Understanding Your Financial Aid Award

Scholarships and Grants – gift assistance based on financial need that never has to be repaid.

Work-study Earnings – monthly payments you will receive for the hours you work in the Labor Program. These earnings are considered scholarships/grants, not taxable wages.

Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) – the aid application all students must file to qualify for federal, state, and the College’s need-based aid programs.

Student Aid Index (SAI) – the federal government’s assessment of a family’s ability to contribute to your education for a given academic year. this amount is determined from information provided on the FAFSA.

Direct Costs – includes expenses such as tuition, housing, meals, and fees.

Indirect Costs – includes expenses such as books and supplies, transportation, and personal fees.

Cost of Attendance (COA) – the total annual amount it should cost a student to attend school. the cost of attendance includes:

• tuition
• mandatory fees
• on-campus housing and meals (or a housing and food allowance for off-campus students)
• costs for books and supplies
• transportation
• personal expenses

COA = direct costs + indirect costs

Financial Need – demonstrated eligibility for financial aid as determined by comparing a school’s Cost of Attendance (COA) with the Expected Family Contribution (EFC). This figure establishes the maximum amount of need-based financial aid that can be provided to you from all sources.
COA – EFC = Financial Need.

Loans – financial assistance to help you meet your educational expenses while in school. Al of the money you borrow must be repaid, with interest if applicable, and loan repayments usually begin six months after graduation.

Payroll deduction – provides you with an option of paying your term bill by having a portion of your monthly work-study earnings applied to your bill.

Summer Savings – earnings that are saved from summer employment. You are encouraged to save $800 to $1000 that you can apply toward educational costs for the upcoming year.

Term Bill – a bill issued to you that consists of housing, meals, and fees, charged to your Berea College account.

Berea College guarantees tuition will be covered. Tuition is met entirely from any or all of the following sources: federal, state, private grants, outside scholarships, Berea Work Scholarships, and Berea Tuition Promise Scholarships for each admitted student. The tuition scholarship does not cover housing, food, books, or fees. Please note that since tuition is covered by grant funding from other sources, parents and/or students cannot claim the tuition tax credit for federal tax purposes. Learn more here.

The expenses used to determine your need for financial aid include the Tuition, housing, food, fees, books, supplies, transportation and miscellaneous personal expenses. The Tuition fee is paid by institutional, federal, state and outside grants and scholarships and is guaranteed never to be a cost to the student or family. The balance for housing, meals, fees and other educational expenses during the year is paid from family resources, self help resources from labor program earnings, summer savings or loans. The average costs for books and supplies ($750), transportation ($1,350) and miscellaneous personal expenses ($1,800) are not included in the balance listed on the Financial Aid Notification. Students not residing on campus may have higher living expenses.

As a student at Berea, you will also participate in Berea’s Labor Program and work a minimum of 10 hours a week in an assigned labor position. After the first year, you will have the opportunity to apply for a position that will support your academic, career, or personal interests. For your efforts, you will be compensated in the form of Berea Work Scholarship, which is applied to your cost of tuition. You will also receive cash compensation that can be used to help pay for books and other expenses. You may use your work-study earnings to pay your student account chargers through a payroll deduction arrangement. We advise setting up electronic transfer to your checking or savings account once you are on campus.

Institutional and federal loans are not included in the initial financial aid package. However, if additional assistance is needed for educational expenses, and you meet eligibility requirements, you may apply for a federal or institutional loan at Student Financial Aid Services. There are also loans which students may be able to use for medical, dental, or optical expenses. Please contact Student Financial Aid Services for more information.

Additional Aid Application

The College will determine how scholarships from outside sources will be used, including the Kentucky Excellence in Education Scholarship (KEES), depending on your financial need and other sources of aid available for:

• tuition
• housing, food, and fees
• educational costs (e.g., books, art supplies, etc.)

Due to federal guidelines, scholarships or grants cannot be used to replace the Student Aid Index (SAI) as determined by the FAFSA. The Department of Education has rules about how much aid a student can receive in a given year. For most schools, this tends not to be an issue, but because Berea provides so much grant and scholarship money, our students are more likely to run into this limit. Berea meets the student’s needs up to 100% minus their Student Aid Index(SAI) based on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FASFA). To prevent an over-award status when a student receives an outside scholarship, we often have to reduce the amount of institutional funds given to the student by the college to prevent an over-award status. Students with outside scholarships may be able to use Berea College endowment grants up to $2,000 for faculty-led courses during their enrollment at Berea. Therefore we strongly encourage students to apply for outside scholarships to help cover some book and travel expenses when possible.

