Office of Financial Aid
Award Letter Conditions/Policies and Procedures

Last Updated: 02/24/2009

1. All students are awarded initially for an academic year - either on Semesters for Fall-Spring or on T-Terms for T1-T4 (see #2 below). Most awards shown on Trojan Web Express indicate Accepted: this status has nothing to do with whether or not you have formally accepted your awards; Pell is estimated because it will automatically vary based on your enrollment. You must sign and return the original (white copy) Notification of Financial Aid Award to the Financial Aid Office in a timely manner for proper processing of your award (a fax is acceptable). If requesting loans, choose a lender from our preferred lender list (available on our web site); write your lender on the bottom of the award letter; if not attending for Fall Semester or T-Term 1, you should indicate the T-Terms/Semesters you will attend on the bottom of the signed award letter. If we award you prior to May for the approaching Fall, we will check Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) (see #10) after grades are issued; if you do not meet SAP, we will cancel your award pending your appeal.
   
   
2. Your award is divided into either two or four disbursements based upon your home location; Troy, Montgomery, Dothan, and Phenix City are Semester based (two disbursements) while eCampus, University College, and unknown locations are T-Term based (four disbursements). If admissions did not enter a home location, you will receive a T-Term pattern. You can check your awarded disbursement pattern on your Trojan Web Express Award Status by year or by calling the Call Center (800) 414-5756. Once you accept your award for the year, you may not change the disbursement pattern until next year. Review the FAQ section of the FA web site if you mix T-terms and Semesters. Federal law regarding equal disbursements requires your disbursements either be for Semesters (2) or for T-Terms (4).
   
   
3. Upon receipt of your signed award letter Troy will order a Master Promissory Note (MPN) for all first time Troy University borrowers or for students choosing a different lender. Please allow two weeks for us to notify the guarantor and lenders. Monitor your loan at www.kheaa.com for certification, guarantee and disbursement dates. New Borrowers must eSign their MPN at www.kheaa.com once their loan is approved. Troy must first order your MPN before you eSign. Your loan is not guaranteed until your lender/guarantor receives a fully executed MPN from you through this process. (This sequence must be followed: return the award letter to us, we certify the loan, and then you complete the MPN.) Beginning in March 2007 student credit balance refunds will be available through a Trojan OneCard. Students will be mailed a Trojan OneCard which will require activation on their web site. Always make sure your address is correct.
   
   
4. After you are awarded and enrolled you should not make changes yourself to your FAFSA data for the same award year in which you are enrolled. Always request (in writing with documentation) for the financial aid office to make changes to your FAFSA data (rather than doing them yourself) after you are awarded and enrolled; your disbursements could be cancelled or reversed. This is especially true if we have reviewed your data with a process called Verification. After you are enrolled, send a Partial Year Loan Request (see Forms for the appropriate year) for the aid office to change your FAFSA data, when changing from undergraduate to graduate. If you make changes to FAFSA data altering your eligibility for assistance for the year in which you are currently enrolled, we will select you for Verification if the Department of Education failed to do so.
   
   
5. Student loan funds can only be disbursed for the period of the loan request. If you cease to be enrolled, drop below half-time, or graduate, all loan funds for future disbursements will be cancelled. Financial Aid is credited to your student account after the last day of free drop/add (approximately one week after classes have begun). Monitor your loan at www.kheaa.com. Student credit balances will be available through the Trojan OneCard which will be mailed and will require activation. Always make sure your address is correct.
   
   
6. If you did not/will not attend Fall Semester or T-Term 1, your award will be cancelled when we determine you are not enrolled. You will need to send a Partial Year Award/Loan Request Form after you have been awarded, to reinstate aid cancelled for non-enrollment, to inform us of a grade level change, or to let us know that you are changing from an undergraduate to a graduate program. There is rarely a good solution if you mix T-Terms and Semesters (see FAQ on the FA web site). Send this request form to Troy University Troy, Montgomery, or Dothan for processing. Not all requests can be accommodated. Check our web site or call the number above for more information. We will check Satisfactory Progress again prior to reactivation of your awards.
   
   
7. Scholarship questions should be directed to the department or agency that selected you for the scholarship. If you signed a scholarship agreement, you should review that document first. If we renew your scholarship prior to May for the approaching Fall, we will check your eligibility for renewal after grades are issued; if you do not meet the required renewal standards, your award will be cancelled and you will be notified.
   
   
8. Transfer of Funds Certification: My signature on this award letter authorizes Troy University to transfer any student aid funds received to my student account for payment or charges related to my enrollment (including appropriate fines, fees, books, etc.). See University Store for book charge policy. By signing this award letter I am also authorizing Troy University to accept my faxed signature as well as electronic communications on my behalf.
   
   
9. POLICIES GOVERNING FINANCIAL AID AWARDS
   
   STUDENT EMPLOYMENT: Any amount listed on your financial aid award letter for student employment is only an estimate of potential earnings. Students offered employment would be paid minimum wage for actual hours worked, not to exceed 15 hours per week. Students will be notified of their job assignments after their award notices are signed and returned. Students will retain their jobs only if their work performed is satisfactory.
   
   COURSE LOAD: You must enroll full time each Semester or T-Term at the appropriate level in order to receive maximum financial aid benefits. You must be enrolled at least half time to receive a loan. Six Month Contact Learning courses, transient courses, and certification program courses are NOT eligible to receive federal assistance. If you drop hours your aid may be reduced or cancelled. Students awarded graduate loan amounts are only eligible based on their graduate course load which counts toward their graduate degree.
   
