Eligibility Notification Process

Approximately 30 days before your program/cohort's academic year begins, an eligibility notice will be posted to your Student Information System (mySIS). Financial Aid will email you through your FAFSA and email advising you to go online to review, accept, reduce, or decline all aid listed. Please check your email and Eligibility Notice tab carefully, calculate how much funding you will need for the year, and submit your response.

Your Eligibility Notice contains the following:

• aid based on program/cohort cost of attendance 
• your expected family contribution as determined by your FAFSA,
• a breakdown of the types of available assistance,
• an opportunity to accept, reduce, or decline one or more of your loans,
• instructions on how to complete the loan process and
• dates by which to have the loan process completed. 

Once you have submitted your response online, if you wish to make further changes, you must do so with a federal direct loan change form. You may visit your disbursements tab to see scheduled and actual disbursement dates (when funds are released). Contact Financial Aid with questions by phone at 757.446.5804 or by email at finaid@ evms.edu.

Your eligibility notice lists your financial aid up to your cost of attendance, including the maximum education loans available. Can you reduce this amount? Of course. You should always reduce your loans as much as possible.

1. Review your program's direct costs (those paid to our institute). Remember, mandatory fees are charged in the first term of each year. Physician Assistant fees are always charged in January. 
2. Add living expenses, including books and supplies. Create a monthly budget. How much can you trim? Consider what you will need versus what you want.
3. Deduct your other resources (not just financial aid): family support, savings, and employer contribution. Include those here in your calculation.
4. Deduct financial aid, most favorable first. Remember, all financial aid is disbursed equally by the number of terms in the academic year.
5. Deduct grants or scholarships, if offered.
6. You are required by federal regulation to notify Financial Aid of all outside scholarships.
7. Deduct institutional loans, if offered and accepted

• Remember to allow for a 1.057% Direct Unsubsidized Loan origination fee and Direct Grad Plus origination fees of 4.228% after October 1, 2023. If this covers your needs, stop and refer to step 6.
• You can take any amount up to the total listed on your eligibility notice.

Before beginning the academic year, you must visit your Student Information System (mySIS) to accept, reduce, or decline aid before the start of the term. After your initial online acceptance, you must Federal Loan Change Form to change your loan.

If your calculation exceeds the Grad PLUS listed, you must revisit your budget and trim expenses. Your educational funds are to pay for the following: 

• direct costs (tuition and fees)
• basic room and board expenses for student
• transportation expenses for student's educational purposes
• books and supplies 

Education funds will not cover all your expenses (i.e., expenses for other household members, car loans, and credit card payments). You may qualify for an increase for authorized expenses (i.e., computer purchase, dependent child care expenses while enrolled). If you are still short of funds, explore guidelines for a budget increase or adjustment to your cost of attendance.

If you need assistance, try using the My College Budget worksheet or email finaid@ evms.edu for help. 

Review your eligibility notice online, plan your budget for the year, calculate how much funding you need, and return to the Student Information System (mySIS) to accept, or decline your loan(s). If you are getting loans, you must complete the loan process. 

You will do some steps once for each type of loan; others repeat every year. 

Go online for Federal Direct Unsubsidized or Direct Grad PLUS loans using your FAFSA FSA ID. If you still need to switch from FAFSA PIN to FSA ID, the system will take you through that process.

1. Complete entrance loan counseling* for each type of loan.
2. Complete a Grad PLUS Loan Request (performs credit check) annually.
1. Be sure to request the maximum on the request and control actual disbursement through the aid acceptance process.
3. Complete the master promissory note* for each type of loan.
4. Review loan disclosures provided on each loan by the federal processor.
5. Take advantage of financial awareness on AAMC FIRST. 

*These tasks only need to be completed once for each type of loan.

Our institute has moved to active acceptance because of recent changes in how the cost of attendance budget is calculated and increased loan fees. If you have completed the loan process, federal direct loans will be released by Financial Aid on the first day of the term for origination and disbursement with the federal processor. Your enrollment status and satisfactory academic standing must be confirmed before disbursement of funds. Financial Services pulls the funds from the federal processor and disburses them to your student account. 

For private loans: 

1. University Accounting Services (Connect Loan Offer) will notify you when your loan record has been prepared.
2. Review all loan disclosure forms. 
3. Complete a master promissory note for each loan.
4. Complete a self-certification form for each private loan.
5. Complete entrance counseling for each loan.
6. Notify Financial Aid in writing if you wish to decline a private loan after your initial online submission.

Private loans and Title VII (HRSA) must originate and be held for the right of rescission period (when you can cancel) before disbursement to your student account.

