FAQ’s for Financial Aid

Your enrollment status will determine your eligibility for certain awards and what percentage of your awards you should expect to receive.

Enrollment Status

*Units/credits are only counted if the course(s) can be applied to a Financial Aid eligible degree or certificate for which you are currently enrolled in.

** Washington state aid has a minimum requirement of 3 units/credits to be eligible for aid.

Most Financial Aid awards are considered need-based aid. These awards are influenced by a simple calculation, Need = COA – SAI.

Need:
A student’s need is determined by subtracting their Student Aid Index (SAI) from their Cost of Attendance (COA). Need = COA – SAI. Your total need determines how much need-based aid you can receive for the academic year.

COA:
Cost of Attendance (COA) is how much it will cost a student to go to school.
Costs include:

• Tuition and fees
• Books and supplies
• Allowances for child care or other dependent care
• Loan fees
• Miscellaneous expenses

SAI:
Student Aid Index (SAI) is an amount determined by the Federal Student Aid (FSA) office based on the information provided on your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The FSA office uses a formula, established by law, to calculate a student’s SAI. The SAI calculation uses information from the FAFSA such as taxed and untaxed income, household size, assets, and benefits (such as unemployment or Social Security).

Most awards have to be disbursed toward outstanding tuition and fees first. If your awards are greater than your tuition and fees, then you will receive a refund.

Your Refund = Quarterly Awards – Outstanding Charges

Quarterly Awards:

View you quarterly awards on the ctcLink Student Homepage.
Find the sum of your ACCEPTED awards for the quarter.

*The FWS (Federal Work-Study) award can only be earned AFTER applying for a Student Work-Study position and will be earned at an hourly rate in the form of a paycheck. This award is not applied toward tuition and fee charges, so it should not be included in your refund calculations.

Outstanding Charges:

1. View your most current outstanding charges by logging into your ctcLink Student Homepage. You can access the Nelnet Payment Plan page by going to your ctcLink Student Homepage > Financial Account > Payment Plans.
2. You can view any expected Financial Aid payments on your ctcLink Student Homepage.
   View your quarterly schedule by going to your ctcLink Student Homepage> Financial Aid
3. If you are not currently enrolled in classes, you can download the Tuition and Fees Schedule from the Registration Office’s Tuition and Fees webpage. This will show you your expected tuition and fee charges depending on how many credits you plan on enrolling in.

Your Refund:

Refunds will appear on your BankMobile Disbursements account.
Be sure to activate your account and select your refund preference before the first day of the quarter, to ensure that you receive your funds as soon as possible.
Most Financial Aid awards are disbursed on the second day of the quarter.

For a list of all Financial Aid eligible programs (career pathways), visit our Eligibility webpage.

Eligible Courses or Units/Credits

• College Courses (100 level or above) – courses required for an eligible degree or certificate; or prerequisite for an eligible degree or certificate courses *
• Remedial Courses (less than 100 level) – Math, Reading and English courses only; based on outcome of placement test
• Advanced Placement (AP)
• College Level Examination Program (CLEP)
• Prior Learning Units/Credits

*To see a list of Financial Aid eligible programs (career pathways), visit our Eligibility webpage.

Ineligible Classes or Units/Credits

• Adult Basic Education (ABE)
• Community Education
• Continuing Education
• Emergency Medical Technician (EMT)
• English as a Second Language (ESL)
• English Language Acquisition (ELA)
• High School Completion (HSC)
• Transition (TRANS)

About one week after Bates receives your FAFSA, we will either send you an award Notification or we will request more documentation in order to determine your eligibility for aid. Please check your email, including your spam folder, during this time.

You can also check your Financial Aid status or awards on your ctcLink Student Homepage.

Most Financial Aid awards will be disbursed on the second instructional day of the quarter and applied toward your tuition and fees.

Students who are requesting their first student loan at Bates will have a standard, 30-day delay on the first, quarterly disbursement of their loan. All subsequent loan disbursements will be issued on the second instructional day of the quarter.

