Submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) each year, which is available October 1.
Accept, decline, or reduce the Federal Direct loan(s) through the myPennWest financial aid portal. You will receive a notice via your PennWest email account informing you when a loan had been offered to you and are available for review. Unsubsidized loans should be declined or reduced first before making changes to subsidized loans.
Students may cancel all or a portion of the loan within 14 days after the date the school has sent notification that the loan funds have been credited to the student’s account. Contact the Financial Aid Office at financialaid@pennwest.edu if you have questions.
Complete Loan Entrance Counseling for an undergraduate student. The student needs to sign in to studentaid.gov using their FSA ID and password. Parents should not complete this step for students because it reviews important information the student needs to know as the borrower of the loan(s).
Sign a Master Promissory Note (MPN). The student needs to sign in to studentaid.gov using their FSA ID and password. Parents should not complete this step for students due to the fact this is a legal document.
Check the Documents & Messages link in the myPennWest financial aid portal to verify that no other requirements or documents need to be submitted to the Financial Aid Office.
Once your loan has been certified, you will receive a Loan Disclosure Statement from your federal direct loan servicer providing your estimated loan amounts, deducted fees, funds transferred and disbursement date via email.
Any delays in the steps above can result in a delay in the disbursement of a student’s aid.
PennWest will submit your loan information to the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS). It will be accessible by guaranty agencies, lenders, and schools determined to be authorized users of the data system. You can log into your NSLDS account at studentaid.gov to view detailed information about your federal loans, repayment options, and current loan servicer(s). Please note this is only for federal loans (Direct, Stafford, Perkins, PLUS) and does not include any private/alternative loans.
Persons borrowing must notify their loan servicing agency when any of the following conditions arise:
- Graduation
- Withdrawal from school
- Attendance is less than half-time status (less than 6 credits undergraduate and 4.5 credits graduate/doctoral
- Change of name or address
- Transfer to another school
Once all steps have been completed your loans will be available for disbursement. After add/drop has ended for each full term (summer, fall and spring), the Federal Direct Loans will be disbursed in substantially equal installments between all eligible terms the student is enrolled. For students enrolled in a modular course (7W1, 7W2 and all summer sessions) for the term, the number of loan disbursements for the term will be split between modules until the student begins attendance in the module that comprises half-time enrollment.