Financial Aid Office FAQs

You may make corrections in one of two ways. You may make your corrections on the FAFSA website, you will need your FSA ID to access your record. Or you may instead make your corrections on the paper Student Aid Report (SAR), sign it, and mail it in as directed, or bring it to our office for submission.  If you have any specific questions about the FAFSA, call the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 800/4-FED-AID (800/433-3243) / TTY: 800/730-8913 or 319/337-5665.

Direct Loans may be serviced by several different service centers. It is the goal of the Department of Education that all of your Direct Loans will have the same servicer. To find out who is servicing your loan(s), please log onto the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) and view the individual loan(s). Each will list the servicer with their customer service contact information. Customer Service Centers include Direct Loan Servicing, Great Lakes, Nelnet, Fedloan (PHEAA), Sallie Mae, CornerStone, HESC/Edfinancial, Granie State – GSMR, and OSLA Servicing.

If you add or drop a class in which you’ve established attendance and your financial aid has already disbursed, it will not be adjusted up or down. However, your progress (credits attempted vs. credits earned) is monitored, and dropping classes after the census date of the course may have an effect on your eligibility for future financial aid, as explained in the Satisfactory Progress Policy. If you withdraw from school or are administratively dropped (university drops you from a class based on non-attendance the first day of class), you may be required to pay back some or all of your financial aid, according to our Refund Policy.

To see how much you are receiving in student loans for this academic year, you may check your financial aid award on your student center in E-Hive. 

You may also see the total you have taken in federal loans.

You can file your FAFSA online any time after October 1 for the following academic year. For 2019-2020 UW-Superior has a priority deadline of January 15. This means your FAFSA and all required documents must be complete in our office by that date to receive the best award package available. Students will need to use 2017 tax and income information for the 2019-2020 FAFSA. You can file your FAFSA at any time during the academic year and still receive aid for fall/spring term, however, your file must be complete with us no later than one week prior to the end of the last semester attended. You must file a new FAFSA for every academic year.

Consolidation Loans allow you to combine your federal student loans into a single loan with one monthly payment. Most federal education loans are eligible for consolidation.  The interest rate will be fixed and length of repayment is contingent on your choice of repayment option. Consolidation loans may have advantages and/or disadvantages for you. 

You can see if your financial aid has applied to your student account by viewing your bill on your Student Center. If your aid is in place, but did not disburse, it is likely due to one of the following reasons:

• Your credits (enrollment status) do not match what is listed on your award letter. You need to either get enrolled in the proper amount of credits or have us revise your aid.
• You have not completed your Master Promissory Note for your direct loan. You can do this online at https://studentloans.gov/myDirectLoan/index.action.
• You have not completed your loan entrance counseling for your direct loan. You can do this online at https://studentloans.gov/myDirectLoan/index.action

There is a chance that students who file a FAFSA are selected by the Department of Education for verification. This selection is partially random, but there are certain inconsistent answers that will also trigger verification. The school you attend may also select additional students for verification, based on their own criteria. It does not mean that you answered anything wrong. If corrections are necessary, they will be sent by the school and once verification is complete, your financial aid will continue to be processed.

Aid disburses the week before your first class begins each semester and at least once a week thereafter. Disbursed aid is applied to your student account. Any remaining balance must be paid by the student. Excess funds are issued to the student via a refund. View additional information about refunds, or contact the Bursars/Cashier’s Office.

Check out the Post 9-11 Study Abroad Fact Sheet through the VA.

Changes in family size, number in college, and family or student income are usually the cause of changes in aid from year to year. Specific reasons for aid changes can be provided through consultation with a financial aid counselor, who will review your file to compare the yearly income and demographic information.

Scholarship checks must be processed through the Financial Aid office. Please bring the check to the Financial Aid office, Old Main 110, in order to:

• Verify that the student meets all the criteria established by the donor to receive the funds.
• Avoid any possible over-award of the student’s other financial aid.