Financial Aid

• Applicants must meet the general eligibility requirements for federal student financial aid.
• Applicants must be graduate or professional degree-seeking students.
• Applicants must not have an adverse credit history. (Credit checks will be conducted.)
• The maximum Grad Plus loan an applicant can receive is the cost of attendance minus any other financial aid the student receives for a given academic year.
• Student loans, unlike grants and work-study, are borrowed and must be repaid-with interest, just like car loans and mortgages. Please consider the probable amount you will have to repay in the future.
• Learn more about Plus Loans.

Stafford Loans are low interest loans and the most common source of education loan funds. In general, there are two types of Stafford Loans: subsidized and unsubsidized. For graduate study, only unsubsidized loans are available.

• Students may borrow up to $20,500 in a given academic year.
• The Borrower is responsible for paying all interest.
• Interest begins to accrue at the time of disbursement and continues even while the student is enrolled.
• Borrowers can pay the accumulating interest while in school or allow the interest to capitalize and pay the larger sum later.
• Unsubsidized Stafford loans are not based on financial need.

1. Create an FSA account online.  (required to process the free online FAFSA)
2. Complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form
   1. Submit the FAFSA between January 1 and June 30 for the upcoming academic year.
   2. The PFIC academic year begins in August and extends through May.
   3. The FAFSA is sent to the government processors.
3. You may check the status of your application three weeks after its submission
   1. Online
   2. Phone: 1-800-433-3243 (Federal Student Aid Information Center).
4. After the Department of Education processes your application, you will receive a Student Aid Report (SAR). Review this to make sure all the information is correct. If the information is correct and contains your Expected Family Contribution (EFC) score, contact the Director of Federal Financial Aid. The information will be used to determine your eligibility for federal financial aid funds. An acknowledgment letter will be mailed to the address on file in the SAR. Students must complete the entrance counseling form and the Master Promissory Note (MPN) after acceptance and registration at DHS.
5. Sign and return the awards letter and promissory note(s) to the Director of Federal Financial Aid.
6. You will be notified after registration when your loans are ready for disbursement.
7. Types of Loan Forgiveness: https://studentaid.gov/manage-loans/forgiveness-cancellation
8. National Center for Education Statistics: nces.ed.gov
9. Net Calculator: https://collegecost.ed.gov/net-price
10. NSLDS® for Students:  https://nsldsfap.ed.gov/login
11. Schools College Navigator/IPEDS:   https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=dominican+House+of+studies&s=DC&zc=20017&zd=0&of=3&id=131405

To be eligible for Federal Student Aid (FSA) funds, a student must make satisfactory academic progress, which is assessed by the Academic Dean at the end of each fall and spring term. The discussion below only addresses the standards that a student must meet in order to be eligible for FSA.

Qualitative Standards. By the end of the second academic year of a single or dual degree program (regardless of how many credits the student has accrued), the student must have a C average or its equivalent 2.0 GPA.

Quantitative Standards. In addition to maintaining a minimum 2.0 GPA, to be eligible for FSA a student’s academic progress must indicate that the student will successfully complete his or her degree program in less than 150% of the time or course credit hours for which the program is designed. For example, the M.A. (Theology) program entails 36 credit hours (c.h.) and no less than 2 full-time academic years (4 semesters); to remain eligible for FSA, an M.A. student’s academic progress must clearly indicate that he or she is likely to complete the degree program successfully after having pursued no more than 54 c.h. or 6 full-time semesters. Likewise, M.Div. students pursue a minimum of 105 c.h. for a minimum of 8 full-time semesters; to remain eligible for FSA, their academic progress must continually indicate likely completion of the M.Div. program within no more than 160 attempted c.h. or 12 semesters. The same policy applies to the S.T.B. (minimum 90 c.h. in 6 semesters; maximum 135 c.h. in 9 semesters) and the S.T.L. (min. 36 c.h. in 4 semesters; maximum 54 c.h. in 6 semesters).

Incomplete and Failed Courses. Courses in which a student withdraws and receives a grade of W, WP or WF, or in which an F is received, will not count as having been successfully completed. Courses in which an incomplete grade is given will count as completed work if the Incomplete is removed within the time frame provided in the academic regulations (mid-term of the following semester, or if, in extraordinary circumstances, the Dean grants further exception after which an incomplete becomes a failure. However, no more than four Incompletes can be carried at one time and no incompletes are allowed in the final semester of matriculation.

Losing and Gaining Eligibility A student who loses FSA eligibility for having failed to meet the pertinent satisfactory academic progress standards will regain eligibility when the Academic Dean determines that the student is again meeting those qualitative and quantitative standards. A student may also regain eligibility by successfully appealing a determination of failing to make satisfactory academic progress. For Stafford and PLUS loans, students may regain eligibility for the entire period of enrollment in which they again meet satisfactory academic progress standards.

Federal Title IV Funds are awarded to a student under the assumption that he/she will attend school for the entire period for which the assistance is awarded. When a student withdraws from all his/her courses, for any reason including medical withdrawals, he/she may no longer be eligible for the full amount of the Title IV funds that he/she was originally scheduled to receive.

If the student withdraws from all courses prior to completing over 60 percent of a semester, he/she may be required to repay a portion of the federal financial aid that he/she received for that term. A pro rata schedule is used to determine the amount of federal student aid funds he/she will have earned at the time of the withdrawal.

The return of funds is based upon the concept that students earn their financial aid in proportion to the amount of time in which they are enrolled. Under this reasoning, a student who withdraws in the second week of classes, for example, has earned less of his/her financial aid than a student who withdraws in the seventh week. Once 60 percent of the semester is completed, a student is considered to have earned all of his financial aid and will not be required to return any funds.

The financial aid office, in accordance with 34CFR Sec. 668.22, calculates and executes the Return of Title IV Funds for any student receiving Title IV Aid and subsequently withdraws before the end of the enrollment period (i.e., term).

HEERF Quarterly Report

CARES Act Funding Report 12-30-2021