Financial Aid and Other Resources

Financial Aid

As a service to Collin College students, the Financial Aid Office administers a comprehensive financial aid program that includes grants, loans and part-time employment for those who meet the eligibility requirements. A primary purpose of the Collin College financial aid program is to provide assistance for students who might otherwise find it difficult or impossible to attend college. All students are encouraged to apply for financial aid.

If students have questions or need assistance, they can contact the Financial Aid Office via phone or visit any campus Financial Aid Office. Financial aid staff is trained to assist students in realizing their educational goals by answering questions, providing appropriate forms and instructions, and referring students to other resources as needed.

For more information, please visit the Financial Aid Office webpage at: https://www.collin.edu/financialaid/.

Students receiving financial aid should not withdraw from all of their classes without first consulting the Financial Aid Office. In addition, all financial aid students must become familiar with the standards of academic progress required to remain eligible for financial aid.

Federal law requires a financial aid student to complete at least 60 percent of each semester. If a student completely withdraws before the 60 percent point in the semester, that student will need to repay a portion of the financial aid funds received. A financial aid student who earns a grade of “F” for all courses in a semester must have at least one (1) instructor provide proof to the Financial Aid Office that the student was in an academically related activity for 60 percent of the semester. Otherwise, that student will owe money back to the financial aid program.

Applying for Aid

Students can apply for aid online using the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) located at http://www.fafsa.gov. Collin College’s Title IV School Code is 016792 and must be reported on the FAFSA application in order for aid to be processed by Collin College.

Deadlines

Students must apply for financial aid each year. Students wanting to receive priority consideration should apply as early as possible. The new FAFSA is typically available Oct. 1 each year. Collin College uses the State of Texas’ priority deadline of January 15. Students who meet the priority deadline will have aid in place before the payment deadline.

Financial Aid Programs - Federal Assistance

Actual award amounts are determined by federal guidelines, a demonstration of need, and the student’s enrollment. Collin College participates in the following financial aid programs:

Federal Pell Grant

Eligibility for the Pell Grant is based on the financial need of the student and/or the student’s family, as well as the student’s enrollment status.

Financial need is determined by the U.S. Department of Education from information provided on the student’s FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). The standard formula, established by Congress, produces an Expected Family Contribution (EFC) that indicates how much a student, and their spouse or family, is expected to contribute financially toward the cost of their education. EFC’s within a particular range (varies by year and consists of those students determined to have the “most need”) will be eligible for Pell Grant provided the student meets all other eligibility criteria.

In general, only undergraduate students are eligible to receive a Pell Grant. A student who has earned a baccalaureate or a first professional degree is not eligible to receive a Pell Grant.

Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunities Grant (FSEOG)

FSEOG is limited by the availability of funds and is awarded to those students considered to have exceptional financial need. Priority is given to federal Pell Grant recipients.

Federal Work Study

Students demonstrating financial need may be considered for the work study program. Students are employed part-time at various jobs on campus or at other College District approved sites. Students are allowed to earn the amount designated in their award package as long as they maintain a 2.0 GPA and are enrolled in at least six credit hours.

Federal Direct Loan Program

This program permits students to borrow low-interest loans from the Department of Education provided the student is enrolled and attending at least half time and otherwise meets eligibility criteria. The federal government pays interest on the subsidized (need based) amount borrowed until the student graduates or ceases to be enrolled at least half time. Unsubsidized loans (non-need based) are also available to otherwise eligible students. Students are responsible for the interest accruing on these loans while attending school.

Direct Parent Loans to Undergraduate Students (PLUS)

PLUS loans are available to parents who want to borrow money to help defray the cost of their dependent children’s education. Like Direct loans, PLUS loans are offered by the Department of Education. Parents may borrow up to the cost of attendance minus any other educational resources and financial aid awarded to students. These loans have a higher interest rate than direct loans and the borrower is responsible for paying all the interest that accrues.

Financial Aid Programs - State Assistance

Texas Public Education Grant (TPEG)

The TPEG program is a state financial aid program designed to assist students in attending state-supported colleges. Students must demonstrate financial need and be making satisfactory academic progress toward their educational goals. The actual amount of the grant varies depending on the availability of funds to the college, the student’s financial condition and enrollment, and other aid the student may be receiving.

Texas Equal Opportunity Grant (TEOG)

Community college students working on their first associate’s degree may be eligible for this grant if they:

• Are a Texas resident
• Do not have a felony or a drug conviction
• Are within their first 30 hours of college
• Registered for Selective Service, if required
• Have financial need, as determined by the institution
• Are enrolled at least half-time (six hours)

Students who meet the qualifications are eligible for up to 75 hours at a community college. Additionally, a student receiving this grant may become eligible for the Texas Grant once they transfer to a university. For the first year, students must meet the college’s Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) requirements. (Please refer to the Institutional Policy of Satisfactory Academic Progress listed below for more information.) To continue receiving this grant, the student must maintain a 2.5 cumulative GPA, and complete at least 75 percent of their coursework.

