University Registrar and Assistant Vice President of Student Financial Aid Karen Jarrell, Financial Aid Deputy Director Beth Tolan and Assistant Directors Sarah Dorsey and Carmen Velez share key points for the more than 9,000 students tackling financial aid at UTD.
1.
Subsidized loans are need based and are switched to an unsubsidized loan in response to many variables. A subsidized loan is interest-free before students begin to pay it off, unsubsidized loans accrue interest at the time of disbursement. In order to determine loan status, the financial aid office considers the student’s cost of attendance and then subtracts family contributions, scholarship amounts and miscellaneous items included on the student’s Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA.)
“Let’s say a student has a need for $5,000, they can have a Stafford loan for $5,000—that’s subsidized,” Dorsey said. “However, other money could come in later and this is where some of the students—I think—become confused. A scholarship from a department for $1,000 will change everything for the award.”
As a result, $1,000 of the student’s loan will become unsubsidized, Dorsey said.
“It’s still not a bad deal in that the interest rate is relatively low in comparison to other things out there, especially these days, compared to credit card rates,” Dorsey said.
Dorsey said the adjustment goes both ways.
“If we find that a student for whatever reason needed to have an increase in budget or experiences a loss of need based, we would adjust the unsubsidized loan and turn it into subsidized funding,” Dorsey said.
2.
According to UTD policy, the financial aid office must communicate with students via their personal UTD e-mail account, Tolan said.
“We know that’s you, that’s you digital signature and this is very personal information we are sending to that account,” Tolan said.
Tolan said some student’s UTD e-mail inboxes are full and can no longer receive important e-mails. This poses a problem for the financial aid office. In addition to checking these e-mails, Dorsey recommends reading them carefully to avoid unnecessary complications.
“I would stress if you get something from the financial aid office read it, really read it—read it twice just in case—and if you don’t understand it come and talk to us and ask us what it means,” Dorsey said.
This semester the financial aid office began granting students award letters through UTD e-mail.
3.
Jarrell said PeopleSoft, the new UTD information infrastructure system, is presenting changes unfamiliar to students and they sometimes get confused. Students often contact the financial aid office regarding holds on their account, preventing them from registering for classes, Dorsey said. These holds are rarely related to the students financial aid account, Dorsey said, but they are still welcome to check.
“I just don’t want our students to get discouraged with the change to PeopleSoft,” Jarrell said. “We’re learning more everyday and when we get on the other side of this process we’re going to be a much better financial aid office.”
4.
Summer financial aid forms are usually available for students to pick up by November. As of March 2010 these forms are not available. Dorsey provides the explanation.
“The summer application form is going to be online,” Dorsey said. “We’re cutting down costs and making it easier for the student by putting it online so they can go ahead and download it anytime. We will send the student body an e-mail—again, to the UTD e-mail—letting them know that it’s available.”
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