Award Letter Follow up 2026 2027

Welcome to the after award letter presentation. My name is Karen Soltis and I am the director of financial aid. This presentation will go over important information you need to know and understand now that you've been awarded financial aid at Highline College. After we're done, you'll be required to complete a short form so that you receive credit for attending this session and to schedule your financial aid disbursements for the award year. Let's review what you'll learn about in this presentation. We'll go over important dates that you are responsible for as a financial aid recipient. How financial aid hold codes work to keep you in your classes. We'll go over drafting a simple budget so that you know if you have enough financial aid to cover your student charges or if you'll need a payment plan or a loan. A detailed explanation of how disbursement works at Highline and how and when your tuition and fee charges will be paid each quarter and how you'll get any remaining financial aid funds to cover your other educational expenses such as books. An overview of one of the most important parts of financial aid, satisfactory academic progress. A refresher on how financial aid will communicate with you now that you've been awarded. The different ways you can contact the financial aid office with questions. And finally, how to get credit for completing this mandatory presentation. One of the most important things you are responsible for as a financial aid recipient is meeting all financial aid deadlines. And let's be honest, there are a lot of them and it's not always easy to keep track of them. The good news is that you've done the hard parts of receiving financial aid. Now you just need to watch out for a few more important dates each quarter. It's a good idea to hit the space bar right now to pause the video and take a screenshot of this slide. We recommend that you store it on your desktop or in your phone so that you can reference it later. You can even enter these dates into your personal calendar. After you're done, you can return to the video. Let's go over each of the dates on this chart. The tuition and fee due date is the day the college expects that a will either pay their tuition and fees in full, sign up for a payment plan, or have a Highline department hold code on their account. The department hold code will keep a student enrolled in their classes without payment. The financial aid office uses the hold code FO2, financial aid do not drop. This code tells the business office that the student is getting financial aid and not to drop them from their classes since financial aid cannot pay until the first day of the quarter. On listed for each quarter, you are responsible for going into your CTC Link account and checking under holds to make sure that you have a financial aid hold code. If you don't, you are responsible for paying for your tuition and fees on that date or you could be dropped from your classes. Financial aid disbursement begins on the first day of every quarter and continues throughout the rest of the award year. You will not receive any financial aid before this date. Remember that not all students have their financial aid dispersed on the first day and not having aid on the first day of disbursement doesn't mean anything is wrong. Generally, about 50% of student aid disperses on the first day and the rest disperses on the third day of each quarter. That means you shouldn't worry about a lack of disbursement until the fourth day of each quarter. If this happens to you, an email is the best way to check on your aid. We don't recommend coming into the office for this reason as you'll likely have a two to three-hour long wait. We've included the BankMobile timelines here to help you figure out which BankMobile option is best for you. After your financial aid disperses and if you are due a financial aid refund, the Vibe card option will be available for you to spend in one to three days, the direct deposit in three to five days, and the paper check in 10 to 45 days. Highline College strongly recommends all students choose direct deposit. Not all students will be faced with financial aid suspension during their time at Highline, but if you are, it's important to know the financial aid suspension appeal due dates for each quarter. Appeals submitted after this day and time will not be considered until the following quarter, which means you could be set back an entire quarter if you turn in your appeal late. If you are placed on suspension, read over the email we send you carefully for detailed instructions, and make sure you meet the stated deadlines. Financial aid census date is the last day that the financial aid office will adjust your financial aid to your changing enrollment for the quarter. Essentially, we're logging you into your enrollment for the quarter on this day, and will adjust your financial aid to match your census enrollment level. If you added classes since the start of the quarter, you may see your financial aid go up, and you'll receive another disbursement. If you dropped classes after you received your financial aid, you may owe money back. After the financial aid census day, on the check owing balance date, you should go into your student account and check on your owing balance. Ideally, the amount is zero, but if it's not, you are responsible for for paying the remainder of the balance on this day, or you will be dropped from some or all of your classes, and may be required to repay financial aid funding. Definitely don't forget about this last step each quarter for financial aid. Let's talk more about financial aid hold codes. The hold code is how we tell our business office that you have financial aid awards, or that you met our priority due date. This lets the business office know that despite you having an owing balance on your account after the tuition and fee due date, you should not be dropped