Financial Aid How-To
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How to Apply for Financial Aid
To be considered for financial aid you must complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). On the FAFSA, you should list the University of Hawaiʻi Hilo (UH Hilo), Federal School Code number 001611, as one of the schools to receive your information. Complete the FAFSA online at https://studentaid.gov/h/apply-for-aid/fafsa. Please be aware that grant funds are limited and expended quickly. File your FAFSA early to ensure full consideration. UH Hilo has a priority filing date of February 1st.
Upon receipt of the FAFSA results, the Financial Aid Office will determine your financial aid eligibility. If more information is required, you will be notified via email. Once you have created a UH username and have a @hawaii.edu email address, that will be our main form of communication with you. In addition to being admitted to the university as a classified, degree-seeking student you must also complete all other requirements before your application will be processed.
How to View Your Financial Aid Requirements
To view your financial aid requirements online, follow the steps below:
- Log onto MyUH Services. New users should Get a UH username.
- Select the 'View My Financial Aid Information' link.
- Click on 'Student Requirements'.
- Select the appropriate aid year from the dropdown menu (be sure to choose 'UH Hilo Aid Year XXXX-XX') and click 'Submit'.
- Any 'Unsatisfied Requirement(s)' must be 'Satisfied' to continue processing your application.
- Review the 'Academic Progress' tab to ensure you are in an 'Eligible' status based on our Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy.
Once an aid offer is created, you will receive an email instructing you to log on to MyUH Services to review and respond to your financial aid offer.
Applicants Selected for Verification
Your application for Federal student aid may be selected for a process known as verification. This means that the Financial Aid Office must verify the accuracy of the information that you submitted on the FAFSA. If selected, you must submit a verification worksheet, federal tax return transcripts, and/or other supporting documents. If any data reported on the FAFSA is found to be incorrect, your financial aid eligibility will be recalculated. Until your information has been verified, a financial aid offer cannot be issued to you. You will normally have 60 days to submit the required verification documents.
Calculating Your Financial Aid Offer
Your overall eligibility for financial aid is determined by the following calculation:
Estimated Cost of Attendance - Expected Family Contribution (EFC) = Financial Need
The estimated cost of attendance budget for the period covered by the financial aid offer is comprised of the following:
- Tuition & Fees
- Books & Supplies
- Housing & Meals
- Personal Expenses
- Transportation
- Loan Fees
Your Estimated Cost of Attendance Budget will vary depending on your program, residency status, enrollment and housing plans.
The Expected Family Contribution (EFC) is calculated by the U.S. Department of Education based on the data submitted on your FAFSA. Your EFC can be found on your Student Aid Report (SAR) at studentaid.gov.
Your financial aid offer will be calculated according to your need and the availability of funds.
Understanding Your Financial Aid Offer
You will be notified via email once a financial aid offer is generated for you. Please carefully read and follow the instructions in the email to review and respond to your financial aid offer via MyUH Services. You will need to review and accept the Terms and Conditions for Financial Aid before responding to your aid offer. If any subsequent changes are made to your aid offer after receipt of your initial aid offer, you will receive a revised offer notification via email.
Grants and scholarships do not have to be repaid and will in most cases be ‘accepted’ for you. A loan, however, must be repaid and will require you to either ‘accept’ or ‘decline’ the offer. You can learn more about the different types of aid by visiting our What kind of financial aid is available? page. It is also helpful to review your College Financing Plan available via MyUH Services. This will help you better understand your college costs and the types of aid available to help you meet those costs.
Receiving Your Financial Aid
Your financial aid from UH Hilo will be disbursed no sooner than 10 days before your first day of class provided all requirements are completed. Funds are applied to any balance owed to UH Hilo for that term (tuition, fees, room and board, etc) then any remaining funds are issued to you in the form of a refund.
It is recommended that you sign up for eRefunds (direct deposit into your personal bank account) by logging on to MyUH Services. If you do not elect to use 'eRefunds', your refund is processed as a paper check and sent to the current mailing address on file with the university.
A. Grants, Scholarships and Tuition Waivers
Federal, state and institutional grants/scholarships should be automatically credited to your student account by the end of the add/drop period for each term.
B. Federal Work-Study Program
The Federal Work-Study program provides funds for students with financial need to work in part-time, on-campus jobs. The student must work to earn the work-study funds. Therefore, this does not represent cash-in-hand at the beginning of the semester and cannot be used to pay for up-front expenses like tuition, fees, room and/or board. Students who are able to secure an on-campus position are paid hourly and will receive a paycheck twice a month. Academic year earnings must not exceed the student’s total Federal Work-Study amount.
C. Loans
Types of loans include the State Higher Education Loan (SHEL), Federal Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized Stafford Loan, Federal Direct Parent PLUS and Grad PLUS Loans.
First time borrowers must complete a loan entrance counseling session as well as sign a master promissory note for any loans that they choose to accept. These requirements must be completed before the loan can be disbursed.
Entrance Counseling & Master Promissory Notes
The entrance counseling sessions can be completed online and usually only needs to be done once. Most promissory notes will also only need to be completed once. The Financial Aid Office will receive electronic confirmation within 24-48 hours of the completion of the loan requirements. Please see below for the corresponding online locations of each loan requirement.
- Federal Direct Subsidized/Unsubsidized Stafford Loans
- First time UH Hilo borrowers must complete the entrance counseling even though they may have completed it while at another school.
- Federal Direct Grad PLUS Loans
- Graduate students who borrow a Grad PLUS in addition to an Unsubsidized Stafford Loan will need to complete separate master promissory notes for each loan; the entrance counseling will be combined into one session.
- State Higher Education Loan (SHEL)
- State Higher Education Loan Entrance Counseling.
- The SHEL master promissory note needs to be completed every year that the loan is accepted.
Will my aid be affected?
Changes to my Cost of Attendance
Your financial aid offer is based on your enrollment status. Should you enroll in fewer hours than what your offer was based on, this may result in a reduction of your aid. A financial aid staff member should be consulted before dropping any courses to discuss how the change will affect your financial aid offer and/or your satisfactory academic progress. Also, a change in your housing status could change your cost of attendance budget and consequently affect your financial aid offer. If financial aid funds have already been paid to you and your aid is reduced or revised as a result of reduced hours or a change in housing status, you may be required to repay all or part of your financial aid. The University will not be able to disburse any additional financial aid, process transcript requests or allow you to register until all financial obligations have been cleared.
Outside Financial Assistance
A student may not receive educational financial assistance in excess of their cost of attendance. Regulations require that adjustments be made to your aid if you receive additional resources not reflected in your financial aid offer. You are required to notify the Financial Aid Office once you become aware that you will be receiving any additional resources not included in your aid offer (e.g. outside scholarships, stipends, assistantships, employer reimbursement, vocational rehabilitation benefits, some types of veteran’s benefits, etc.).
Change in Family's Financial Situation
The FAFSA uses your family’s prior-prior year income to determine your financial aid eligibility. It is assumed that this is an accurate predictor of your family’s financial strength during the academic year. We understand, however, that this may not be the case. Federal Regulations allow us to adjust the FAFSA to reflect more realistic information when a family's income is drastically reduced from one year to the next. If you would like to request a re-evaluation of your income, please submit one of the Request for Review of Special Circumstance(s) forms.
Note: Submittal of this type of request does not guarantee a change in financial aid eligibility. You must also ensure you have submitted your FAFSA and completed/met all other financial aid requirements before we will review your request.