Financial Aid Award Notifications

New students will receive a financial aid award notification via mail and/or email. Continuing students will be notified via email and/or postcard that their financial aid offer is ready for them to review and respond to. When you receive your notification, please log onto the Hollins Information System (H.I.S.) via My.Hollins. You will need to accept and/or decline your financial aid electronically. If you have any questions, please contact us at SFA@hollins.edu or (540) 362-6332.

Special Circumstances

Students with special circumstances may reach out to the Hollins University Office of Scholarships and Financial Assistance for guidance. For example, if your family’s income reported on the FAFSA is vastly different than your family’s current financial situation, let us know. A dependent undergraduate who is unable to fill out a FAFSA because of parental estrangement should also contact us. Our office can provide advice and may request supporting documentation. Based upon the information and supporting documentation provided to the Office of Scholarships and Financial Assistance, the financial aid administrator may be able to exercise the FAFSA professional judgment option or a FAFSA dependency override option.

Loan Requirements and Options

Federal Direct Student Loans

Students that submitted the FAFSA may qualify for federal student loans. Students must be enrolled at least half-time in an undergraduate or graduate degree program. Students are required to accept or decline all or a portion of the Direct loan offered to them by accessing their financial aid award notification via their HIS portal.

According to Federal Regulations, students choosing to borrow their federal student loan(s) eligibility are required to complete Entrance Counseling and a Master Promissory Note (MPN) at the initial time of borrowing and Exit Counseling once graduating or ceasing to be enrolled at least half-time (www.studentaid.gov).

More information on current interest rates and origination fees is available here: https://studentaid.gov/understand-aid/types/loans/subsidized-unsubsidized.

Federal Direct Parent PLUS Loan

The Federal Direct Parent PLUS loan is a federal loan that parents of a dependent undergraduate student can borrow to help pay for college. The parent must not have any adverse credit history to borrow the loan. Parents may borrow the Direct Parent PLUS loan up to the total cost of attendance minus any other financial aid resources. The loan must be applied for each academic year. Repayment begins while the student is enrolled, but parents have the option to defer repayment until the student graduates or ceases to be enrolled at least half-time.

More information on current interest rates and origination fees is available here: https://studentaid.gov/understand-aid/types/loans/plus/parent.

Federal Direct Graduate PLUS Loan

The Federal Direct Graduate PLUS loan is a federal loan that graduate students may be able to borrow regardless of their demonstrated financial need. Graduate students must first borrow their maximum annual Direct Unsubsidized loan limit and may borrow the difference between the annual cost of attendance minus all other financial aid received. A credit check is performed during the application process. Students that have any adverse credit may be required to obtain an endorser. All Federal Graduate PLUS loan are placed in an in-school deferment status while the student is enrolled at least half-time. Students who graduate or cease to be enrolled at least-half time will be provided a one-time six-month grace period before repayment begins.

More information on current interest rates and origination fees is available here: https://studentaid.gov/understand-aid/types/loans/plus/grad.

FAFSA Verification Process

The U.S. Department of Education will flag some students’ FAFSAs for a review process called ‘verification.’ Verification is a mandatory review process where a financial aid administrator makes sure that your FAFSA was filled out correctly. If your FAFSA is selected for verification, a financial aid representative will email you directions on how to verify the income section(s) of your FAFSA and will ask you to fill out and return a Verification Worksheet. If you are unsure of whether or not you are selected for verification, you can check your FAFSA Summary Submission upon completion of your FAFSA. This report will let you know if you need to submit additional documentation to our office. The Office of Financial Aid will not provide financial aid offers for current students until the verification process is completed.

Refund Requests

If you have a credit balance on your student account and would like any excess funds refunded to your bank account, please fill out a refund request form. Please note that refund request forms are good for one use. Therefore, you will need to fill out a new form each term that you are requesting a refund (as long as you are eligible). The Business Office processes refunds once a week, except during breaks (ex: winter break). Refund request forms are due to Financial Aid on Fridays by 2:30 p.m. Please be sure to sign up for Direct Deposit when you fill out your Refund Request Form.

Satisfactory Academic Progress

Students must maintain satisfactory academic progress in order to continue to qualify for federal and institutional financial aid. Satisfactory academic progress includes a qualitative component (GPA) and a quantitative component (credits earned vs. attempted).

More detailed information is available in the academic catalog: https://registrar.press.hollins.edu/academic-catalogs/.

Impacts of Enrollment Changes

When a course is dropped, it disappears off of the student’s transcript and course schedule. Dropping a course will impact both billing and the amount of financial aid you qualify for. It is important to consult with the Office of Scholarships & Financial Assistance before you drop a class, if your enrollment level will change (ex: from full-time to half-time or from half-time to less than half-time).

Withdrawing from a course may impact the quantitative component of a student’s satisfactory academic progress measurement. If you are considering withdrawing from a class, you will want to inquire about whether or not this decision would impact your financial aid eligibility in any way.

Students who officially withdraw from all of their courses, stop attending their classes (“unofficially withdraw”), or who fail all of their classes may lose some of their financial aid for that term. This could potentially result in a balance due to the university.

Detailed information about the difference between withdrawals and drops is available in the academic catalog: https://registrar.press.hollins.edu/academic-catalogs/

Veterans Benefits

Students wishing to know more about veterans’ education benefits should visit our dedicated webpage here: https://www.hollins.edu/admission-aid/undergraduate-financial-aid-scholarships/veterans-educational-benefits/.

Our school certifying official, Kalyca Schultz, may be reached at kschultz@hollins.edu.

Education Tax Credits & Benefits

Visit https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-8863 to learn more about federal education tax credits. For information about the federal student loan interest deduction benefit, visit https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc456.

Federal Student Loan Repayment Information

The most common federal student loan is the Federal Direct Subsidized and/or Unsubsidized Loan. Graduate students may borrow a Federal Graduate PLUS loan in addition to a Direct Unsubsidized Loan. In the past, some of our students have borrowed a Federal Perkins Loan.

To learn more the various federal loan programs, visit the U.S. Department of Education’s loan information site here: https://studentaid.gov/understand-aid/types/loans)

The U.S. Department of Education outsources the servicing of its federal student loan portfolio to various companies. If you are unsure which company is servicing your federal loan, please log in to your federal student aid account’s dashboard at https://studentaid.gov.

More information about student loan servicers is available here: https://studentaid.gov/manage-loans/repayment/servicers.

Hollins University students who borrowed a Federal Perkins Loan and/or Hollins Hoge Loan are serviced by ECSI, a company located in Pennsylvania.

For information on your loan repayment options as a federal student loan borrower, please visit https://studentaid.gov/manage-loans/repayment/plans.

Are you interested in learning more about federal student loan forgiveness and cancellation options? If so, visit https://studentaid.gov/manage-loans/forgiveness-cancellation.