for non-payment. The financial aid hold code is called FO2, financially do not drop, and you can see it in the hold tile of your CTC Link portal. You are responsible for ensuring that you have this hold code on the tuition and fee due date each quarter. If you do, you do not need to pay any money on the tuition and fee due date. If you don't have the hold code, you are responsible for paying your quarterly tuition charges, or you may be dropped from your classes. It's important for you to understand that the financial aid office may remove your hold code at any time between the tuition and fee due date and the financial aid census date if we determine that you are not eligible for financial aid. You are responsible for ensuring that you have the hold, and if it is removed, that you pay your tuition and fees immediately, or you may be dropped for non-payment. Only students who have been awarded financial aid or who met the financial aid priority due date will receive a hold. If you don't have a hold, but you think you should, it's important that you come to the financial aid office immediately. However, if you didn't meet the financial aid priority due date or you're not awarded for the upcoming quarter, you will not be held in your classes. As a final reminder, if you have the FO2 financially do not drop hold code on your account, please do not contact the business office or the financial aid office. If you have that hold, you will not be dropped until the expiration date of that hold passes, and only if you still have an owing balance. Over the next few minutes, we'll be talking about how to determine if you have enough financial aid to cover all of your costs, or if you'll need to cover additional costs out of pocket through other means. We'll start by going over your cost of attendance. There are two types of costs, direct costs, which are costs that you pay directly to the college, like tuition and fees. And there are indirect costs, which are costs that you incur while going to college, such as books, rent, and transportation. For our purposes right now, we'll be focusing on direct costs, or tuition and fee costs you pay to the college. When you receive financial aid funds, it is primarily for the purpose of paying your direct costs to the college. Sometimes you have more financial aid than you have direct costs, and in that case, you'll have financial aid refunds you can use to help cover your books and living expense costs. Sometimes you might not have enough financial aid to cover your direct costs, and in those cases, you'll need to pay out of pocket, sign up for a payment plan, or take out a student loan. When you were awarded financial aid, we assumed that you would be attending full-time, so your award is based on full-time enrollment, or 12 or more credits each quarter. Taking less than 12 credits will reduce your direct costs for tuition and fees, but will also reduce how much you receive in financial aid. To estimate how much financial aid you might receive for enrollment less than 12 credits in a quarter, take your actual number of credits enrolled and divide by 12. Then multiply that number by 100 to get a percentage. Then multiply that percentage by the funding you have for the quarter. Let's do an example. Let's say that for fall quarter, you only plan to take 10 credits. Take your 10 credits and divide by 12. Then multiply by 100, and you'll get 83%. Now, let's say that you had a Washington College Grant with a quarterly amount of $1,587. If you take 1,587 and multiply it by 83%, you'll get $1,317. This is an estimate of what your college grant award will be at 10 credits. If your tuition and fees at 10 credits is $1,892, subtract your estimated grant amount of $1,317, and you'll see that you still owe $575 even after your financial aid. It's important for you to realize that these aren't true award amounts, and that this method will only give you an estimate of what your financial aid is likely to be. Some financial aid awards don't follow this methodology, like Highline Grant, Passport, and most outside scholarships. In addition, students attending five credits or less may find that they do not qualify for any financial aid or an extremely small amount. Most funding does require enrollment of at least half-time or six credits. If you can't go full-time, but still want to maximize your financial aid, Highline recommends 10 credits of enrollment per quarter. As students who attend 10 credits per quarter generally will receive enough financial aid funding to cover their direct costs each quarter. If an estimate isn't reassuring enough for you, and that's completely understandable, you should make an appointment to meet with a financial aid advisor so that we can adjust your financial aid to match your planned enrollment, so you know exactly how much you'll receive each quarter. As we saw in our example, you may not be eligible for enough financial aid to cover all of your direct costs. While there are multiple options for covering your remaining balance to the college each quarter, we'll go over the three most common. The first is to pay the remaining balance out of pocket. You can pay with cash, credit or debit card, or a check. To determine how much you owe out of pocket, find your tuition and fee owing balance for the quarter on the finance tab in your CTC Link portal. Then go to the financial aid tile and find your quarterly financial aid amounts. Remember to use the method we discussed previously to estimate your aid if you're taking less than 12 credits. Now, subtract your financial aid from your owing balance. If this number is positive, this is how much you need to pay out of pocket for the quarter. If the number is negative, this will be your financial aid refund. Credit and debit card payments are made through your CTC Link portal, while cash and check payments need to be made at our cashier's office. Highline also offers a payment plan option