How Current Students Renew Financial Aid

Because there is great demand for financial aid, students must file a renewal Free Application for Federal Student Aid (“FAFSA”) each year in order to continue receiving scholarships, grants, loans, and work study from Stonehill and government sources. Students must also maintain satisfactory academic progress, meet any scholarship-specific criteria, and provide any requested verification documents in order to remain eligible.

Who must file a FAFSA each year?

  • Anyone who wants to receive financial aid from the federal government, their state of residence and/or Stonehill College;
  • Anyone who wants to apply for a Federal Direct Student Loan or Federal Direct Parent PLUS Loan;
  • Anyone who wants to participate in work study or the student employment program;
  • Anyone who wants to be considered for a Stonehill Restricted/Endowed Scholarship.

How do current students file a FAFSA?

  • The fastest and easiest way to file a FAFSA is online at www.fafsa.gov.
  • If you submitted a FAFSA last year, and you are eligible to complete a Renewal FAFSA, you may choose to have most of the questions pre-filled with the information you provided previously. Otherwise, complete the regular FAFSA.
  • If you are eligible to complete a Renewal FAFSA, you will be asked to provide your FSA ID, as well as answers to income, asset, and tax questions. You must also update any information that has changed since last year. Simply updating the information for the new school year on a Renewal FAFSA may be faster. However, the Renewal FAFSA is available solely for your convenience. If you prefer to start fresh with a new FAFSA, you may do so.
  • It is also recommended that you utilize the IRS Data Retrieval on your FAFSA to transmit your tax information straight from the IRS onto your FAFSA.
  • The student’s signature and a parent’s signature are required for a dependent student. If you are filing online, you and your parent must each sign the form electronically using your own FSA ID. If you forgot your FSA ID, you will find links that give you the option of retrieving your username or password through your verified email address or by successfully answering your challenge questions.

Do I need to submit anything else?

We may request additional information as part of the verification process. You may be required to submit additional information including but not limited to parent and student federal tax returns from the most recently completed tax year. Therefore, be sure to make copies of these documents before sending them to the IRS. Do not send these documents to Stonehill unless requested to do so.

Deadlines

  • FAFSA renewal priority deadline is March 15.
  • If verification documentation is requested you will be sent an email from Student Financial Assistance directing you to your myHill account to view required documents. Required documents must be submitted within 2 weeks of the request.
  • Any file that is not completed within the requested time frame will be deemed late and considered on a funds-available basis only.
  • You can check the status of your financial aid application and view a list of documents the college has received and a list of documents still outstanding by visiting your myHill account.

What happens next?

  • Award notifications are emailed to all students whose files are complete by the required deadlines during June and July. The Stonehill email account is the only email used. Please check this account on a regular basis, or forward the Stonehill email to an account that you prefer to use.
  • You must accept (or decline) all awards through your myHill portal in order for the aid to transfer and credit to your bill.
  • Bills for the fall semester will be available online the beginning of July (due the beginning of August).
  • Bills for the spring semester will be available online the beginning of December (due the beginning of January).

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