Funding your College Education. Financial Steps to begin your journey at Concordia University Nebraska.

Transcription

1 Funding your College Education Financial Steps to begin your journey at Concordia University Nebraska.

2 You can find this presentation, Funding your College Education, at

3 Overview of what we ll cover today Timeline Overview Filing the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) Accepting your Electronic Award Letter Outside Scholarships Understanding your Student Schedule/Bill Payment Options and CASHNet Review of Loan Options Understanding Banner Self-Service and your student 3

4 When should items be completed? June: If your FAFSA is in verification, complete requirements as soon as possible! Accept and submit your award letter: Log into and click on the New Student Tab then Banner Self-Service. In Banner Self-Service: STUDENT > FINANCIAL AID > AWARD > AWARD FOR AID YEAR Select the Aid Year, and Submit. Work through all 4 tabs and review any Unsatisfied Disbursement Requirements that may be noted on the 4 th tab. If accepting Federal Direct (student) Loans, complete: Master Promissory Note at Loan Entrance Counseling at If considering a Federal Direct (parent) PLUS Loan, complete 2 of 3 requirements online: Pre-Approval on Master Promissory Note on 4

5 When should items be completed? July: Watch the mail as bills will be sent home beginning mid-july. NOTE: Revised bills are only sent if there are changes to charges, not financial aid. Once bills are mailed, begin monitoring your account in Banner Self-Service to stay up-todate on any changes to your financial aid that could impact your balance due. In Banner Self-Service: Click on STUDENT > STUDENT ACCOUNT > ACCOUNT DETAIL FOR TERM Take action: Begin steps to secure other loans if that is your intent to cover your remaining balance. Eg: If doing the Federal Direct (parent) PLUS Loan, your last requirement is to complete a PLUS Loan Confirmation Statement found at If utilizing the fall monthly payment plan, set up by end of July (plan begins Aug 5 th ). Call with questions regarding your bill and payment options-we re here to help! 5

6 When should items be completed? August: The fall monthly payment plan begins August 5 th Classes begin August 20 th DUE DATE: August 27th If paying in full, fall semester needs to be paid by the 27 th. If mailing a check, mail in time to be received by the due date. If requesting funds from college savings plans, please request early enough to ensure it is received by the due date. If paying with loans: Loans will not disburse until approximately 30 days after school startshowever, you need to make sure all loan requirements are completed by the due date in order to not be considered past due. 6

7 FAFSA and what it does for you Filing your FAFSA online at is the most efficient method and you can add several schools to receive your results. Your results, known as your Expected Family Contribution (EFC), are what determine what federal aid you may qualify for: Federal Grants (money you don t pay back) Federal Loans (borrowed money that is paid back-there are student and parent loans) State Grants Filing the FAFSA also helps us determine if you might qualify for needbased money from Concordia in the form of a Concordia Grant. 7

8 FAFSA Verification Verification is a process that requires institutions to collect additional information to ensure accuracy and check for errors before finalizing federal and need-based aid. If selected, you will receive verification paperwork by mail, addressed to the student, sent to the student s home address. Read materials carefully and complete ASAP. Accounts with incomplete requirements by the due date are subject to an academic hold and a $300 late fee. We cannot disburse your financial aid if verification is incomplete! 8

9 Accepting Your Electronic Award Letter If your FAFSA is in the process of verification, complete verification as soon as possible as need-based aid is subject to change if your FAFSA results change. To accept, go to and sign in Click on the Academic Life or New Student tab, then on Banner Self-Service. Click on the following sub folders: Student > Financial Aid > Award > Award for Aid Year then click on the drop box to select the school year. Proceed as instructed through all four tabs. Aid cannot be disbursed if you have not submitted your award letter! 9

10 Additional Award Letter Requirements If you ve filed your FAFSA and you ve chosen to accept your Federal Stafford Loans on your award letter, you will need to complete the following TWO items: Federal Stafford Loan Entrance Counseling Federal Stafford Loan Master Promissory Note BOTH items are completed at You will sign in with your student FSA ID and password and select Complete Loan Agreement (Master Promissory Note) and Complete Counseling and proceed as instructed. Review Unsatisfied Disbursement Requirements within your award letter on the Accept Award Offer tab to determine if there are other missing requirements. 10

11 1 1 Outside Scholarships If you are receiving outside scholarships, please provide documentation in order to account for them on your award letter. If you do not have documentation but know of outside scholarships you are receiving, please have the scholarship source complete the Outside Scholarship Awards Form for Donors found at Once you ve provided documentation from the source, please allow up to two weeks before seeing it reflected on your award letter. We receive many outside scholarships for many students and it takes time to enter them.

