and fellowship aid, including AmeriCorps awards, that
Current stock, bond and other investment records
Current business and farm records
Current bank statements

FAFSA pdf

Option 2: Federal and need-based aid (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED):

To allow the OUWB to determine your eligibility for Federal Direct Loans, Federal Graduate Plus Loans and the OUWB need-based awards, gather the documentation listed above for you/your spouse AND your parents.

Note: Parent data

Returning students who included parent data on their FAFSA in prior years are not required to provide parent data on their application to receive renewable scholarship awards. However, this data must be provided and verified in order for your eligibility for any new need-based Institutional funds to be determined.

Newly admitted students must complete the verification process when selecting this option. If you decide to cancel the request to have your need based aid eligibility determined once you’ve submitted parent data on your FAFSA, you must complete and submit a 2013-2014 Revision Form.

IRS Data Retrieval Option for 2013-14 FAFSA

Beginning February 2, 2013, you will be able to select the IRS Data Retrieval option on your FAFSA. We strongly recommend that parents and students select this option when filing the initial FAFSA or when subsequent corrections are made to your 2013-14 FAFSA application. This option will expedite the processing of your financial aid application.

Students and parents who have not yet filed their 2012 federal tax return have the option of estimating their income and indicating “will file” as their tax filing status on the FAFSA.

Once you have filed your federal tax return, you must remember to make a correction to your FAFSA (www.fafsa.ed.gov) to update any information that changed and update your filing status to “Already filed”.

Families may be able to use the IRS Data Retrieval process to provide verification of income and asset data once their tax returns are filed.

To select the IRS Data Retrieval option (see below for eligibility) while completing your FAFSA:

A filtering question will ask you (and your parents when applicable) when and how you filed a 2012 tax return to determine if you can transfer tax information from the IRS into the FAFSA.
Enter your PIN and click "Link to IRS".
Your FAFSA will be saved and you will be transferred to the IRS Web site.
In the IRS Web site, enter the requested information.
Once the IRS has validated your identification, your IRS tax information will display. You can either transfer your information from the IRS, or choose to return to FAFSA on the Web from the IRS Web site. If you do not transfer your information or choose not to return from the IRS Web site, you will have to login to open your saved FAFSA.
If you transfer your IRS tax information, questions that are populated with tax information will be marked with "Transferred from the IRS." Do not make changes to information marked "Transferred from the IRS".
Update your/parent wages earned if not accurate, as this information is not transferred from the IRS.
Submit your FAFSA with the corrections.

In order to successfully use the IRS Data Retrieval option, you must have:

A federal tax return filed with the IRS. Electronically filed tax return information will be available online from the IRS site two weeks after the return has been filed. Data from paper tax returns will be available eight weeks after filing with the IRS.
A valid Social Security number
Federal Aid Personal Identification Number (PIN) that you can apply for during the FAFSA process
An unchanged marital status since December 31, 2012

The Data Retrieval Process cannot be used in the following circumstances:

Filed "Married Filing Separately" return
Married and filed as Head of Household
Marital status changed after December 31
Parents with all zeroes for SSN
Filed an amended tax return
Filed a Puerto Rican or foreign tax return

Step 3: Complete a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FASFA)

To complete the FASFA, complete the following steps

Go to fafsa.ed.gov
If you are applying for Federal Direct and Graduate Plus loans, either manually enter your/your spouse’s information or use the IRS data retrieval process to load the data onto your FAFSA
If you are applying for need-based aid enter or retrieve your 2012 tax return and your parents’ information
Enter the Oakland University federal school code 002307 on your application.
Provide a current email address on your application so that the Department of Education may send you your Student Aid Report (SAR).
Sign the application with your electronic PIN number.
Submit it to the Department of Education at the end of the on-line process.

Step 4: Review your Student Aid Report (SAR)

The EFC on your SAR is based on your/your spouse’s information only, since the Department of Education is processing the application and considers you to be an independent student and therefore ignores the parent data. If you chose to apply for need-based institutional aid and entered parent information on your application, a separate Parent Contribution is calculated by the school and added to your EFC to determine a combined student/parent EFC which is used to determine your eligibility for need-based institutional awards. The parent and combined EFCs do not appear on your SAR.

