Phone: 616-331-3234
800-748-0246
Fax: 616-331-3180
Financial Aid Office
finaid@gvsu.edu

100 Student Services Building
Allendale, MI 49401

  Office Hours

Financial Aid » The Process » Eligibility » How Aid is Determined

How Aid is Determined

After the FAFSA:

Once you have filed the FAFSA you will receive a Student Aid Report (SAR) that has your Expected Family Contribution (EFC).  The EFC is what our office will use to determine your financial need at Grand Valley.  Our goal is to satisfy your financial need to the best of our abilities.  All students are eligible for some form of financial aid, therefore it is important to file your FAFSA. Your financial need calculation is below: 

  

Example of federal need formula:
Cost of Attendance $21,642 Cost of attendance for 2 semesters
Expected Family Contribution -$5,620 Determined by your FAFSA information
Financial Need $16,022 The maximum amount of need-based aid you may receive

If you believe your EFC is incorrect, review your SAR for any errors. 

 Cost of Attendance (COA) varies by School:

Each school creates their own individual COA based on a number of factors: tuition, housing, food, books, transportation, etc.  Each of these factors have a different cost at each school.  Tuition at Grand Valley is very different from tuition at a private college.  That also means that the COA is going to be different.  Understanding the cost of attendance will help you understand your award notification.

Your Award Notification:

Once Grand Valley reviews your FAFSA information for accuracy we will send you an Award Notification.  This will tell you what types of aid you qualify for: grants, scholarships, loans and work study. 

Enrollment and Your Award Notification:

We assume full time enrollment on all award notifications.  Your financial aid can change if you are not attending full time.  The chart below gives you the definition of each enrollment status.:

Enrollment Status

Full-Time

3/4 Time

1/2 time

Less than 1/2 time

Undergraduate

12 or more credits

9 to 11 credits

6 to 8 credits

1 to 5 credits

Graduate

9 or more credits

6.5 to 8.5 credits

4.5 to 6 credits

1 to 4 credits

Changes To Your Award:

Your award notification may change for many reasons.  The most common reasons are listed below:

  • your residency changes
  • your enrollment level changes
  • you decline one or more awards
  • we have been notified that you have received other aid or had other resources (Veteran's  Benefits, MET, etc.) of which we were unaware when the previous awards were made
  • your data and/or your parent data was incorrect and the error has been corrected
  • your summer financial aid has been processed

    If you have questions about why your award was changed feel free to contact our office.

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      Last Modified Date: April 23, 2008
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