Office of Financial Aid 50 Acacia Avenue, San Rafael, CA 94901-2298 Telephone: (415) 257-1350 Email: finaid@dominican.edu Fax: (415) 485-3294 Web site: www.dominican.edu/financialaid Instructions for Dominican s Financial Aid Portal These instructions were developed to assist students with using Dominican s Financial Aid Portal. They are for use by Dominican University of California Staff, Faculty, and Students only. Any other use is strictly prohibited. Contents Contents... 1 Section 1: General Information... 1 Access Dominican s Financial Aid Portal... 1 Supported Browsers... 1 Section 2: Creating Your Account... 2 Error Messages... 4 Section 3: Logging In... 5 Section 4: Forgot Password... 6 Error Message... 7 Section 5: Navigation... 8 Welcome... 8 Dominican FA App... 8 Financial Aid Award... 9 Your Documents... 9 Your Messages... 9 Your Loans... 10 Your Loan History... 10 Your Disbursements... 10 Forms and Instructions... 10 Section 1: General Information This section provides some general information regarding Dominican s Financial Aid Portal. Access Dominican s Financial Aid Portal In the address bar of your internet browser, type https://aid.dominican.edu and click Enter Supported Browsers The Dominican Financial Aid Portal has been tested with: Firefox (the most recent version) Google Chrome (the most recent version) Safari 5.1.7 (in a Windows 8 environment only) Safari 5.0 (on a Macintosh) Internet Explorer 9 (in a Windows 7 environment only) Internet Explorer 10 (in a Windows 8 environment only) Internet Explorer 11 (in a Windows 8 environment only) If the Portal is not displaying correctly, please check the browser version and the operating system environment you are using to make sure you are using a supported browser and operating system. You may also want to try using a different browser. If you are still having difficulties, please contact the Office of Financial Aid. 1
Section 2: Creating Your Account On your first visit to Dominican s Financial Aid Portal, you will need to Create Your Account. 1. In the Log In box, click on Create My Account 2. In the box, enter your 9 digit Dominican ID number and then click Submit Your Dominican ID number is a 9 digit number, with at least two leading zeros, assigned to you by Dominican at the time of admission. Your ID number can be found on correspondence (both email and mail) from the Office of Financial Aid or on your Dominican ID Card. The number on your Dominican ID card does not have the leading zeros so you will need to add them when you enter your ID number. Some examples: If your ID number on your card is 5123456, then you would enter 005123456 If your ID number on your card is 312345, then you would enter 000312345 If your ID number on your card is 021234, then you would enter 000021234 If you are unsure of your Dominican ID number, please check your email and mail correspondence from the Office of Financial Aid. If you are still uncertain, please contact the Office of Financial Aid. 2
3. On the Activate Your Account page, you will a. Verify Your Identity by providing the zip code of your permanent address and your Date of Birth This information must exactly match what the Office of Financial Aid has on file. If you have any difficulties, please contact the Office of Financial Aid. b. Select two Security Questions and provide answers for them The Office of Financial Aid will not be able to access the security questions you choose or the answers you provide. Please select questions and answers that you will remember. c. Set your Password and confirm it Your Password needs to be at least 5 characters and should be a combination of upper and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters. Please make sure it is something you will remember as the Office of Financial Aid is unable to access your Password. Important Note: Please make a note of your Password for Dominican s Financial Aid Portal. You cannot use the login information for Self-Service to login to your Portal account. They are separate systems. 3
d. Read the Terms and Conditions, then check the box confirming your agreement The Terms and Conditions are subject to change at any time and may not match what is presented in this document. When you click the box next to I agree to these Terms and Conditions, you are agreeing to the Terms and Conditions as they are presented to you on Dominican s Financial Aid Portal, not as they are presented in this instructional documentation. e. Then, click Submit 4. Upon successful activation of your account, you will be taken back to the Log In screen for Dominican s Financial Aid Portal. To log in to your account, please follow the instructions in Section 3: Logging In. Error Messages You may encounter an error message when creating your account. Common error messages are listed below. If you receive an error message, please contact the Office of Financial Aid for further instruction. Make sure to reference the exact error message and code. We are unable to activate your account. Please contact your Financial Aid Office and refer to Code IA. We are unable to activate your account. Please contact your Financial Aid Office and refer to Code NQ. We are unable to activate your account. Please contact your Financial Aid Office and refer to Code ND. 4
Section 3: Logging In Once you have activated your account, you will need to log in; or, if you are returning to Dominican s Financial Aid Portal after previously logging in, you will need to log in again. 1. In the Log In box, enter your Dominican ID number and the Password you set when you created your account As a reminder, your Dominican ID number is 9 digits in length and has at least two leading zeros. This number can be found on correspondence from the Office of Financial Aid or on your Dominican ID card. 2. Click Submit If you have forgotten your password, please read Section 4: Forgot Password. If you have other difficulties logging in, please contact the Office of Financial Aid. 5
Section 4: Forgot Password Everyone forgets a password now and then. You can try to log in with different passwords up to 5 times. After the 5 th attempt, your account will be locked. Prior to locking your account, if you can t remember your password, please follow these instructions to reset your password. The Office of Financial Aid does not have access to your security questions, security question answers, or your Password. 1. In the Log In box, click on Forgot your Password? 2. Enter your Dominican ID number and click Submit As a reminder, your Dominican ID number is 9 digits in length and has at least two leading zeros. This number can be found on correspondence from the Office of Financial Aid or on your Dominican ID card. 3. Answer the Security Question that comes up and click Submit As a reminder, the Office of Financial Aid does not have access to your Security Questions or answers. 6
