Financial Aid Office

TIPS for finalizing your financial aid:

The following steps must be taken to complete the processing of your student aid:

1. Accept your “Official Offer of Award” by signing and returning your award letter to the Financial Aid Office.

2. Check your Anchor Access account at my.lssu.edu  to see if all of your aid requirements have been met.  Go to the student and financial aid tab, select financial aid; eligibility; student requirements.

3. Determine your loan amounts needed. Use the Loan/Cost Estimator tool to calculate your need.

4. If this is your first student loan, you must complete a mandatory Entrance Interview before your loan funds can be disbursed to your student account. This is a federal regulation!  You can complete the self-certification on-line at http://www.dl.ed.gov and submit the results to LSSU electronically or attend an Entrance Counseling session at the Financial Aid Office.

5. Sign your electronic “Master Promissory Note” for direct loans online at https://dlenote.ed.gov and complete the ten easy steps.  Your  federal PIN is required.  If you do not know your PIN, you can request a duplicate PIN from this site.  For Parent PLUS loans, a separate PIN for the parent borrower is required.  A promissory note is valid for ten years and only needs to be completed for the first loan.

6. If you are also accepting a Federal Perkins or Federal Nursing Loan, you will receive Promissory Notes that must be completed and returned before your loan can disburse.

7. Loan funds are credited to your student account on the scheduled disbursement dates (typically, loans are divided equally [one half for fall semester; one half for spring semester] less fees).  Check your student account on Anchor Access to verify that your loan requirements have been met and your aid is authorized.

8. If you have accepted new student employment, make sure you know where you will be assigned and that you attend the student initiation meeting.Work study earnings are paid by paycheck and not available for direct payment on your account. Work study assignments will be made by the Human Resource Office. Please complete the student employment application found at http://www.lssu.edu/hr/forms/StudentEmploymentApplication.pdf and return. Work study assignments are made on a first come, first serve basis with preference given to returning students. Due to the limited number of positions on campus, this is not a guarantee of a work assignment. Funds earned by working on campus can not be used for payment of current semester charges.

9. If you are using an alternative loan for payment of student charges, funds will not be credited until received by the lender. Please complete your loan with the lender of your choice within the maximum amount shown on your award letter. Suggested alternative loan web sites are listed on our web site at www.lssu.edu/finaid/alternativeloans.

Questions? Call our office at 906-635-2678 or email us at finaid@lssu.edu