Students to receive financial aid awards through e-mail accounts

by Stephanie Strauss / senior writer

The Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships will notify current students of their financial aid awards online beginning April 14.

Students will no longer receive paper financial aid award notices, but instead students will be able to interact online with their financial aid packages.

"Prospective JMU students will continue to receive paper financial aid award notices since they are not matriculating through JMU at the time they are awarded aid," said Brad Barnett, senior associate director of the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships.

"Currently, whenever students are awarded financial aid and/or have their financial aid package revised, we send them a paper financial aid award notice," Barnett said. "These paper notices to students will go away."

Students will receive notification about their financial aid packages via their JMU e-mail account.

"This notice will direct students to e-campus to view their aid package, accept or decline offered awards and complete any additional forms required to finalize the application process," Barnett said. Examples of these forms include the Stafford Loan Application and Master Promissory Note, he said.

For the many students’ parents who utilize the Federal Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students to help pay for their child’s education, paper notices will still be supplied.

"Since federal regulations mandate that only a parent can accept or decline a PLUS loan, we will continue to send paper award notices to parents," Barnett said. He added that these award notices will be very different from what was sent home in the past. The Financial Aid PLUS Loan Award Notice will only contain the parents’ PLUS eligibility, it will not contain any of the student financial aid eligibility.

Parents who would like access to their student’s financial aid awards should discuss this matter with the student, Barnett said.

He added that using a JMU account year-round will ensure that students receive timely notifications regarding their financial aid package. Delays in replying to an online award notice can lead to delays in the availability of funds.

"This change was made to give students 24/7 access to their financial aid and expedite the process they have to go through to apply for their aid," Barnett said.