   

   Academic Level	Undergraduate	Undergraduate	Graduate	Graduate
   Attendance Pattern	Semesters	T-Terms	Semesters	T-Terms
   Full Time	12	6	8-9	6
   Three Quarter Time	9-11	4-5	7	4-5
   Half Time	6-8	3	4-6	3

   
   
   (NOTE: Class attendance is required to receive any type of financial aid. Students reported for non-attendance by faculty will have their aid reduced or cancelled.)
   
   WITHDRAWALS: Students who withdraw are required to notify the Financial Aid Office and may be required to repay all or part of any financial aid awarded for that Semester/T-Term. You will be billed for any overpayment. If you have questions visit www.troy.edu/financial/withdrawal.htm. You will not be able to register for an approaching T-Term or Semester until any balance owed is repaid.
   
   Pell Grant - (Can only be used at one institution for the same enrollment period.) Multi-Institution Adjustments: Awards are based on the total eligibility for the award year. If a Pell Grant is received at another institution for the same award year, your student account will be adjusted and you will be responsible for any balance. Typically, until we bill the Department of Education for your disbursed Pell Grant we are not informed of your use of it at another institution (until that institution also bills the Department of Education) for the same award year. You may avoid this problem by writing on your award letter that you have used part of your Pell Grant eligibility at another institution; you should indicate whether the amount you received was for full time, three quarter time, half time or less than half time enrollment and the number of quarters or semesters you received it. (For example: If you attended X University for the Fall Semester and received X% of your Pell grant and will now attend Troy University for the Spring Semester, please write on the award letter "Used Pell grant at X University for the Fall Semester and the amount you received.")
   
   PERKINS LOANS: Students awarded these loans must complete their promissory note online at http://www.troy.edu/financialaid/perkins.htm and return it to the Troy Financial Aid Office (Troy University, Troy, AL 36082) with their award letter.
   
   SUMMER AWARDS: All awards are set up for the fall and spring Semesters/T-Terms only. Students desiring assistance for summer will be required to complete a separate application to determine if funds are available for the Summer Semester or T-Term/5. You can view your award online at Trojan Web Express. ALL STUDENTS ARE ENCOURAGED TO SAVE FUNDS FOR THIS PERIOD.
   
   CHANGE OF STATUS/ADDITIONAL AWARDS: Troy University reserves the right to adjust or cancel any aid if your academic or financial status changes OR if you receive additional types of aid that change your eligibility.
   
   AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS: All financial aid commitments are contingent upon the total receipt of federal and state allocations.
   
   
10. SATISFACTORY ACADEMIC PROGRESS: Troy University is required by Sec. 484(c) of the Higher Education Act 1965, as amended to establish Standards of Satisfactory Progress for students receiving assistance through Title IV programs (Pell, Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant, Federal Work-Study, State Grant, Perkins Loans, and Family Federal Student Loan Programs.) Troy University has adopted the following as its official policy governing a regular student's satisfactory progress. Satisfactory progress is not to be confused with "good standing". To receive Student Loans, Grants, or Work-study, you must be making "satisfactory progress" toward graduation. For the purposes of this standard you must:
    
    Complete 80% of your coursework and maintain a cumulative undergraduate 2.0 or graduate 3.0: To receive Perkins Loan, Stafford Loan, Plus Loan, Pell Grant, Work-Study, State, or Supplemental Grant Funds, a student must be making "satisfactory progress" toward completing his/her academic program. This standard begins, for undergraduates at the end of the first academic year and begins immediately for graduate students; this standard is measured annually. (Hours attempted include repeated courses, dropped courses, withdrawals, and incompletes.)
    
    Maximum length of time of eligibility is 150% of program: In addition to the above measures, the maximum length of a student's program may not exceed 150% of the minimum length required to complete the program. However, if at any point it’s determined the student will not be able to meet the 150% time frame by graduation, the student becomes ineligible for federal aid (example: a student has already attempted 170 hours and is in a program that has a 180 hours maximum program, but still has 30 hours left to complete the degree. The student will not be eligible for federal aid because the student can not mathematically finish the program in 180 hours.) The academic records office according to the published standards in the University Bulletin establishes the length of each program. Courses, which transfer from another post-secondary institution, will reduce the time frame accordingly. Examples: (1) If your degree is a 120 hour degree: 120 x 150% = 180 hours maximum time frame. You are eligible for only the first 180 hours of attendance. (2) If you transfer and bring 70 hours credit into a 120 hour degree program: 120 x 150% = 180 - 70 = 110 hours maximum time allowed for degree funding.
    
    Second Degree Issues: Students who are working toward a degree level which they have already completed (AS, BS, MS, etc.) or who are working toward a degree which is lower than the one they hold, will have their maximum length of program established at no more than 100% of the normal time frame minus any credits, which transfer from any post-secondary institution. However, if at any point it’s determined the student will not be able to meet the 100% time frame by graduation, the student becomes ineligible for federal aid (example: a student is working on a 2nd degree and has dropped, withdrawn after the free drop/add, or taken another class that does not pertain to the 2nd degree. The student will not be eligible for federal aid because the student can not mathematically finish the program). Students will not be eligible for federal aid when seeking another degree above the second degree which is already attained. For example: Students will not be eligible for federal aid if working on a 3rd master’s degree.
    
    Notification and Reinstatement: A student who is notified of his/her ineligibility for financial aid funds due to failure to meet these standards may submit a written letter of appeal for reinstatement. The written letter of appeal must state the basis for the appeal and include a copy of his/her current academic transcript along with supporting information. The professional financial aid office staff will review each appeal and respond to the student in writing stating the reason for reinstatement or upholding the denial of financial aid.
    
    

Office of Financial Aid
134 Adams Administration Building
Troy, Alabama 36082
Phone: 1-800-414-5756
Assistance Available 24 Hours A Day/7 Days A Week