In general, the process of applying for financial aid at LSUA is a very simple. A student merely applies for admission to LSUA, completes the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) listing LSUA’s school code (002011), monitors his/her LSUA email and Net Partner Accounts, submits any additional paperwork/documentation requested by the LSUA Financial Aid Office, and monitors their LSUA email and Net Partner accounts for any updates.
The Financial Aid Checklist is a step by step guide our office provides students to guide them through the process of applying for financial aid at LSUA. Click on the appropriate checklist for you below to view and print a copy of a checklist:
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid is the primary form students need to complete to receive grants, loans, and/or work-study sources of financial aid. This form is completed online, by going to https://studentaid.gov/h/apply-for-aid/fafsa. The completion of the FAFSA is very straight forward and simple. Once you go to the above website, you will see that it is as easy as:
Once a FAFSA is received and the student has been fully admitted to LSUA, we will automatically award the maximum annual student loan amount to the student. The student is not obligated to accept these awards and may decline or reduce them. If we have received your FAFSA and you do not see any student loans in your Netpartner accept awards tab, this is an indication that your Admissions may not be complete. In this case you would want to contact the Admissions office in order to submit any missing documentation they may need. If your FAFSA is received after the semester has begun, you will need to submit the loan application as we are not automatically awarding as frequently at that point.
If you decline or reduce the loans that are offered and at any point decide you do need them, you may complete a loan application to request a loan amount. For instructions on how to apply for a student loan please see http://sfa.lsua.edu/TypesOfAid.
Student’s applying for financial aid at LSUA must also complete an Admission Application by the appropriate deadlines. Please remember, the primary method of communication between the Financial Aid Office and a student is the student’s LSUA email address. Only admitted LSUA students have access to an LSUA email address.
The Admission application also serves as the primary application for all academic scholarships. The priority deadline to have an admission application submitted is the December 1st preceding the first fall semester the student plans to attend LSUA.
After a student completes a FAFSA, his/her FAFSA application may be selected for a process called Verification. Verification is a process by which copies of all information used to complete the FAFSA, and any supporting documentation is submitted to the LSUA Office of Financial Aid. After receiving all requested and required paperwork, our office then reviews the documentation submitted to verify that the information reported on the FAFSA is correct and accurate.
At a minimum 30% of all FAFSA applications submitted nationally are randomly selected by the U.S. Department of Education for the verification process. In addition to this 30%, there are additional flags that may result in a student being selected. For example: a student’s FAFSA will be selected for verification if an unusually low total household income has been reported on the FAFSA. Students selected for verification will be required to submit additional paperwork to our office. If selected, a student will be notified of the need to submit the additional paperwork through his or her LSUA Net Partner account.
Students selected for verification will see a listing of missing documents in their LSUA Net Partner Account. The LSUA students must submit all paperwork listed as missing to the LSUA Financial Aid Office. Once all requested paperwork is received it typically takes 30 business days for the review to occur. As the information submitted is review, additional information may be required. The student will be notified of a need for new information through their LSUA Email and/or Net Partner accounts. This is why it is vital that students check their LSUA email and Net Partner accounts daily, as failure to promptly submit information will result in a delay in aid being processed for a semester. Remember, it typically takes 30 business days from the date the last piece of required information is submitted for the Verification process to be completed.