Guide to Online Financial Aid

Online Financial Aid Notification, provided by the Office of Scholarships and Student Aid and the MyUNC student portal, is the official method by which students receive information regarding their personal financial aid application. A link to MyUNC is available on the University of North Carolina's home page at www.unc.edu.

Email is the primary means of communication between students and the UNC Office of Scholarships and Student Aid, and students are expected to monitor their UNC email address for notices pertaining to financial aid. Each student is required to maintain an official, university issued, email address.

Viewing financial aid information online through the MyUNC portal is secure and safe. To ensure that only you have access to your personal information, do not share your username (ONYEN) and password with any unauthorized individual. When you have completed viewing your online information, please remember to logout of MyUNC and to close all open browser windows.

It is recommended that you print your Financial Aid Notification and any other pertinent online documentation for the purpose of maintaining a personal paper file of important financial aid materials.

If you are having difficulty accessing financial aid information online, please contact the Office of Scholarships and Student Aid at 919-962-8396. Please note the Student Aid Office does not provide technical support; for computer or network problems please contact the UNC Technical Support Help Desk at http://help.unc.edu/, or call 919-962- HELP (4357).

Viewing your personal financial aid documentation online is quick and easy. The financial aid related information available via MyUNC is organized in the following sections:

	Financial Aid Award
	How to Accept Your Award
	Notice of Incomplete Application
	Financial Need Calculation and Cost of Attendance
	How to Pay Your Tuition Bill
	Award History
	Need Help?

Financial Aid Award

You will be notified by email and instructed to visit the MyUNC Student Portal when your financial aid award is complete and after any subsequent award revisions. The MyUNC online award will list the specific types of aid received, the corresponding dollar amount, and, in some cases, special messages or instructions relating to your award. These "Messages" and "Action Needed" instructions are of particular importance and you will need to read them carefully. For example, certain types of awards require the completion of documentation before funds will be released.

The "Enrollment Assumptions", listed above your award, are used in determining your cost of attendance and the types/amounts of financial aid for which you may be eligible. If your enrollment changes or you believe that the current assumptions on file are incorrect, please notify the UNC Financial Aid Office.

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How to Accept Your Award

It is not necessary to contact the Office of Scholarships and Student Aid in order to accept your award; your award funds will be credited automatically to your student account in the Cashier's Office. In the event that a particular scholarship, grant or loan will not automatically post to your student account, you will receive specific instructions on how to access these funds.

If you wish not to accept any portion of your financial aid award or you wish to reduce the amount of a loan, you must contact the Office of Scholarships and Student Aid.

Stafford Loans - If you are a first-time borrower of a Stafford Loan, federal regulations require that you complete a Student Loan Counseling Session before the first disbursement of your loan can be made. To complete this requirement, visit the Mapping Your Future website at http://mapping-your-future.org/entrancecounseling.

Stafford loans are electronically processed by the College Foundation Incorporated (CFI). In order to receive your Stafford loan, you must complete a Master Promissory Note (MPN). If you have not previously completed a Master Promissory Note with CFI, you may complete the MPN via the web at www.cfnc.org.

If you choose to borrow Stafford loans from a lender other than CFI, you must provide the lender's Master Promissory Note and School Certification form to the Office of Scholarships and Student Aid.

Perkins Loans - If you are the recipient of Federal Perkins loan, you must complete an online Master Promissory Note before funds can be transferred to your student account. To complete the promissory note, please visit http://www.ecsi.net/promj6.

If you have questions about this website, please contact Loan Repayment Services at 919-962-9481. Your FAFSA PIN is required to complete this process. If you do not remember your PIN, visit the Dept. of Education for assistance at http://pin.ed.gov.

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Notice of Incomplete Application

The Office of Scholarships and Student Aid often requires verification of information submitted on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or the submission of new information in addition to the FAFSA. This information is a vital part of the aid process and usually must be submitted before financial aid eligibility and awards can be determined. In other instances, we will request new information after a student has already been awarded financial aid. In both cases, it is critical that the requested information is submitted to the UNC Aid Office as soon as possible.

All undergraduate and graduate students receiving financial aid from the University of North Carolina may be subject to a process known as "verification." Verification is a requirement of the Federal Government whereby you and your parents are asked to verify the accuracy of information submitted on the FAFSA. The majority of verification requests take place after FAFSA data has been transferred to the University but before a student's financial aid has been awarded. Until you and your parents submit complete and accurate verification information, you will not be awarded financial aid.