4. Set your Password and confirm it, then click Submit Your Password needs to be at least 5 characters and should be a combination of upper and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters. Please make sure it is something you will remember as the Office of Financial Aid is unable to access your Password. 5. Upon a successful reset of your password, you will be taken back to the Log In screen for Dominican s Financial Aid Portal. To log in to your account, please follow the instructions in Section 3: Logging In. Error Message Under some conditions, you may receive the message below when attempting to change your password. Please contact the Office of Financial Aid for further instruction. Make sure to reference the exact error message. Access to Net Partner is currently not available. Please contact your Financial Aid Office for more information. 7
Section 5: Navigation All screen shots in this section are examples. The information you see in the Portal may be different as it is customized to each student s financial aid record. Once you successfully log in to Dominican s Financial Aid Portal, you will be taken to the Welcome page. Dropdown to change At the top of the screen: Current Award Year This tells you which award year you are currently viewing. If you click on the dropdown, you can view prior award years* My Account Click on this button to update your Security Questions/Answers or change your Password Logout Click on this button when you are finished reviewing your information so you are logged out of your account Help Click on this button if you need assistance Below Dominican s logo, there are tabs for each of the pages to which you have access. Not all students will have access to all tabs and the available tabs will change throughout the year depending on where your record is in the process. For a description of each page and actions you can take, please continue reading. *2015-2016 is the first year of data in the Portal. If you need award information from prior years, please contact the Office of Financial Aid. Welcome When you login to the Portal, you start at the Welcome page. There is a message from the Office of Financial Aid, along with contact information and important notes for the award year. Award Year Notes Dominican FA App All Graduate and Adult Degree Completion (ADC) Students who receive any financial aid must complete the Dominican Financial Aid Application. If this application is needed, you will see the Dominican FA App tab. Click on the tab to access the application. You do not have to complete the application in one sitting it can be saved for up to 30 days. The application asks for: Number of units you plan to take each term. Other resources you may have to assist with meeting your educational expenses. Special circumstances related to your financial situation that you think is important for us to know. Any relatives who are alumni of Dominican. 8
Financial Aid Award The Financial Aid Award tab will become available when your award has been created and has gone through our internal quality control process. You will be able to see your financial aid award information divided out by term. Hover your cursor over the fund name to reference eligibility requirements for each award. When you hover your mouse over the Fund name, eligibility requirements appear. If you would like to reduce or decline an award, please print the Award Change Form from the Forms and Instructions tab, complete it, and return it to the Office of Financial Aid. Should your award need revising, this tab will not be available until the revised award has gone through our internal quality control process. The Office of Financial Aid will notify you via email when your award has been revised and that email will also tell you why the revision occurred. Your Documents The Your Documents tab lets you know what documents the Office of Financial Aid needs from you, along with the status of documents you have already submitted. For many of the documents, you can click on the document name to bring up the document so you can print it, complete it, and return it to the Office of Financial Aid. Please check back regularly as the information on this page can change. Your Messages The Your Messages tab provides you with a variety of information including: Dominican s Satisfactory Academic Progress policy related to financial aid eligibility. Details regarding the enrollment and housing plans used to determine your financial aid award. Additional details regarding documents required by the Office of Financial Aid. Please check back regularly as the information on this page can change. 9
Your Loans The Your Loans tab is available if you have been awarded any Federal or Private Loans. This page will update you on the amount of the loan, the loan period, the loan status, and the status date. In addition, you will be able to see all of your loan disbursements once the funds are credited to your student account. Loan disbursement information will show here. Date is the date of the disbursement. Gross Amt. is the amount you borrowed (and need to repay along with any interest that accrues) Net Amt. is the amount that actually credited to your account. Pending means that we have not yet sent your loan to the lender. Please check the Your Documents and Your Messages tab to see if you need to submit additional information. Sent to Lender means we are processing your loan for disbursement. For Federal Loans, we will send an email when your loan disburses. If you would like to reduce or decline a loan prior to disbursement, please print the Award Change Form from the Forms and Instructions section, complete it, and return it to the Office of Financial Aid. If you would like to return some or all of a loan disbursement, please print the Return of Disbursed Funds Form from the Forms and Instructions section, complete it, and return it to the Office of Financial Aid. Please Note: Loans that have disbursed cannot be returned if more than 30 days have passed since the date of the disbursement notification email that was sent to you. Please contact the Office of Financial Aid for more information or with any questions. As a reminder, all the awards displayed on this page are Loans. The principal amount borrowed, along with any accrued interest, will need to be repaid. Please contact the Office of Financial Aid with any questions. Your Loan History The Your Loan History tab shows your Federal loan history as reported to Dominican on your most recent Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). More recent loan information may not be displayed. For the most up-to-date information, including information on your Loan Servicer, please visit the National Student Loan Data System at www.nslds.ed.gov. If you have borrowed any Private Loans, that information is not displayed here. Please contact your lender for more information. Your Disbursements The Your Disbursements tab shows the following information: Estimated disbursement amount and scheduled disbursement date Actual disbursement amount and disbursement date Payments received from organizations outside of the University will not show on this page. Please view your Student Account Statement in Self-Service to determine if payments have been received. Forms and Instructions The Office of Financial Aid may direct you here to download a specific set of instructions to assist you with a process, or to download a specific form you need to complete and return to the Office of Financial Aid. Information in this tab is for reference purposes. You do not need to download and return any of the forms on this page unless instructed to do so by the Office of Financial Aid. 10