Learn more about completing the financial aid process at studentaid.gov or University Accounting Service (Connect Loan Offer) frequently asked questions.

Financial Aid releases funds to Financial Services on or after the first day of each term. Dates vary by program delivery model.  

For programs delivered entirely via classroom, funds are released beginning on the first class day of each term. Funds are released based on students' completing initial matriculation requirements and continuing eligibility for aid, including enrollment level and satisfactory academic progress. Some funds may not released as of the first day.  

For programs that may be delivered entirely via distance or a hybrid of distance and classroom, aid will be released on the eighth day of the term (or on the next business day). Funds are released based on students' completing initial matriculation requirements and continuing eligibility for aid, including enrollment level and satisfactory academic progress. Some funds may not be released on the same day.

All aid is released initially in as close to equal amounts as possible over the academic year to your student tuition account.

All students may review their financial aid disbursement schedule and actual status on the disbursements tab of their Online Financial Aid System.  

Once Financial Services applies any payments or financial aid funds to a student's account, a stipend process is run within 24 to 48 hours. If the student has signed up for direct deposit through mySIS, any excess funds will usually be deposited to your bank account on file within 48 to 72 hours. Note that the insurance waiver process is completed at the end of the waiver period. If the student waives health insurance, that charge will not be removed by Financial Services until that date. A subsequent stipend may be generated for the student after that date.

See the full list of disbursement dates.

**William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Programs include both Direct Unsubsidized and Direct Graduate PLUS Loans.** 

Canceling your Direct Unsubsidized Loan

Before your loan money is disbursed, you may cancel all or part of your loan at any time by notifying Financial Aid in writing using a loan reduction form.

After your loan money is disbursed, there are two ways to cancel all or part of your loan:

1. If your school obtains your written confirmation of the types and amounts of Title IV loans that you want to receive for an award year before crediting loan money to your account at the school, you may tell the school that you want to cancel all or part of that loan within 14 days after the date the school notifies you of your right to cancel all or part of the loan, or by the first day of your school’s payment period, whichever is later (your school can tell you the first day of the payment period). If the school does not obtain your written confirmation of the types and amounts of loans you want to receive before crediting the loan money to your account, you may cancel all or part of that loan by informing the school within 30 days of the date the school notifies you of your right to cancel all or part of the loan. In either case, your school will return the cancelled loan amount to us. You do not have to pay interest or the loan fee on the part of your loan that you tell your school to cancel within these timeframes. If you received an up-front interest rebate on your loan, the rebate does not apply to the part of your loan that you tell your school to cancel. Your loan will be adjusted to eliminate any interest, loan fee, and rebate amount that applies to the amount of the loan that was cancelled. If you ask your school to cancel all or part of your loan outside the timeframes described above, your school may process your cancellation request, but it is not required to do so.
   
   
2. Within 120 days of the date your school disbursed your loan money (by crediting the loan money to your account at the school, by paying it directly to you, or both), you may return all or part of your loan to us. Contact the Direct Loan Servicing Center for guidance on how and where to return your loan money. You do not have to pay interest or the loan fee on the part of your loan that you return within 120 days of the date that part of your loan is disbursed. If you received an up-front interest rebate on your loan, the rebate does not apply to the part of your loan that you return. Your loan will be adjusted to eliminate any interest, loan fee and rebate amount that applies to the amount of the loan that you return.  

This information was obtained from the William D. Ford Direct Loan Program Direct Unsubsidized Loan Borrower’s Rights and Responsibility Statement. For additional information regarding your Federal Student Loans please refer to your Borrower’s Rights and Responsibility Statement and your Master Promissory Note.

Canceling your Direct Graduate PLUS Loan

Before your loan money is disbursed, you may cancel all or part of your loan at any time by notifying Financial Aid in writing using the Federal Loan Change Form.

After your loan money is disbursed, you may cancel all or part of your loan within certain timeframes. For details, refer to the Statement of Rights and Responsibilities for Grad PLUS Borrowers that accompanies your PLUS MPN.

From the PLUS MPN:

Loan cancellation

I may pay back all or part of a disbursement within the timeframes set by the Act, as explained in the Borrower’s Rights and Responsibilities Statement and in a disclosure statement that I will receive. If I return the full loan amount within those timeframes, I will not incur any loan fee or interest charges. If I return part of a disbursement within those timeframes, the loan fee and interest charges will be reduced in proportion to the amount returned.

Institutional loans

After your initial response, if you change your mind about accepting your Federal Perkins or institutional loan(s), you must notify Financial Aid in writing via your email account of your wishes to reduce or decline. You may be contacted for additional information at that time. You will be directed to your mySIS account to review any changes once they have been completed.