For additional information about either of the above grants, please contact the Financial Aid Office.

Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP)

School policy: 34 CFR 668.16(e); Student eligibility: 34 CFR 668.32(f), 34 CFR 668.34

To be considered administratively capable, a school must have a satisfactory academic progress policy for a Federal Student Aid (FSA) recipient that is the same as or more strict than the school’s standards for a student enrolled in the same educational program who is not receiving assistance under a FSA program.

Basic Elements of a Satisfactory Progress Policy

According to these federal rules, a school’s policy must contain certain basic elements:

• a qualitative component consisting of grades or comparable factors that are measurable against a norm (a GPA component)
• a quantitative component that consists of a maximum time frame in which a student must complete his or her educational program, subdivided into increments (aka the 150 percent rule)
• a measurement of progress, meaning the student must be completing a certain percentage of classes to be considered making adequate progress.

Student Eligibility

To be eligible for Federal Student Aid (FSA) funds, a student must make satisfactory academic progress as defined by the school.

What is Your SAP Status?

An explanation of the different SAP statuses can be found on the college’s website at https://www.collin.edu/financialaid/SAP%20Status%20on%20Web.pdf. Students can also see this explanation in the financial aid section of their CougarWeb.

Institutional Policy of Satisfactory Academic Progress for Financial Aid (Effective November 2013)

This is an official statement of Collin College policy related to the financial aid operational definition of Satisfactory Academic Progress for students at Collin College effective for 2013-14 and subsequent academic years.

At the end of each period of enrollment, the Financial Aid Office evaluates satisfactory academic progress of all enrolled students. This evaluation considers Financial Aid GPA, the percentage of hours completed and maximum allowed hours attempted. Please note the evaluation takes place at the end of Fall, Spring and Summer.

At the end of each period of enrollment, a student must meet the following requirements:

I. Grade Point Average (GPA) Requirement

A student must maintain a Financial Aid GPA of 2.0 or higher in order to receive federal student aid. The Financial Aid GPA is the calculation of grades from all credit coursework, including developmental and ESL coursework. Please note, that the Financial Aid GPA may differ from the Academic GPA.

II. Percent Completion Requirement

A student must complete 67 percent of all attempted hours; calculated by dividing the total number of hours the student has successfully completed by the total number of hours attempted.

1. Successfully completed hours: Passing grades of A, B, C and D, (including developmental and ESL coursework), accepted transfer coursework and repeated courses (one time only for previously passed course).
2. Attempted hours: Withdrawals, grades of F, incomplete courses, repeated courses, courses taken during the Summer sessions, developmental and ESL coursework, accepted transfer coursework and all hours for which student received passing grades are counted toward attempted hours. Please note, all periods of enrollment count when assessing progress, even periods in which a student does not receive federal student aid.

III. Maximum Time Frame Requirement

The maximum number of hours a student may attempt is limited to 150 percent of the published length of the program. For example, a certificate program that requires 30 hours would have a maximum time frame of 45 credit hours.

All hours, including those taken while not receiving Title IV aid, those taken under a different major, hours attempted during Summer sessions, remedial hours, ESL hours and hours transferred in from previous/other institutions, etc., shall be counted towards total hours attempted and earned. Students that reach the maximum time frame are immediately given a status of “Exceeds Max Hours,” making them ineligible for any student aid, including student loans, state aid, etc.

Failure to Meet the Standards of Academic Progress - GPA and Percent Completion

A student who fails to meet the requirements in I and/or II above will automatically be placed on warning for the next semester of enrollment. Students on warning will still be able to receive student financial aid they would otherwise be eligible to receive.

At the end of the next semester of enrollment, the student must be making Financial Aid satisfactory academic progress (Financial Aid GPA of 2.0 or greater and a cumulative percent completion of 67 percent or higher). If the student is not making satisfactory academic progress by the end of the semester, they will automatically be placed on financial aid suspension and will no longer be eligible for any student aid including loans, state aid, etc.

Students on financial aid suspension for Financial Aid GPA and/or percent completion will remain on suspension until such time that the Financial Aid GPA and/or percent completion reaches the minimum requirements. Once the minimum requirements are met, the student will again be considered to be in good standing.

