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Announcements

The summer months are an extremely busy time for staff in the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid.  We see significantly increasing numbers of visitors during this time, and the increased volume means that there may be delays in our response to phone and email questions. 

In order to ensure timely and accurate review of aid applications, our counseling staff will be unavailable between 8:00 AM – 10:00 AM from May 1st through August 10th .  During this busy time, our office will be open for students to drop off information for later review. 

We invite you to use our website and the University Cashier’s Office to find answers to many of your questions about financial aid and billing.  To check the status of your aid application or see what items might be missing, visit MyPack and click on Campus Finances > Financial Aid Status.

We appreciate your patience as we work diligently to finalize awards for the 2012-2013 academic year.

Important change to Cost of Attendance:

Recent changes to the University's contract with our health insurance provider have resulted in an increased cost for the student health insurance plan.  As a result of this increased cost, we are increasing the cost of attendance of attending NC State for the 12-13 year and are working to revise loan eligibility where possible.

Please visit the Student Health Center website (http://healthcenter.ncsu.edu/insurance/) for additional information on the student insurance plan.

It's not too late to complete the FAFSA!

While NC State's priority filing date for the FAFSA was March 1, it is not too late to be considered for state and federal resources. Visit www.fafsa.gov to get started. Please Note: For 2012-13, the federal government has made some significant changes that make filing the FAFSA easier and simpler - *if* you’ve already filed your taxes. You’ll have the option to pull answers to many of the questions directly from data that you submitted to the IRS. This IRS Data Retrieval is also critically important for students who are selected for verification (when our office confirms the accuracy of your FAFSA through tax documents and signed statements). If you’re selected for verification and you filed your FAFSA using the IRS Data Retrieval, you’ll find the process far simpler and faster than ever before. So it is to your advantage to file your taxes first and then file your FAFSA.

Direct Deposit

Sign up for direct deposit to receive your refunds faster! Students who have not signed up for Direct Deposit will receive a paper check in 1-2 weeks. Please consider signing up for direct deposit to expedite your refund.

Financial Aid Availability

The current economic downturn has wide-reaching impacts, and the Office of Scholarships & Financial Aid is no exception. We want our families to understand the changes you may see to financial aid packages and why those changes are occurring.

A student's financial aid award comes from 3 primary sources: the federal government, the state of North Carolina, and institutional aid from our office. Unfortunately, we are seeing reductions to two of 3 of those sources - federal and state aid. Two significant federal aid programs, the Academic Competitiveness Grant (ACG) and the Science & Mathematics Access to Retain Talent (SMART) Grant have been eliminated for 2011-12 and we do not expect those will be reinstated by the federal government. At the same time, funding for the largest of our state programs, the UNC Need-based Grant has also been reduced, and the Student Incentive Grant has been eliminated.

Unfortunately, these reductions to outside funding come at the same time that our students and families have the greatest need for support. We have a record number of students applying for aid, and those families are demonstrating increased financial need. That means our institutional ald dollars have to be spread across even more needy students, and the result is grant aid packages may not be as high as in prior years and some students - particularly late applicants - may miss out entirely on grant funding.

We understand how difficult this is for families, and we want to be a resource to help you understand your options. We are happy to discuss borrowing and the types of loans that are available, as well as direct you to outside scholarship resources you may wish to pursue. While the weeks prior to the start of the semester are our busiest time, we invite you to contact your financial aid counselor if you have questions. We appreciate your patience as we work to help the record number of you who are seeking financial assistance.

Disbursement of Aid

Questions about when you will receive the aid you've been offered? Trying to determine how much you owe? Please visit our Billing Basics site for all you need to know to understand how your financial aid works to pay your charges.