through our third-party vendor Nelnet. While you have to pay a small setup fee each quarter to take advantage of this payment plan, you will not be charged any interest. The plan allows you to spread out your payments over a number of months. How many months you have to pay is dependent on how quickly you sign up for the payment plan each quarter. For more information about the payment plan and to sign up, click on the finance tile in your CTC Link portal or search for it on the Highline College website. Once you sign up for the payment plan, a payment plan hold code will be placed on your account so that you will not be dropped from your classes for non-payment. Finally, federal direct loans are a last resort option for covering remaining direct costs. In general, due to the low cost of our tuition and fees, Highline does not recommend students borrow a student loan unless they are in one of the BAS programs. But, if you do need to borrow a loan, regardless of your program, we recommend that you only borrow up to the cost of your tuition and fees for the quarter. Borrowing money to pay for your living expenses, like rent, food, and transportation, is generally not a smart borrowing habit because your rent, food, and transportation will not earn you more income, whereas the tuition and fees that pay for your degree will. If you think of a loan as an investment in your future earnings, then using it only to finance your tuition and fees is the best option. It's important for you to consider carefully before borrowing a student loan, and we have financial aid advisers happy to review these options with you, as well as information about loans on our website. If you do decide that a loan is right for you, you need to plan for the loan process. It takes 30 days to set up a loan at Highline. If you need to borrow a loan, be sure that you begin the loan process at least 30 days before the start of the quarter, or you may be forced to pay for your quarter out of pocket while your loan is processed. Now that you know that you're getting financial aid and have a plan to cover all of your direct costs, let's go over how financial disbursement works each quarter at Highline. This will be a lot of information, and while you don't have to remember it all, understanding the process will help you feel more confident about how disbursement works each quarter. Let's start with a definition. Disbursement means to move. In this case, it means to move your financial aid for the quarter onto your student account to pay your tuition and fees. When we talk about disbursement, we're talking about giving you your financial aid. First, by paying your Highline owing balance, and then if there's money left over, sending you that money through BankMobile as a financial aid refund. Now, let's get into how we do this each quarter. About a month before the quarter starts, you'll get a message reminding you that your tuition and fees are due. Since you've already been awarded financial aid, and hopefully you've already accepted that aid, you will log into your CTC Link portal and click on the hold section, where you'll be looking for the financial aid do not drop hold code. Remember, this code means the business office knows that you're getting financial aid, and that you're not expected to make any payments prior to the start of the quarter. If you have this hold code, you will be held in your classes. If you don't, you are responsible for paying in full and should do so before contacting the financial aid office. The week before the quarter starts, the financial aid office will begin adjusting financial aid for all students to match their current enrollment. We do this to prepare for disbursement that happens on the first day of the quarter. Remember, we will not disburse before the first day of the quarter. There is a disbursement date listed in CTC Link that is not accurate and cannot be fixed. So, remember, no disbursements happen until at least the first day of the quarter and will continue after that. You should not be concerned unless you still have not received a financial aid disbursement by the fourth day of the quarter. On the financial aid census date, your enrollment will be captured and your financial aid adjusted to match that enrollment. If you add classes, you may receive more financial aid. If you drop classes, you may owe some of your financial aid back. You are then responsible for checking and paying your final owing balance on the date listed on important dates, that chart that we talked about earlier. We've talked about BankMobile a bit already, but let's explain who they are, how you'll work with them, and how they help you get your financial aid refund. You are due a financial aid refund when you have more financial aid in a quarter than you have student account charges. This excess funding is yours to use to buy books and pay for other education-related expenses such as room and board, transportation, and utilities. This money cannot be used for non-education expenses. You cannot use it to go on vacation, buy lottery tickets, or gamble, but you can use the money for personal expenses like occasionally eating out or toothpaste. To get this money, you need to set up an account with Highline's third-party vendor, BankMobile. Highline pays BankMobile to process student refunds. In short, we send your refund money to them, and then they send that money to you in one of three ways. Once you receive your financial aid award letter, BankMobile will begin contacting you to get you set up with an account. They will send you emails and may even text you. You can trust their emails. When you open their email message, they will give you a link and a personal code. Click on the link and enter your personal code to create your account and choose your refund option. You'll have three refund options to choose from. You can choose the Highline recommended option of direct deposit, which BankMobile will