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Study Abroad Information
Applying
for Financial Aid
Most
students qualify for some form of
financial aid regardless of financial
need. Students may apply for financial
aid by filing the 2009-2010
FAFSA
online at
www.fafsa.ed.gov. This FAFSA is
used to process federal and state
financial aid, including federal student
loans, for fall 2009, spring 2010, and
summer 2010. Please respond to any
requests for additional information in a
timely manner.
A new FAFSA must be filed each year.
LHU's recommended FAFSA filing deadline
is March 15th (e.g. students
should submit the 2009-2010 FAFSA at
www.fafsa.ed.gov on or before March
15th, 2009). Meeting this deadline
ensures maximum consideration for all
financial aid programs.
Please Note:
To apply for financial aid
for summer 2009, students must file a
2008-2009 FAFSA. Student Financial
Services automatically notifies students
of their summer financial aid
eligibility once they register for
summer classes.
Cost
of Attendance
A
student's eligibility for financial aid
and loans is generally limited to his or
her Cost of
Attendance. For
2009-2010, the standard Cost of
Attendance (COA) for
full-time, undergraduate students is
$8,500 per semester for PA residents and
$11,600 per semester for non-PA
residents. Cost of Attendance (COA)
includes direct costs like tuition,
fees, and room and meal plan charges if
applicable. COA also includes an
estimate of what students typically
spend for books, supplies,
transportation, clothing, recreation,
un-reimbursed medical/dental expenses,
and for students who live off campus,
rent, utilities, and groceries.
Student
Financial Services (SFS) will increase a
student’s standard COA, for a given
semester or summer session, to include the
added expense of studying abroad,
upon
the student’s request. Once your
plans to study abroad are definite, you
may contact SFS to request that your COA
be increased.
Please Note:
An increase
in COA does not guarantee that
additional financial aid and/or loans
will be available to meet those costs.
Aid
Eligibility
Students
usually qualify for most or all of their
standard financial aid when they study
abroad for a semester.
Federal Work Study
cannot be used for study
abroad. Additional financial aid may be
available for study abroad, but it is
typically in the form of
loans,
such as Stafford, PLUS, and
alternative. For information about
educational loans,
click here.
Summer
Financial Aid
Financial
aid for summer study abroad
may be more limited. However, for students
taking at least 6 credit hours, PLUS and
alternative loans may be an option.
Stafford Loans may also be an option if
a student did not borrow his/her maximum
loan amount for the previous
fall/spring. To apply for financial aid
for summer 2009, students must file a
2008-2009 FAFSA. Student Financial
Services automatically notifies students
of their summer financial aid
eligibility once they register for
summer classes.
Scholarships
Some
scholarships
available for study abroad include the
Benjamin A. Gilman International
Scholarship (www.iie.org/gilman)
and the Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial
Scholarship(www.rotary.org/en/StudentsAndYouth/EducationalPrograms).
Please visit those sites for more
information.
Please Note:
Any scholarships received for
study abroad will be added to the
student's financial aid package and
counted toward meeting the student's
Cost of Attendance.
Part-time
Enrollment
Undergraduate
students who study abroad for a semester
are typically registered at LHU for 15
credit hours. If a student’s actual
class schedule turns out to be
part-time
(i.e. less than 12 credit hours), his or
her financial aid may need to be
adjusted. For example, Pell and PA
State Grants will be adjusted to
part-time awards. Sometimes these
adjustments occur very late in the term,
or after the semester has ended, and can
result in a student owing money to LHU.
Loans typically are not adjusted if the
student takes at least 6 credit hours.
Cost
Information
All
study abroad programs require that
students to pay standard, full-time tuition and
fees plus a study abroad fee
to LHU. There is a flat rate of tuition
and fees for students taking 12 to 18 (9
to 15 graduate) credits per semester or
in any one
summer session. Tuition and fees for
students taking more than 18 (15
graduate) credits are higher. Cost
information is available online at
www.lhup.edu/financial-services.
Refunds
Student
Financial Services begins issuing, via
checks made payable to students,
refunds
of excess financial aid/loans on the
first day of LHU’s semester. If a
student’s semester abroad begins prior
to LHU’s start date, s/he will need to
use other resources to pay initial
expenses. This includes any study
abroad program deposits due before
classes begin. It is also important to
note that not all refunds are issued the
first day as certain circumstances (e.g.
part-time status; incomplete paperwork)
may cause delays. SFS typically holds
refund checks for student pick-up for 7
to 10 days; to have your check mailed
immediately, please contact SFS.
Satisfactory Academic Progress
To
maintain eligibility for financial aid
programs, all students must meet certain
minimum academic requirements, which are
outlined in LHU’s
Satisfactory Academic Progress
(SAP) policy. The SAP policy is
available online at
www.lhup.edu/financial-services/progress.htm.
Student
Financial Services (SFS) reviews SAP for
all students each year after spring
term. However, for students with
incomplete
grades, this review cannot be
done until all grades are available.
This typically causes no issues for
students who study abroad fall, since
their grades frequently come in before
the annual review is done in May.
Students who study abroad spring should
contact SFS as soon as their grades are
added to their LHU transcript. SFS will
then complete the SAP review and begin
processing the student’s financial aid
for the next academic year. Students
who study abroad spring in countries
with late start/end dates (e.g.
Australia, China, Japan, Germany, Spain,
Taiwan) should note that their financial
aid for the following fall semester may
not be finalized and disbursed until the
fall term is underway. Those students
should plan to use other resources to
pay initial fall term expenses.
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