See the college calendar for specific dates.

If there are any remaining funds after your awards are disbursed, you will receive a refund.

Refund = Quarterly Awards – Outstanding Charges

Please see the information under the “How much aid am I getting?” tab of our FAQ’s for Financial Aid webpage for details on how to look up your Quarterly Awards and Outstanding Charges.

Refunds will be delivered with BankMobile Disbursements, a technology solution, powered by BMTX, Inc.

Students should apply for aid as soon as possible. If you need to submit additional documentation, it can take two months or longer to complete your FAFSA.

For more information, visit the Federal Student Aid’s (FSA) FAFSA Deadlines webpage.

In order to receive your aid, make sure you have completed the following tasks.

1. Check if Bates received your FAFSA
   • If you cannot see your FAFSA information on the ctcLink Student Homepage, Bates may not have received it.
2. Check if you have been awarded
   • Once you are able to view your awards on the ctcLink Student Homepage under the Financial Aid tile, you will either see your financial aid awards or you will see requests for documents in the Task tile section of the ctcLink Student Homepage.
3. Check if your awards are greater than your tuition
   • Add together all of your awards for one quarter. Exclude any Federal Work Study (FWS) awards, since those funds are earned at an hourly rate and are not disbursed in a lump sum at the beginning of the quarter.
   • Next, look up your total tuition and fees. Use the Financial Account on the ctcLink Student Homepage.
   • If your awards are greater than your tuition and fees, you will receive a refund.
   • If you need additional funding, visit the Workforce Education Services (WES) webpage or contact Financial Aid to see if you are eligible for alternative funding options.
4. Activate your BankMobile Disbursements account
   • All Financial Aid refunds are processed through BankMobile Disbursements, a technology solution, powered by BMTX, Inc. Visit ourReceiving Your Aid webpage for more information on how to activate your account.

The Federal Student Aid (FSA) office processes the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Students can be considered a dependent of their parents, for financial aid purposes, until they reach the age of 24. A student’s dependency status is not influenced by their tax filing status, level of income, amount of money received by family members, or if they currently live with a parent.

The information provided on the FAFSA will determine your dependency status. If you are considered dependent (rather than independent) you will be asked to provide information for at least one of your parents or legal guardians.

If you are having trouble providing your parent’s information, please contact the Financial Aid office.

To officially withdraw from a course, students must complete a Student Withdrawal form, available on the Bates Forms webpage.

For more information, contact the Registration Office.

If you drop your classes or submit a Student Withdrawal form, your enrollment status will change.  Please see the “How is enrollment status defined?” question on this page for more details.
Your Financial Aid can be affected in the following two ways.

1. Return to Title IV
   • If a student does not complete their courses after the start of the quarter, they may have to return all, most, or some of their aid. Many factors are considered when determining how much aid a student may have to return. These factors include the number of units/credits reduced, days attended, and date of official drop/withdrawal.
   • For more information, please review the following documents on our Financial Aid Forms webpage.
   • Documents:
     • Terms and Conditions
     • Understanding Your Aid (Section: Return of Title IV Funds)
     • Student Financial Aid Rights & Responsibilities (Sections: Academic Progress & Attendance)
2. Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP)
   • Drop:
     If you drop your class before withdrawal paperwork is required, there will be no record on your official or unofficial transcript. If there is no academic record, there will be no impact (negative or positive) on your SAP status.
     *Situations may vary if you are on Financial Aid probation. If you are on probation, please contact our office for more information on how dropping may affect your eligibility for aid.
   • Withdrawal:
     A withdrawal (“W” grade) will remain on your unofficial and official transcripts. This course will not be considered when calculating your Grade Point Average (GPA) but may negatively impact your financial aid eligibility.
     For more information on how W grades can affect your eligibility for financial aid, please download our Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) Policy Handbook from our Eligibility webpage.

A 0 grade will affect your Grade Point Average (GPA) and those course units/credits will count as attempted but not earned. For more information on earned and attempted units/credits, please download our Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) Policy Handbook from our Eligibility webpage.