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13 1 3 Understanding your Paper Student Bill When is the due date? The due date is always the following Monday after school starts and reflected at the bottom of the bill. What do the asterisks mean? These are aid items that have missing requirements, or we have not received an outside scholarship check yet. What if I don t see one of my outside scholarships listed? We may not have received documentation yet, or we may not have it entered yet. Please review your account in banner self-service regularly. Will I receive a revised bill if something changes? You will only receive a revised bill if CHARGES change. For changes to your financial aid, review banner self-service. How much do I owe? To calculate your balance due, start with the Total Amount Due listed at the bottom and subtract off items WITH asterisks. Items without asterisks have already been subtracted from the charges.

14 Payment Options Payments made directly to your student account: Payments by cash, check, and money orders are accepted in the Student Financial Services Office in JCC 204, in person, or by mail. Please allow time for mail to reach us by the due date! Payments online: You can pay via electronic checking/savings or credit/debit card thru our payment gateway, CASHNet. Visit for more information. Semester Monthly Payment Plan: You can take advantage of a 5 month plan through CASHNet. Visit for more information. The fall plan starts August 5 th and ends December 5 th (will open for sign-up when bills are mailed) The spring plan starts January 5 th and ends May 5 th Student Employment: If you secure an on-campus job, employed by Concordia, you can designate a percentage or all of your paycheck to go towards your balance. See our office after securing a job to complete necessary paperwork. 14

15 CASHNet STUDENTS: To make a payment, log into the portal, click on the Academic Life tab, then on Banner Self-Service. From there, the following folders: STUDENT > STUDENT ACCOUNT > ACCOUNT DETAIL FOR TERM Once you review your account balance, you will be able to click the Pay Now button to be redirected to CASHNet to select your payment option. AUTHORIZED USERS: Once a parent or individual is set up as an authorized user, that individual will receive separate log-in information via to sign in directly to CASHNet.

16 Loan Options After Federal Direct (student) Loans, other loan options include: Federal Direct (parent) PLUS Loan: This loan is available to parents of dependent, undergraduate students. Interest rates are fixed. To be eligible, the borrowing parent must have satisfactory credit. To complete a pre-approval, the parent borrower should sign into and click on Apply for a Direct PLUS Loan. If approved, there are two requirements to complete in order to process a Federal Direct Plus Loan: A PLUS Loan Confirmation Statement ( must be completed and returned to the Student Financial Services Office. Please add 4.264% onto the needed amount in order to cover government origination fees. A Master Promissory Note (MPN) must be completed at 16

17 Loan Options Continued Private Student Loan: This loan is credit-based and should only be considered after reviewing all other financial aid options. Please visit for more information on selecting a lender that best fits your needs. Combine now and save later: In order to reduce overall costs, we encourage you to consider combining a Monthly Payment Plan and a Direct PLUS Loan or private loan. Borrowing less and paying cash on a Monthly Payment Plan will reduce accrued interest over time. 17

18 Utilizing Concordia s online services: Signing into the connectcune portal and using Banner Self-Service; signing into your cune.org account

19 1 9 Signing into the connectcune portal User Name: FirstName.LastName -Example: John.Smith Password: You created when you applied.

20 2 0 Signing into the connectcune portal continued I don t know my password 1. Click CUNE Accounts website 2. Click I don t have a password. What s next? 3. If you have your secure access code, you may enter it, or click I don t have a secure access code, either. 4. Enter your information and click Lookup and follow the prompts. 1. (Note: there is no separate parent access-students would need to provide their login information for parents to sign in)

21 I ve now signed into the connectcune portal, where can I find Banner Self-Service and why is it important? Banner Self-Service houses all of your student information and can be found inside of the connectcune portal. Why is Banner Self-Service important? You can do the following: View and accept your award letter View your student account Access CASHNet to make payments View your Holds View your Grades/Unofficial Transcripts Register for Classes Update personal information 21

22 2 2 Banner Self-Service continued Once you click the folder Banner Self-Service, you can click on the various subfolders A Banner Self-Service User Guide can be found at

23 2 3 Accessing your Concordia Account Go directly to When signing in to access your Concordia account, your user name is firstname.lastname@cune.org. Eg: John.Smith@cune.org Your password is the same for your and logging into the connectcune portal page. For more information regarding Concordia s online systems, please visit Checking your on a regular basis is very important!

24 Additional Links and Resources Like us on Facebook! connectcune portal webpage: Award Letter Instructions: FAFSA Verification Information: Student Financial Services webpage: Student technology information webpage: 24

25 2 5 Contact Information Student Financial Services is located in Janzow (JCC) 204 Contact (ext. 2) or finaid@cune.edu for questions relating to: FAFSA Verification Scholarships and/or Loans Contact (ext. 3) or studentaccounts@cune.edu for questions relating to: Your student bill and account balance CASHNet Monthly Payment Plans

26 2 6 Just One More Reminder Fall Semester Due Date: AUGUST 27 TH To avoid a late fee, please make sure to have ALL items done for financial aid and arrangements for your balance made no later than the due date. (If you will be signing up for a fall semester monthly payment plan, the plan begins August 5 th )

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