Financial Aid Process

1. Application and Processing

The Office of Financial Aid is here to help you invest in your future. Below you can learn the fundamentals of the financial aid application process. 

• View Important Dates to keep in mind for financial aid.
• Undergraduate Aid Basics provides the what, how, and when of applying for undergraduate student aid. 
• Under Post-Bacc, Graduate, and Ecampus, you will find information that is specific to those student types.
• Verification FAQ’s is here to help guide students selected for FAFSA verification through this additional federal aid requirement. 
• Finally, Private Loans is a brief introduction to non-federal loan options.

2. Understand and Accept

This section will give you an overview of your award letter, how to accept your financial aid offer, and what happens after your FAFSA has been processed. 

• Financial Aid Offer basics describes how an aid offer is determined.  
• Accept Your Financial Aid Offer takes you step-by-step through the award acceptance process.
• Aid Types is a guide to federal, state, institutional, and private aid options. 
• Aid Limits for Undergraduates provides a breakdown of the annual, aggregate, and timeframe maximums that apply to undergraduate financial aid. 
• Terms & Conditions is a must read section that provides crucial information about your aid. 
• What Happens If I am Less Than Full-time?

• Finally, learn more about federal Work-Study for students. 

3. Maintain Eligibility

The topics below will help you know what to expect from financial aid as an enrolled OSU student. 

• Receiving Aid is a brief overview of how financial aid payments work.
• Dropping Courses has information on how drops may change your financial aid eligibility. 
• The Census Date relates to the financial aid enrollment deadlines and how aid might be affected if you are not full-time on the date we lock enrollment. 
• Our Course Participation page details how aid may need to be returned in cases where course participation cannot be verified. 
• Due to the significant potential impact on aid, we recommend students review our Withdrawal page if they will not be able to complete one or more courses. 
• Failed or Incomplete Courses will let you know how not completing courses and impact current and future term aid. 
• Under Repeating Coursework, learn how repeats may impact your aid eligibility. 
• Renewing your Aid talks about renewal criteria, eligibility requirements, and the steps you need to take to receive aid in future years. 
• The Satisfactory Academic Progress section explains the federal criteria for pace, GPA, completion, and timeframe that you must meet in order to receive federal financial aid.