Continuing Student FAQs

If you have previously filed a CSS Profile and had your financial need for institutional funds evaluated in a prior year, you only need to re-submit the FAFSA each year to be considered for need-based institutional funds. A change in the number of household members or number of children in the household enrolled in college will impact your Expected Family Contribution. Also, an increase in the household income may reduce your demonstrated financial need for various need-based funds. As long as you are maintaining satisfactory academic progress, the eligibility may continue in the next year provided the student:

1) completes the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) by the February 1 deadline.
2) the financial situation for the family and household size has not changed significantly since the evaluation was completed. 

Your financial aid award is based on the standard published cost of attendance per your housing choice on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The choices are:

• on-campus (standard residential housing/dormitory),
• off-campus, or
• with parent/relative. 

If you are living on-campus but not in standard residential housing and are billed at a higher rate than what has been budgeted for on your financial aid award information, you may submit an Undergraduate Cost of Attendance Appeal form to request an increase in your budgeted housing allowance. No additional funds will be made available by the University for this additional expense. You may secure federal or private loans or outside scholarships to cover the additional expense.

All aid programs from the State of Florida are disbursed after the drop/add period.

The Florida Bright Futures program is paid at a per-credit-hour-rate based on your enrollment. We estimate a student’s award based on 15 credits per semester—because that is the most common enrollment level to complete an undergraduate degree in four years. The final amount may increase or decrease depending on how many credits you actually enroll in. We evaluate and adjust the aid prior to disbursement based on your actual enrollment after the drop/add period. If the award goes up, other institutional aid that was based on a 15-credits per semester enrollment may be adjusted to accommodate the increase. The University does not increase other institutional aid if the award decreases due to a student enrolling in fewer credits than anticipated. You may receive a bill for any adjusted aid from the billing office. 

The State of Florida does not pay for withdrawals or dropped classes so your Florida Bright Futures award will continue to fluctuate throughout the semester if you adjust your enrollment at any time. 

Per federal regulations, outside scholarship resources must be considered when determining your eligibility for need-based aid. Students are required to report all outside scholarship resources to our office.  This information may be submitted to us via the Outside Scholarship Submission Form. 

Financial need for need-based aid awards is calculated by: 

If you have no financial need, or less financial need than the amount of the new outside scholarship, you can expect your aid package to be impacted. Self-help (loans and work-study), if applicable, will be reduced first before need-based grants and scholarships.

The total aid package may not exceed the total cost of attendance for the awarding period.

Students who have financial need may receive institutional funds in the form of a donor scholarship. The award will initially be made as an “endowed/gift” award—which is a placeholder until the student can be matched with a scholarship from one of the many generous donors to the University. Students may be asked to:

• meet certain criteria specified by the donor, such as a particular major, or
• write a thank you to the donor for their generous contribution to the University, which helps fund students' educational goals.

The donor scholarship will disburse to the student’s account as soon as the criteria is met. The adjustment from an endowed/gift award to a donor scholarship will not change the total of the aid package. 

Undergraduate merit scholarships from the University are available for undergraduate study only. Please refer to your merit scholarship agreement. 

No, aid awarded for future terms cannot be drawn down and used in an earlier term. Aid is awarded each semester based on enrollment for that semester. 

It may take anywhere from 24 hours during low volume processing periods to 5-7 business days during peak processing times for documents to be updated. Please continue to monitor CaneLink for updates and to see if any new requests have been added.

Students must maintain satisfactory academic progress (SAP) to qualify for the renewal of most aid programs, however standards will vary. It is the student’s responsibility to ensure they are meeting the standards for the types of aid they receive. All standards have a qualitative (grade-point average) measurement, a quantitative (credits earned) measurement, and a length of time measurement.

Up-to-date SAP policies for each type of aid can always be found on our website.