What is Financial Aid?
Financial aid is federal, state and/or private funding that helps bridge the gap between the college costs you and your family can afford and the total cost of a college education. There are two primary sources of financial aid for LSB students: the federal government, and the state of Pennsylvania. Students are encouraged to research and apply for additional funding and scholarships from various outside organizations and foundations.
This gap – also called Financial Need – is determined for each student through a federal formula. This formula calculates a student’s Student Aid Index (SAI). The SAI number represents how much the federal government anticipates the family can contribute annually to the student’s education. The SAI is an important indicator of a student’s need. However, it is not necessarily equal to his or her out-of-pocket costs for attending school. The SAI is the calculated result of the information you supply on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
The formula for awarding financial aid is as follows:
Cost of Attendance – your SAI = your Financial Need
This Financial Need figure is the amount that LSB will assist future students to apply for and fund, as best as possible, through the available financial aid programs we participate in. There will be some cases when student financial assistance cannot meet 100% of a student’s financial need.
Remember:
- Every student considering college should apply for financial aid
- Full time and part time students are eligible for financial aid
- You could be eligible to receive Direct Loans and a Pell Grant
- You could receive a PHEAA state grant, when enrolled in a degree program at LSB
- You could receive a PHEAA PA-TIP grant when enrolled in the Practical Nursing Day program.
Professional Judgment
Financial Aid Administrators have the authority to complete Professional Judgment (“PJ”) adjustments in determining a student’s need for Title IV Federal student financial assistance. This process is completed through the Financial Aid Professional Portal.
There are two different categories of PJ
- Special Circumstances refer to the financial situations (loss of a job, etc.) that justify your aid coordinator adjusting the data elements in the Cost of Attendance or Estimated Financial Contribution calculation.
- Unusual Circumstances refer to the conditions that justify an aid administrator making an adjustment to a student’s dependency status based on a unique situation (e.g., human trafficking, refugee or asylee status, parental abuse or abandonment, incarceration), more commonly referred to as a dependency override.
A student may have both a Special Circumstance and an Unusual Circumstance. To pursue an adjustment based on a Special Circumstance and/or an Unusual Circumstance, students should contact their Financial Aid Coordinator.