Frequently Asked Questions
What is Financial Aid?
Financial aid consists of funds provided to students to help pay for educational expenses. It comes in different forms, including scholarships, grants, loans, and work-study.
- Scholarships are gifts of money for which you apply, and which you do not have to pay back
- Grants are also gifts of money you do not have to pay back.
- Loans are low-interest, and must be repaid usually after you finish school. Subsidized loans are ones which are interest-free until after you graduate, and unsubsidized loans are ones which you pay interest every three months, or you can let it accrue.
- Work-study is a job program so students can gain work experience part-time while in school. You must be enrolled at least ½ time (2 classes), and you cannot work more than 20 hours per week.
How do I apply?
To apply for grants, loans, and work-study, you need to fill a Free Application for Federal Student Aid. The application is now completely electronic, which makes it fast and easy. The Financial Aid Staff at NMSUA are more than happy to assist with all parts of the application process. Your eligibility for aid is calculated based on almost all of your answers on the application, so eligibility varies from person to person and year to year.
Be sure to fill out the FAFSA by March 1 of every year for the following school year. The process can take awhile, and you want to make sure you have applied early enough to have your file completed in time for classes. Filling the FAFSA out on the web will speed this process up—we usually receive your information in about 5-10 business days after you submit it. The website has a built-in system to check for errors, and has a wealth of information about financial aid.
- When you fill out the application, you will be assigned a Personal Identification Number, which will act as your signature. This number will be used for many other aid-related activities, such as signing a Master Promissory Note for a loan or making corrections to your application.
- 1/3 of applications are selected for a process called Verification. This means that some of the information on the FAFSA will be verified, by asking the student for copies of the tax return.
- We also take other documents in—for example, if you left your household size blank, we may ask you to fill out a form to tell us how many people are in your household.
- You must reapply each year for the FAFSA.
To apply for scholarships, you usually need to fill out individual applications. We keep scholarship listings in our office and on our website, and have most of the applications in our office for pick-up. We also have information on scholarship search websites, so you can find even more scholarships. Once you are awarded a scholarship, be sure to bring us the award letter immediately so we can process it.
Who Can Get Aid?
U.S. Citizens or (usually) permanent residents can get federal student aid. You must also be a high school graduate or be a GED holder. You need to be enrolled in an eligible degree or certificate program, have a valid social security number, make satisfactory academic progress, and males need to be registered for selective service.
I mentioned making Satisfactory Academic Progress. But what is that?
- You have to maintain at least a 2.0 cumulative GPA
- You must complete and pass (with a D or higher) 2/3 of your classes. If you receive an F, W, U, I, or RR, you attempted the class, but did not complete it. We will look at your entire academic history to calculate your completion rate.
- You must also complete your degree within a certain number of credit hours. If your degree takes 66 credits to complete, you have 99 credits to earn your degree. This gives you room in case you change your mind about what degree you’re working on, or you want to take extra classes.
- If you do not meet these requirements, you must appeal in order to get further financial aid. If you receive all failing or non-passing grades for a semester, you may be billed for some or all of the aid you received, depending on your last date of attendance.
Veterans Benefits
Our office also handles veterans benefits. These educational benefits may be available to those who served on active duty, are members of the guard, or are dependents of disabled or deceased veterans. If you believe you may qualify for veterans benefits or would like more information, be sure to visit www.gibill.va.gov, or call 1-888-GI-BILL-1. Once you have determined you are eligible for benefits, please stop by our office and we’ll help you get started.
Extra Information
If you have received financial aid at another college or university during the academic year, please notify us immediately.
To check your financial aid status online, login to my.nmsu.edu and click on the Student and Financial Aid tab. From there, you can see what we might need to complete your file, check any holds that might be on your file, and see your awards for the school year.
Not attending your classes can have serious consequences for your financial aid.
There is a deadline by which you need to be registered for classes each semester in order to receive your financial aid. Please check with us each semester to see what that date is, and keep it in mind as you make changes to your schedule.
Work-study and student loans require a few extra steps. For work-study, notify us once your file is complete that you are interested, and we will see if you are eligible. If so, we will post the funds on your account and you can go to the work-study page to see available positions. Contact the supervisors listed to set up interviews. For first-time loans, you must accept your award at my.nmsu.edu, complete debt management at fa.nmsu.edu/loans, and fill out a master promissory note at fa.nmsu.edu/loans.