deposit your refund into your current bank or credit union account. You can also open an online bank account with BankMobile, who will then issue you a Vibe card, which acts like a debit card. Your refunds will be deposited into this account and you can use the provided debit card to make purchases. Be aware that after you drop below six credits or complete your degree, BankMobile will charge you a monthly fee for this account. For this reason, Highline does not recommend the Vibe card option. Finally, you can choose to get a paper check, which will be mailed to the address listed in your CTC Link profile. A paper check will take a long time to receive and it can get lost in the mail, which is why Highline does not recommend this option either. If you've been to another school that used BankMobile, you will need to set up a new account with them to get your Highline refund. To do this, you will need to use a different email address than the one you used to set up your previous BankMobile account with the other college. We do not recommend that you use your Highline college email address because this may become deactivated after you leave Highline, preventing you from getting important information from BankMobile in the future. Finally, you only need to set up a BankMobile account for Highline once. If you've done this in a previous year, you do not need to do it again. To recap so far, we've gone over important dates you need to be responsible for as a financial aid recipient, how hold codes work, how to determine if you have received enough financial aid and what to do if you haven't, how disbursement works, and how to get your refund through BankMobile. All of that is great, but to remain eligible for financial aid quarter after quarter, you have to meet the financial aid satisfactory academic progress policy, or SAP. Think about financial aid this way. You are asking someone who has never met you to help you pay for school, and that person is willing to do so, but you have to show that you're making strong progress towards completing your degree. That strong progress is measured by the satisfactory academic progress policy, and ensures that you're upholding your end of the agreement. You get financial aid so long as you pass your classes and get your degree or certificate. There are four major criteria to the SAP policy at Highline, and we'll go over those right now. But, be aware that we have multiple resources on our website that go over satisfactory academic progress in detail, including another video that you can watch. First, you have to pass 67% of the classes that you attend every quarter. Second, you have to have a minimum of a 2.0 quarterly GPA, and you have to maintain a 2.0 cumulative GPA. Third, over your lifetime, you have to pass at least 2/3 or 67% of all college classes that you have ever attempted. This includes classes you took through Running Start, and classes that you took even when you were not receiving financial aid funding. Finally, there's a maximum number of financial aid funded credits you are allowed called maximum time frame. This is equal to 150% of the published length of your program. For example, if you're in 90-credit program, you have to complete that program within 135 credits. At the end of a quarter, the financial aid office will calculate your SAP status. If you are any status other than meet, there could be consequences to your financial aid eligibility, up to suspension from aid. If that happens, the financial aid office will send you an email indicating your status and what it means. It's important to remember that the financial aid office can contact you for a number of reasons after you have been awarded and your funds dispersed. For this reason, as a financial aid recipient, you are responsible for monitoring communication channels for messages from us. Most of the messages from financial aid will come to you through your CTC Link Task Tile, to do list, or message center. Though, remember that our satisfactory academic progress messages will come to you via email. We highly recommend that once a week, you take the time to look through your CTC Link portal message center, task tile, or to do list, financial aid tile, and emails for anything that's related to the financial aid office, and respond accordingly. While we have tried to provide you with an overview of what to expect now that you've been awarded financial aid, you may still have questions. If you have questions, we recommend that you send us an email first. This way, you'll have a written record of your question and our response. If you still have questions, then it's a good idea to schedule an appointment through Watermark. By scheduling an appointment, you will get to choose your appointment time, and you won't have to wait in line. You can also do a walk-in appointment, but be aware that the financial aid walk-in appointment wait times are generally 30 minutes to an hour, with the longest wait times between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. Finally, you can call us for assistance, but be aware that you will be directed to leave a message as this is not a live line. Now that you've completed the after award letter follow-up presentation, you need to get credit for your attendance. Return to the Highline College Financial Aid website and click on workshops and videos. And under the mandatory after award letter presentation video, you'll see four steps that you need to take to complete the after award letter presentation Google form. Once you're done, be sure to hit the submit button. Students who do not complete the after award letter attendance form will experience a delay in their disbursement every quarter until the form is completed for the year. Thank you for your time and attention to this presentation, and thank you for choosing Highline College. On behalf of your financial aid team, we look forward to helping you reach your career goals.