A financial aid over-award occurs when the aid you receive from all sources is greater than your cost of attendance or your federally determined need eligibility. The Office of Student Financial Aid takes care not to over-award a student initially. However, circumstances may change after the initial financial aid awards have been made, resulting in an over-award.
Some examples of why an over-award may occur:
- additional financial aid from an outside source awarded to you
- a change in residency from out-of-state to Florida resident
- a change in housing
- enrollment from full-time to less than full-time
- taking all on-line classes
When over-awards occur, we are required to review your financial aid eligibility and may be required to adjust, reduce, or eliminate financial aid awarded to ensure that the total you receive is within federal guidelines. This may result in an accounts receivable in which you are responsible for paying.
To help prevent an over-award, we strongly recommend that you notify the Office of Student Financial Aid of any potential awards not already listed on your financial aid award summary, found under "My Financial Aid Online" in your FSW student portal.