Review Your Financial Aid Offer
Students admitted to SOU with a FAFSA/ORSAA will begin to receive their Financial Aid Offer emails in April. The SOU Financial Aid Office will send financial aid offers on a first-come, first-serve basis based on the FAFSA filing date to admitted students. It’s important to fill out the FAFSA/ORSAA as close to October 1st every year in order to be considered for priority funds.
After students receive their Financial Aid Offer email, they should complete the financial aid checklist.
The financial aid offer will outline the types and amounts of financial aid for which a student is eligible during the academic year:
- Grants and scholarships – these are gift aid options that should always be accepted first. If these funds are not accepted before the start of each term they may be canceled. Due to limited funding, they may not be able to be reinstated once they are canceled.
- Work-study and loans – offered as “pending” and must be actively accepted.
Students that are not sure if they want to accept a loan can choose to leave it in an offered status and accept those funds at a later point in the term. As long as they are still a currently enrolled student, in good financial aid standing, the loan should still be available. Once the term has ended, if a student is no longer enrolled they cannot retroactively accept the loans. For questions on whether or not a loan is still available email finaid@sou.edu .
Your financial aid offer represents SOU’s best offer of assistance based on your Expected Family Contribution/Student Aid Index. Financial aid offers cannot be negotiated and we do not match offers from other schools. If you or your parents have experienced a sudden loss of income (divorce, death, job loss, etc.) please contact the Financial Aid office.