The Appeal Process - GPA and Percent Completion

In rare circumstances, a student is allowed to appeal his/her financial aid suspension. These circumstances may include a serious personal illness documented by a doctor, the serious illness of an immediate family member where the doctor documents that the student was required to give care to the family member and other rare, exceptional circumstances that prevent a student from attending class. The circumstances must have occurred during the semester(s) of attendance.

Please note that appeals will not be accepted without documentation and that appeals submitted with documentation are not automatically approved. The deadline for submitting an appeal is 30 days after the official first day of classes for a semester.

A student who meets the condition to appeal must complete and submit the Financial Aid Satisfactory Academic Progress Appeal form, along with required documentation that supports the rare circumstances, to the Financial Aid Office. The appeal must also contain a typed letter explaining the circumstances that the student faced and what measures have been taken so that the same problem does not negatively impact their academic progress again.

The Appeals Committee

An appeals committee has been established at Collin College to review all financial aid appeals. The committee will meet as needed to review the appeals. The determination of the appeal will be sent to the student through CougarWeb. Appeals without documentation or that do not meet the requirements of the appeal process will automatically be denied.

A student, whose appeal is approved for GPA or percent completion, must complete a financial aid academic plan. In order to remain eligible for financial aid while on an academic plan, the student may not withdraw from any coursework and must make a grade of at least “C” in every class until the student is back in good standing. A student whose appeal is approved for maximum timeframe will have the approved hours added to the 150 percent of the program length. All decisions of the Financial Aid Appeals Committee are final.

Additional Information: Return of Title IV Funds

Title IV aid is earned in a prorated manner on a per diem basis up to and including the 60 percent point in the term. After the 60 percent point all aid is considered earned. The percentage earned is calculated by dividing the number of days completed by the number of days in the repayment period. It is the unearned percentage of aid that determines the amount that must be returned to the Title IV program(s) in the following order: Unsubsidized Direct Loan, Subsidized Direct Loan, Direct Parent PLUS Loan, Pell Grant and SEOG. The student is not responsible for returning funds to any program to which the student owes $50 or less. The grant funds returned by the student are applied to the following sources in the order indicated, up to the total amount disbursed from that grant program minus any grant funds the school is responsible for returning to that program. Title IV Grant Program sources include: Pell and SEOG.

The Department of Education considers a student who earns all “F”s to have unofficially withdrawn unless an instructor can prove otherwise. The college, as well as the student may be required to return to the federal government the unearned portion of the Title IV funds. The institution will require students to repay charges resulting from the institution’s portion of the return of unearned Title IV aid. This may cause the students to owe both the college and the federal government. Students withdrawing prior to disbursement may be eligible for a post-withdrawal disbursement. Students who are considering withdrawing should contact the Financial Aid Office for a thorough explanation of how this policy will affect them.

Financial Aid Programs - Other

Tuition Exemptions

State tuition waivers and exemptions provide qualifying students with exemptions from certain tuition and fee charges in public colleges.

Beginning with the 2014-2015 year, the State of Texas Legislature updated the rules and requirements for exemptions under SB1210. These rules state that for most types of exemptions, students must:

• Be seeking a degree or certificate
• Have prior credit evaluated and applied toward the degree or certificate* (this includes both transfer work and any prior credits earned at Collin College)
• Meet the Financial Aid satisfactory academic progress requirement of a 2.0 GPA (excludes hours earned exclusively by examination, hours earned when the student is dual-enrolled and hours earned for developmental coursework)
• Have not completed, at the beginning of each semester, an excess of hours as defined by the school.

If on the completion of any semester, a student fails to meet any of the above eligibility requirements, the student may not receive the exemption for the next semester in which the student enrolls. Students may become eligible in a subsequent semester if they complete a semester or semesters on their own and are once again meeting the eligibility requirements.

For students with a rare, extenuating circumstance (as described in the Financial Aid section), they may submit an appeal with supporting documentation. See the instructions for submitting appeals in the Financial Aid section of this catalog or on the College’s website at: https://www.collin.edu/financialaid/SAP.html.

Contact either the Financial Aid Office or Student and Enrollment Services for additional information regarding a specific waiver or exemption. A few of the state exemptions and waivers are listed below.

