Graduate Student Instructions
To avoid deadline penalties, please complete all of these tasks by the following deadlines.
- New Students - Within two weeks of Your Award Notification date or the date you submitted your ¿ì»îÊÓƵenrollment contract, whichever is later.
- Returning Students - Within two weeks of Your Award Notification date.
Aid Steps
1. Text Notification Service
Please opt-in to our new to receive important reminders about aid deadlines and missing application items.
You can opt-out at any time by replying STOP to any message. We can't receive text messages, and we will continue to send most aid notices to your ¿ì»îÊÓƵemail address.
2. Carefully Read All of Your Award Guide
Your Award Guide explains your aid offers, how they were calculated and the terms and conditions of your awards. You are required to read this because it explains your aid responsibilities and the terms of your awards.
3. Authorize Release of Financial Information
Federal law prohibits ¿ì»îÊÓƵfrom discussing your financial aid with your parents or others without your authorization. To grant authorization, please complete our Release of Financial Information Form, which is available from Forms & Online Services.
4. Accept/Decline Your Aid and Choose Your Loan Amounts
- Login to the .
- From the main Navigation Menu, choose Financials, and Accept/Decline Awards.
- Then choose your Aid Year, and accept or decline each aid offer.
- If you accept loan offers, you do not have to borrow the maximum amount offered. To borrow a lower amount, first accept the loan, then enter your amount.
5. Calculate How Much You Want to Borrow This Year
You can borrow loans to cover both your ¿ì»îÊÓƵcharges and your other living and personal expenses for this academic year (Fall & Spring). Review our estimated Cost of Attendance Budgets or review our current rates for tuition, room, and board.
Your Award Notification lists the maximum amounts you can borrow from the Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loan program. If you want to borrow more than that, you may want to also borrow a Graduate PLUS loan.
Interest Rates
For the federal student loans for graduate students, Direct Unsubsidized Loans have the best interest rates, and Graduate PLUS loans have the 2nd lowest rates. Private loan rates vary based on lender and credit scores.
- Review the federal loan interest rates table here.
Loan Origination Fees
The following loan origination fees will be deducted from federal loans with first disbursements between 10/1/2020 and 9/30/2024.
- 1.057% for Federal Direct Subsidized/Unsubsidized loans
- 4.228% for Federal Graduate PLUS Loans
6. Borrowing Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loans
First, accept/decline your direct loan offers and choose your loan amounts at . If this is the first time you are borrowing a direct loan at TU:
- Complete a session.
- Complete a (MPN).
If you need to change your loan amount after you accept it, submit a ¿ì»îÊÓƵLoan Change Form from Forms & Online Services.
7. Borrowing Federal Graduate Student PLUS Loans
Follow the ¿ì»îÊÓƵGraduate Student PLUS Loan Application instructions.
8. Check Your ¿ì»îÊÓƵEmail Account Every Week
It is extremely important to regularly check your ¿ì»îÊÓƵstudent email. We only send most aid notices to your email account. You (the student) must read all aid emails and complete all aid tasks. You must notify your parents of any requests for parent data.
If you already have a non-¿ì»îÊÓƵemail account that you check regularly, we strongly encourage you to forward all your ¿ì»îÊÓƵemail to that account. Follow these email forwarding instructions.
9. Check Your To Dos Every Week
New items may be added each week as we process your file. Please submit or request all To Do list items within two weeks of our first request.
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Check your To Dos list on the .
10. Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) Data Verification
If your To Dos list requests verification documents, promptly submit the worksheet and IRS tax documentation. Please act promptly! It can take over six weeks after you request tax data to receive the required documentation from the IRS.
Late documents often cause a $150 late payment fine and delay financial aid refunds.
11. Will You Attend Full-time for the Fall and Spring Terms?
Full-time = at least 9 units per term for master's degrees and certificate programs, or 6 units per term for doctoral programs.
- If you will attend full-time — No action is required. We already based your aid offers on the assumption that you will attend full-time.
- If you will attend part-time, you must submit a Course Load Change Form to notify us and prevent aid disbursement and rebate delays. Visit Forms & Online Services. Review the Minimum Credit requirements for each aid program. Federal loans require at least half-time status.
12. Review/Update Your Housing Status
On your FAFSA, what housing status did you list for TU?
- On-campus
- Off-campus not with parents
- Living with parents
If your ¿ì»îÊÓƵhousing status changes at any time, you must notify ¿ì»îÊÓƵand MHEC.
To notify TU, you must submit a Housing Verification Form from Forms & Online Services.
If you have any , you must also update your housing status in their system.
13. Will You Receive any other Aid/Benefits that Are Not Listed on Your ¿ì»îÊÓƵAid Notification?
If yes, you must submit a Notice of Additional Resources Form from Forms & Online Services. Examples of aid include private scholarships and tuition waivers.
14. Are You Eligible for any Financial Need Adjustments that Could Increase Your Aid?
See Special Financial Conditions.
15. Bill Payment, Aid Disbursement and Financial Aid Refunds
The Student & University Billing Office will bill you for one term at a time. Your online eBill will include tuition, fees, and other miscellaneous charges for each term. If you will live on campus, it will also include room and board charges.
If your eBill does not list enough authorized aid to pay all of your charges, then you must make other arrangements to pay your full bill balance by your bill due date.
If your total term aid exceeds your term charges, the Student & University Billing Office will send you a refund. For more information about billing and payments, please visit the Student & University Billing Office.
16. Optional - Use of Funds form
When we disburse your aid, we will automatically use it to pay all of your ¿ì»îÊÓƵcharges for this term unless you choose to restrict which charges we can pay with your aid funds by submitting the optional ¿ì»îÊÓƵUse of Funds form. See Forms & Online Services.