Please notify Student Financial Aid Services of any scholarships you receive directly. Please send notification letters from the donors and mail any checks you receive for outside scholarships to the following address:

Attention:

Student Financial Aid Services
Berea College
CPO 2172, Berea, KY 40404

or you may bring them to 120 Lincoln Hall. Any scholarships made payable to you that you cash must be included in your financial aid package, so those funds must be reported as well.

An aid recipient who enrolls and then withdraws from classes will have any refund returned to the aid fund(s) from which the assistance was disbursed according to government regulations and College policy. The withdrawal policy can be found in the Student Handbook.

A student should be aware that a change in enrollment status could affect their eligibility to receive assistance. Any student considering withdrawing from classes or seeking a reduction in his or her course load is encouraged beforehand to seek financial aid and academic counseling.

Kentucky residents may receive state grants and scholarships awarded by the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority (KHEAA). These include the College Access Program (CAP) Grant, the Kentucky Tuition Grant (KTG) and the Kentucky Educational Excellence Scholarship (KEES). You will receive official notification by mail directly from KHEAA regarding the amount for which you are eligible. Full-time enrollment is required. Berea College will be notified by the state of the amounts to be received. The state funds are received by Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) and will be credited to your educational costs based on your financial need and budget (cost of education, room, board, fees, etc.). State funds can replace or reduce other financial aid already awarded to prevent a financial aid overaward.

Term charges and financial aid are applied to your student account. The term bill (housing, meals, and required fees) must be paid, or a payment plan arranged, prior to the first day of classes each term. Payments for approved payment plans can be made throughout the term; however, your student account must be paid below $100 prior to the advance registration period for the upcoming term and in full by the end of the current term.

Payment options include payment by cash, check or credit card, use of labor earnings via payroll deduction, or additional aid such as institutional or federal loans. Partial or full term bill payments can be made by submitting a check to the Student Accounts office, CPO 2168, Berea, KY 40404. Checks should be made payable to Berea College. Note: Full refunds are made upon cancellation prior to the beginning of the term.

Labor earnings may be used to pay some of the student account charges through a 50% or more payroll deduction arrangement. However, this amount may not be enough to pay the entire balance. Students may complete a payroll deduction authorization form at the Student Accounts office.

See the section “Applying for Additional Assistance” for information about institutional and federal loan options.

Your student account must be paid according to established guidelines in order to register for a future term. Failure to register in a timely manner may result in termination of enrollment. You may view your student account once given access to your myBerea account under my accounts tab.

Learn more here.

• There are three types of financial assistance that may be offered for payment of your educational expenses: scholarships/grants, loans, and labor earnings.
• Scholarships and grants are gift assistance based on financial need and do not have to be repaid.
• Loans have various repayment agreements and must be repaid according to the terms listed on the promissory note.
• Labor earnings are payments students receive for hours worked in the Berea College Labor Program during the academic year. These earnings are considered scholarships/grants, not taxable wages. The College expects funds from academic year labor earnings and summer savings to be used to assist with the payment of expenses due at the beginning of the term and for other educational expenses incurred during the year. These self-help payments are a valuable resource to limit loan debt.

Certain policies and procedures of the College and the federal and state governments control the awarding and disbursement of financial aid. You should know the following rules to better understand the financial aid process:

• • Aid funds will not be disbursed/credited to any student
    who 1) is financially delinquent to the College, 2) is in
    default on a previously received Federal Perkins Loan,
    Federal Family Education Loan or Federal Direct Loan,
    or 3) owes a repayment to the Federal Pell Grant,
    FSEOG, or KHEAA State Grant programs.
  • You are required to report to Student Financial Aid
    Services any other types of financial assistance you will
    receive during the school year that were not indicated on
    your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA),
    such as outside scholarships. If the sum of your financial
    aid from all sources exceeds the cost of attendance,
    previously awarded financial aid may be adjusted to avoid
    an overaward or you may be obligated to repay the excess.
  • You must maintain a satisfactory level of academic
    progress to remain eligible for government aid, as
    defined in the Student Handbook.
  • Changes in enrollment status or the addition of other
    financial resources may result in adjustment of
    previously awarded financial aid.
  • Outside scholarships received after the financial aid
    award has been packaged, may cause institutional grant
    assistance to be reduced.

Student Financial Aid Services is here to help in any way we can, so please stop by or call if you need assistance.