Financial Aid Exemptions

Deaf/blind students • adopted students and students who were in foster care • children of deceased or disabled fireman and peace officers • children of prisoners of war or persons missing in action • firemen enrolled in fire science courses • police officers enrolled in law enforcement or criminal justice courses • children of professional nursing staff • Hazlewood Act • orphans of national guard members

Admissions Waivers

Ad-valorem tax • concurrent enrollment • contract training for out of district students • dual agreement with Dallas County • senior citizen

Veteran Educational Benefits

Students requesting veteran educational benefits at Collin College should submit all documentation to the Financial Aid (FA) and Veteran Services (VSO) Office at least six weeks prior to registration, if possible. The steps necessary to do this include:

1. Gain admission to Collin College through the Admissions Office.
2. Submit a degree plan request and all required VA forms to the Financial Aid & Veteran Services Office.
3. Ensure all official transcripts from prior institutions are submitted to the degree plan coordinator (Registrar’s Office) for transfer evaluation. This includes the Joint Services Transcript or the Community College of the Airforce transcript. *

PLEASE NOTE: Only after an official degree plan is on file will notification of enrollment be sent to the Department of Veterans Affairs. Only classes that are on the official degree plan will be paid for. It is the student’s responsibility to ensure the degree program selected is a program approved by the Texas Workforce Commission and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

* A degree plan will NOT be completed until all OFFICIAL transcripts and the DD214 (where applicable) are on file with the Admissions Office. Failure to submit all official transcripts (and the DD214 where applicable) in a timely manner will result in a delay of certification of enrollment and/or non-certification if the student registers for courses for which previous credit may be granted.

Any class that is recommended but not required by a degree program cannot be certified with the VA. Additionally, classes required for graduation at another institution, but not by Collin College, cannot be certified. Developmental courses will only be certified if the student has assessed into the course(s) and only if the class is not a distance or web class. Pod, flex and blended courses are all considered traditional courses by the VA. Therefore, developmental courses in one of these formats are eligible for certification. However, if the developmental course is listed as online, web or distance, it is not eligible to be certified.

Veteran students’ enrollment is certified according to the date of registration as long as the degree evaluation has been completed. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that veteran students register for classes as early as possible each semester.

It is the student’s responsibility to notify the Financial Aid & Veteran Services Office whenever they change their schedule (i.e., add or drop classes). The student is responsible for registering for the correct courses. The VA will only pay for courses required for graduation. Please be careful when taking elective course. They may not be eligible for certification.

It is assumed that continuing students want to be certified for any subsequent enrollment unless they notify the Financial Aid & Veteran Services Office in writing. Requests for certification of a prior term will be processed in accordance with standard VA policy and will not be processed ahead of the normal scheduled workload for that term.

If the student has not been in attendance for two regular 16-week semesters, additional VA documents will be required, as well as any transcripts from any schools in attendance during the break.

All degree plan changes must be made through the Financial Aid & Veteran Services Office. Please contact the FA/VS Office on campus. Allow at least six weeks for the new degree plan request to be evaluated. It is the student’s responsibility to notify the FA/VS Office once the degree plan has been completed.

Veterans Academic Progress

Students receiving veteran benefits must maintain satisfactory academic progress while attending Collin College. Satisfactory academic progress is defined as:

1. Maintaining a 2.0 cumulative GPA. Students failing to make satisfactory academic progress will be reported to the Veterans Regional Office as being on academic suspension at the end of the second consecutive semester when the cumulative GPA remains below 2.0. Developmental courses will be included to determine the cumulative GPA.
2. A grade of “D” or better received at Collin College or any other college is a passing grade and may not be repeated for benefits. If a non-punitive grade of “I” is assigned to a course and is not converted to a punitive grade, this will be reported to the Veterans Affairs Regional Office within 30 days and benefits will be reduced accordingly. Students receiving a grade of “F” may repeat the course with benefits one time at Collin College.
3. Withdrawal from a class, whether self-initiated or otherwise, may result in the student being obligated to repay any overpayment of benefits unless the VA approves written extenuating circumstances submitted by the student.
4. Regular class attendance is required to provide necessary documentation of attendance.

Collin College Foundation Scholarships

Through generous contributions from individuals, corporations, alumni, and friends, the Collin College Foundation awards scholarships to qualified students who are pursuing their associate degrees. Scholarships are available to incoming freshmen, returning students, and high school dual credit seniors who will be or are currently enrolled at Collin College.

Students can apply online during two (2) open application cycles, which include mid-January through March and mid-September through October each year.

For more information, call 972.599.3147, email scholarshipcoordinator@collin.edu, or go to www.collin.edu/foundation.

Athletic and Departmental Scholarships

Scholarships are available for men’s and women’s basketball and tennis. Athletic Competitive Scholarships are awarded on the basis of athletic ability, contribution to Collin College as a student-athlete, and National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) eligibility. Athletic Competitive Scholarships are awarded in compliance with NJCAA bylaws. For more information, contact the Athletic Department at 972.516.5025 or go to http://athletics.collin.edu/landing/index/.

Additional scholarships may be available through Collin College’s academic departments. For more information, contact the appropriate academic/workforce dean.