What to review?

Check the SAR to make sure the information you entered is accurate, particularly your social security number, since it is the only identifier the school can use to obtain your FAFSA data from the Department of Education.
Check the SAR for any errors or omissions. If you made any errors or skipped a question you should have answered, you must return to fafsa.ed.gov and make a correction to your application, then review and sign your new SAR.
Read the SAR thoroughly. If there is a C code/flag and comment on your SAR regarding problems with your citizenship, selective service registration, social security number, federal loan default, bankruptcy, overpayment of federal grants or other issues, contact the financial services office for information about how to resolve them at 248-370-3611 or cardamon@oakland.edu.

Step 5: Mandatory loan disbursement requirements for first-time federal loan borrowers.

You must fulfill the requirements identified below in order for the loans you intend to borrow from the Department of Education to be electronically transmitted to the OUWB, if:

You have never borrowed (applied for AND received) Federal Direct Loans.
You previously borrowed (applied for AND received) Direct loans as an undergraduate student but have not done so as a graduate or professional student.
You previously borrowed Direct Loans but have not borrowed a Graduate Plus loan, then you must complete only the Graduate Plus loan requirements with the exception that the “Request Direct Plus Loan” requirement must be completed each year you plan to borrow a Graduate Plus Loan.

Loan Requirements Timeline

You must fulfill these requirements AT LEAST TWO WEEKS PRIOR to the first scheduled loan disbursement date (found on loan disclosure form from the Department of Education). Failure to do so may result in a delay of disbursement. The Financial Services Office will receive an electronic notification that you’ve completed these requirements. You do not need to provide our office with a paper copy.

Go to www.studentloans.gov website where you will complete all of the requirements
- Click on the green “Sign In” button
- Login using the PIN number you used to sign your FAFSA
Entrance Loan Counseling  
- Under Counseling, select the Complete Entrance Counseling option
- Click on Complete Entrance Counseling on the bottom of the page
- Identify yourself as a graduate/professional student by selecting the 2nd option
- Continue on to the end of the session
- Submit your completed quiz
Federal Direct Loan Master Promissory Note(MPN)
- Under Master Promissory Note, select complete MPN
- Select Subsidized/Unsubsidized
- Continue through completion
- Sign the MPN with your federal Pin number
- Complete the process by submitting the document on-line
- Below Master Promissory Note (MPN), select print MPN
- Print a copy for your records (it is not necessary to provide a copy to the Financial Services Office )
- Complete the process by submitting the document on-line
Graduate Plus Loans
- Under Plus Loan Process, select Request Direct PLUS Loan
- Under Master Promissory Note (MPN), select complete MPN
- Select Graduate PLUS
- Sign the MPN with your federal Pin number
- Complete the process by submitting the document on-line
- Under Master Promissory Note (MPN), select print MPN
- Print a copy for your records (it is not necessary to provide a copy to the Financial Services Office )

Financial Aid Award Packaging

FAFSA data is processed and sent to schools beginning in January. Financial aid awards are packaged by the school and students are typically notified beginning in late March or early April.

Federal Direct and Graduate Plus loans are automatically packaged as a part of your award. All scholarships will become a part of your award package. If you received notification from the Admissions office that you were awarded a Scholarship from the OUWB School of Medicine, but it does not appear in your initial award notification, you will be issued a revised award notification that will include the scholarship award.

Revisions to financial aid:

You must submit a 2013-2014 Revision Form if:

You change your housing plans from what you reported on your FAFSA, for example you originally planned to live on-campus, but have decided to remain at home with your parents or vice versa
If you would like to cancel the optional Graduate Plus loan, or decrease the Direct Loan award included in your award package
Received or are expecting to receive an outside/external scholarship award, including awards from the National Health Services or Military Health Professions Scholarship Programs
You provided parent data on your FAFSA and you no longer wish to have your eligibility for need-based aid determined

If the Financial Services Office determines that you changed your housing plans, your Cost of Attendance will be automatically adjusted which could affect your financial aid package.