You will be notified by an email alert when the Office of Scholarships and Student Aid needs additional information. Specific instructions regarding downloadable forms and how to submit the requested information will be available on the MyUNC student portal. It is your responsibility to obtain, when needed, information and forms on the portal. Instructions on accessing MyUNC will be provided in the email alert.

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Cost of Attendance and Financial Need Calculation

Cost of Attendance - The Cost of Attendance, also known as the "budget," is an estimate of the expenses associated with attending the University for a particular award period. Your cost estimate, which is used in calculating your financial aid eligibility, is based on your program of study and your enrollment assumptions. It is important that you check the accuracy of your enrollment assumptions and report any changes to the Office of Scholarships and Student Aid. Enrollment information is listed on the Financial Aid Award.

Need Calculation - This section provides a calculation of your Financial Need, which is the first figure the Office of Scholarships and Student Aid uses in determining the amount of need-based financial aid for which you are eligible. The financial information you and your family provide on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or Renewal FAFSA is analyzed by the federal need analysis processor using a standard formula established by the U.S. Congress. It is used by the federal processor to calculate an expected family contribution (EFC) which is the amount individual students and their families should have the potential to pay for higher education.

After analyzing your financial information, the federal processor sends the results to the University of North Carolina (and other schools you listed on the FAFSA), indicating how much you and your family should be able to pay for your education. If the cost of attendance at UNC-Chapel Hill is greater than what the processor indicates you and your family should be able to pay, the University then considers you to have financial need.

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How to Pay Your Tuition Bill

Once you have met all of the conditions for the disbursement of financial aid, funds from University programs and from Stafford and Plus Loan electronic transmissions (i.e. from College Foundation of NC) will be transferred to your University student account at the start of each semester. If your financial aid exceeds your total bill from the Cashier's Office, you will receive a refund check on the first day of classes. We strongly recommend, for convenience and timeliness, to set up Direct Deposit with the Cashier's Office. Direct Deposit allows the Cashier's Office to electronically deposit your financial aid refund to your personal checking account. A Direct Deposit form can be obtained at the Cashier's Office website: http://cashiers.unc.edu/forms.htm. If you have not arranged for direct deposit, the refund check can be picked up at the Cashier's Office in Bynum Hall between the hours of 7:30am through 4:30pm, Monday through Friday.

If your financial aid does not cover the balance of your bill at the Cashier's Office, you will be responsible for covering the difference. Payments can be paid to the Cashier's Office through Student Central, over the phone at 877-962-8621, or by mailing payment to the Cashier's Office.

How to Defer Your Bill - You may receive a bill from the Cashier's Office before financial aid is awarded by the Office of Scholarships and Student Aid. Depending on your financial aid award, a portion of the bill may be covered by financial aid and therefore you can defer payment until your financial aid is received. Your account with the Cashier's Office will remain in good-standing while financial aid is pending.

If you received financial aid the previous semester, there will likely be a statement on your bill that reads, "We are aware that you are a financial aid applicant. If you do not owe from a previous period and your aid will cover this semester's expense, don't return anything. You must pay any previous balance and any amount not covered by your aid." This means you are in deferment for the part of your bill that is covered by financial aid.

If you do not see this statement on your bill, simply flip the bill over and find the section, "Tuition, Fees, and Housing Deferment". You can complete this section of the bill and return it to the Cashier's Office, with a payment for what is not covered by financial aid and/or charges from a previous period. This will keep you in deferment until financial aid is received.

Please remember, financial aid only covers the semester for which it is intended, if you owe from a previous semester you must make other arrangements to pay this portion. Financial aid will not cover past charges.

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Award History

You can view Financial Aid Awards from previous award periods, including academic year and summer awards. Select the desired award period on the Award History page.

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Need Help?

The Financial Aid portlet on MyUNC is designed to provide you with accurate and easily accessible information. However, we understand you may occasionally need information beyond that provided in the portlet. For general financial aid information, please visit http://studentaid.unc.edu. If after visiting our website you still need additional assistance, you may call 919-962-8396 or visit our office in 310 Pettigrew Hall, Monday through Friday, 8 am to 5 pm.

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