FAQ & Resources

SU's federal school code is 002091. You will need this when completing the FAFSA.

Visit the FSA website to create a FSA ID.

For priority funding, students should submit the FAFSA on or after October 1st. The priority funding deadline is March 1st, however some funds will be awarded on a first come-first serve basis.

The FAFSA requires income from the Prior-Prior Year. For example: You are completing the 2018-2019 FAFSA based on the 2016 Income information.

Your answers to questions on the FAFSA® form determine whether you are considered a dependent or independent student. The questions change a little from one year’s application to the next year’s; for instance, the 2018–19 FAFSA form asks whether you were born before Jan. 1, 1995, while the 2019–20 FAFSA form will ask whether you were born before Jan. 1, 1996. Here are the questions that determine your dependency status, first in a graphic format and then (for 2018–19 specifically) in a table:

Department of Education website - The Difference between a dependent & independent student

In this case, how you fill out the FAFSA form depends on whether your parents live together or not. Keep the following in mind as you read this section.

• For FAFSA purposes, your married parents are separated if they are considered legally separated by a state, or if they are legally married but have chosen to live separate lives, including living in separate households, as though they were not married.
• When two married persons live as a married couple but are separated by physical distance (or have separate households), they are considered married for FAFSA purposes.
• Divorced or Separated Parents Who Do Not Live Together: If your parents are divorced or separated and don’t live together, answer the questions about the parent with whom you lived more during the past 12 months.
• If you lived the same amount of time with each divorced or separated parent, give answers about the parent who provided more financial support during the past 12 months or during the most recent 12 months that you actually received support from a parent.
• Divorced or Separated Parents Who Live Together: If your divorced parents live together, you’ll indicate their marital status as “Unmarried and both legal parents living together," and you will answer questions about both of them on the FAFSA form.
• If your separated parents live together, you’ll indicate their marital status as “Married or remarried" (NOT “Divorced or separated"), and you will answer questions about both of them on the FAFSA form.

If you have a stepparent who is married to the legal parent whose information you’re reporting, you must provide information about that stepparent as well.

EXCEPTION: The FAFSA form asks about your parents’ education level. For these two questions, your parents are considered to be your birth parents or adoptive parents—your stepparent is not your parent in these questions.

Including your stepparent’s information on the FAFSA form helps create an accurate picture of your family’s total financial strength.

• If you drop or withdraw from classes (officially or unofficially-drop out), you may jeopardize future eligibility for student aid (including loans). Learn more about drop and withdrawal.
• If your enrollment drops below half-time, your financial aid awards may be adjusted, and the grace period before repayment of loans will begin.
• If you withdraw (officially or unofficially-drop out) and didn’t complete more than 60 percent of the semester, you may have to repay financial aid according to the Return of Title IV Funds policy.

Federal student financial aid is awarded under the assumption you will be enrolled full-time for the semester. Any time you change your enrollment, SU’s Financial Aid Office must review your record and recalculate your aid. Federal (Title IV) aid includes the following programs:

• Federal Pell Grant
• Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (SEOG)
• Subsidized Direct Stafford Loans
• Unsubsidized Direct Stafford Loans
• Federal Perkins Loans
• Federal Direct PLUS Loans

Enrollment changes can also affect your Satisfactory Academic Progress, which also affects your aid eligibility given the impact to your GPA (qualitative) and course completion rate (quantitative).

PLEASE NOTE: Students who are withdrawn completely from classes during the tuition refund period will have their scholarship and institutional aid (which also includes tuition waivers for Non-Resident Nursing Students, Foster Care Recipients, and Unaccompanied Homeless Youth) prorated based on the tuition proration schedule. Maryland Higher Education Commission requires total cancellation of Maryland state award(s) when a student withdraws from all classes during the tuition refund period.

Same-sex couples must report their marital status as married if they were legally married in a state or other jurisdiction (foreign country), without regard to where they live or where the student will be going to school.

The FAFSA questions use gender-neutral terminology for married parents (“Parent 1 (father/mother/stepparent)" and “Parent 2 (father/mother/stepparent)" instead of “mother" and “father"). It does not matter which parent completes which set of questions.

It doesn’t matter if you don’t live with your parent or parents; you still must report information about them. The following people are not your parents unless they have legally adopted you: grandparents, foster parents, legal guardians, older brothers or sisters, uncles or aunts, and widowed stepparents.

You can’t be considered independent of your parents just because they refuse to help you with the FAFSA form. Still, we do understand that in some cases, the parents are not supporting the dependent student at all and refuse to provide their information on the student’s application. If you’re in that situation, here’s the process:

1. When the FAFSA form asks you whether you are able to provide information about your parents, say no. (Note: This option is not available on the FAFSA PDF.)
2. The next screen explains what's considered a special circumstance. Click "NEXT" and then, on the following screen, select the option that says you don’t have a special circumstance but you still can't provide parent information.
3. The FAFSA site explains that if your parents don’t support you and refuse to provide their information on the application, you may submit your FAFSA form without their information. However, you won’t be able to get any federal student aid other than an unsubsidized loan—and even that might not happen. The decision is up to the financial aid office at the college or career school you plan to attend. If you agree to this, you may submit your FAFSA form without parent information.
4. Your FAFSA information will be sent to the colleges you list, but you won’t get an EFC.
5. You must immediately contact your school’s financial aid office to discuss the possibility of getting an unsubsidized loan. The financial aid office may ask for a written statement from your parents, indicating that they refuse to provide their information on the FAFSA form and that they no longer support you. (Forms of support include allowing you to live in their home, including you on their car or health insurance, providing a car to drive on a regular basis, and payment of your tuition or fees.)
6. The financial aid office will look at your situation and decide whether you may receive an unsubsidized loan. That decision is final and cannot be appealed to the U.S. Department of Education.

If your family’s financial circumstances have changed due to the death of a parent, divorce or separation, or loss of or change in employment, please contact our office for next steps.

Many SU students receive scholarships/grants from outside organizations, which is referred to as Outside Aid. This form of aid must be reported to our office. In order to maximize our limited financial aid resources, as well as comply with government regulations, the University sometimes finds it necessary to adjust a student's financial aid based on the Outside Aid that is received. And, if the student receives Outside Aid that exceeds his or her full financial need, as determined by the FAFSA, the amount of that Outside Aid will be used to reduce other awards previously offered for the academic year.

No, Federal Pell Grants are awarded only to undergraduate students who have not yet earned a bachelor's degree.

Loan deferment forms are processed by our Registrar's Office, 120 Holloway Hall. Phone (410)-543-6150.