All students who think they need financial assistance to attend the University of the South should apply for financial aid. Prospective students are not considered for financial aid until they have applied for admission to the University and are not awarded financial aid until they have been accepted for admission. Continuing students are considered for financial aid after grades are issued following the Easter Semester. Students must re-apply each year for need-based aid, as this assistance is not automatically renewed. Circumstances may change for the applicant and/or the University with regard to the amount of available funds.
It is important to note: You do not need to be low-income to be eligible for need-based financial aid.
To establish your eligibility for need-based aid, you are required to complete and submit certain forms. The procedure to follow is outlined below:
A. Submit the Sewanee Financial Aid Application after January 1 and by March 1. If you are a prospective student, this form is included in the Admission Application Packet. For continuing students, it is mailed home with other aid renewal materials. It is also on the University’s Web site at: <http://admission.sewanee.edu/financial_aid/forms>.
B. Also after January 1 and prior to March 1, complete a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Incoming students must complete an original FAFSA; continuing students should complete either another original FAFSA or the Renewal FAFSA. The original FAFSA should be available in your high school guidance office. In order for the data from the FAFSA to be available to the University, you must designate on the FAFSA Sewanee’s institution code, which is 003534.
C. It is recommended the FAFSA be completed electronically; the USED’s FAFSA website is www.fafsa.ed.gov. Electronic filing is more timely and accurate. The electronic FAFSA process also allows you to use an electronic signature; information on electronic signatures is available on the FAFSA web site and also at <www.pin.ed.gov>.
D. Prior to mailing a paper FAFSA to the processor, a photocopy of the form should be made for your records. If an electronic version of the FAFSA is completed, print a copy of the electronically submitted information for your records.
E. All students applying for financial aid automatically apply for a Pell Grant by completing and filing the FAFSA. A Student Aid Report (SAR), indicating your Pell Grant and other federal aid eligibility, will be sent directly to you. Some students will receive a paper SAR; others will receive an electronic one.
F. All students applying for financial aid who are Tennessee residents automatically apply for the need-based Tennessee Student Assistance Award by completing the FAFSA. Students from other states should check with their state’s Higher Education Assistance Commission (or equivalent state agency) to see if they can use their state’s grant at Sewanee. If their state grant program may be used outside their home states, they must make application for the grant by completing the appropriate form(s). (For the address and telephone number of any state Higher Education Assistance Commission, call the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 1-800-4-FED-AID.)
G.Tennessee residents who wish to only apply for the non-need-based Tennessee Education Lottery Scholarship Program also must file a FAFSA to be considered for this scholarship. Eligibility criteria are available from the Tennessee Student Assistance Corporation (TSAC) at 1-800-342-1663 or <www.collegepaystn.com/index.html>.
Application Deadlines
Financial aid applications submitted by prospective and continuing students which are postmarked by March 1 of each year are given priority consideration. This means that you are assured your share of available funds under Sewanee’s aid allocation system (discussed in the section “How Does Sewanee Award Available Funds?”).
Prospective student applicants who have met the priority deadline should receive their aid awards no later than May 1. Continuing students who meet the priority deadline will begin receiving their aid awards after Easter Semester grades are issued. Applicants who fail to meet the priority deadline will be awarded aid only upon availability and are subject to a reduction in the grant/scholarship portion of any award they may receive.
