As a prospective or incoming college student, knowing that you have funding available is a key component to making a final decision on attending college. In order to help you out, we try to send accurate award information as early as possible.

Estimated awards for incoming freshmen will be issued beginning mid-December, and continue on a weekly basis. Please note additional aid may be added after you receive your original award letter, if additional funding becomes available.

Based on your EFC and other factors, we build your "financial aid package" (the combination of all aid you are eligible for). Once this is complete, we notify you of this "package" through your "award letter." Award letters are actually electronic and accessed through your portal, but you will receive an email to your Southeast email when it is ready. For your first year only, we will mail a paper 'courtesy notice' to you in addition to the email - so get in the habit of checking your Southeast email.

If you are in verification, you may receive an "Estimated Award Letter". All amounts on this estimate are subject to change based on verification, and you are not eligible for any federal/state funding until you officially complete verification.

When you view your online award letter, there are a number of tabs you must work through. Each tab should be reviewed in order (left to right) and thoroughly read. The tabs that are gray will unlock after you complete all requirements on the previous tabs.

While some grants may show "Accepted," until you officially agree to the Terms and Conditions we cannot issue the aid. Agreeing to the Terms and Conditions does not mean you are accepting loans, which is actually done on the Accept Award Offer tab later.

We recommend agreeing to the Terms and Conditions and accepting any free money as soon as your award is available, so you do not miss out. You do not have to make a decision on the loans initially and can always go in and accept them later if they are absolutely needed.

If you accidentally make a mistake, or wish to change the amounts you accepted (increase or decrease), that can be done! Do not simply accept everything (especially loans) because you think you have to. It is probably best to review your bill (fall bills come out in summer) to see what is absolutely needed.

As a continuing student, your financial aid award letter takes a little longer. We begin issuing them in June for the next academic year (fall/spring). Why? Well, we must wait until you have received final spring grades to make sure you are still eligible for aid. This means we must make sure you are still making Satisfactory Academic Progress and/or meeting the renewal requirements for each award.

When it is available, you will receive an email to your Southeast email address. Note: You must clear verification (if selected) before we will issue your Financial Aid Award Letter.

Are you curious as to what you may receive earlier? You have two options.

1. First, if there were no significant changes in your FAFSA information between the current year and next year, chances are that your aid will look very similar.
2. Additionally, when you completed the FAFSA, your Student Aid Report (SAR) should have given estimated amounts for federal aid.

Please be patient and we will get this information out as soon as possible.

When you view your online award letter, there are a number of tabs you must work through. Each tab should be reviewed in order (left to right) and thoroughly read. The tabs that are gray will unlock after you complete all requirements on the previous tabs.

While some grants may show "Accepted," until you officially agree to the Terms and Conditions we cannot issue the aid. Agreeing to the Terms and Conditions does not mean you are accepting loans, which is actually done on the Accept Award Offer tab later.

We recommend agreeing to the Terms and Conditions and accepting any free money as soon as your award is available, so you do not miss out. You do not have to make a decision on the loans initially and can always go in and accept them later if they are absolutely needed.

If you accidentally make a mistake, or wish to change the amounts you accepted (increase or decrease), that can be done! Do not simply accept everything (especially loans) because you think you have to. It is probably best to review your bill (fall bills come out in summer) to see what is absolutely needed.