Students must be formally admitted into a degree program to obtain financial aid. Financial aid awards are based upon an analysis of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The FAFSA can be completed online at www.fafsa.gov. For more information, call the Financial Aid Office at (336) 721-2808 or visit them in Lehman Hall. Appeals regarding decisions and financial eligibility for financial aid awards should be made through the Financial Aid Office.
Scholarships
The Nancy Hayes Scholarship is an award of $500 given yearly in memory of Nancy Hayes, a former Salem College student who majored in elementary education. To be eligible to receive this award, the student must be accepted into the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program in elementary education, must have completed a minimum of 12 semester hours and must have a 3.5 GPA or above. The award will be determined and awarded in the spring of each year by the department of teacher education and graduate studies. The award is non-renewable.
The Strong Scholar, named in honor of Hattie M. Strong, was first awarded in 2011. This $5000 award is given to two students (undergraduate or graduate) during the student teaching/practicum semester. Every student is offered the opportunity to apply for this award as part of the student teaching application. A committee of education faculty chooses the recipients each semester. The award is based on both merit and financial need. The award is non-renewable.
Loans
Graduate students at Salem College may be eligible for Federal Direct Unsubsidized Student Loans. Federal Direct Student Loans are federally insured loans, administered by the federal government, for students enrolled at least half-time in an approved degree program. Eligibility is determined in accordance with federal regulations and determined by responses to the FAFSA. A loan is made in the student’s name and becomes repayable on a monthly basis six months after the student leaves school or drops to less than half-time study. (For graduate students, an academic load of three semester hours is required for half-time status.) The interest rate is fixed annually with a cap of 9.5 percent.
Federal Direct PLUS Loans for Graduate Students.
Graduate students can take out a Direct PLUS Loan to help cover education expenses. The terms and conditions applicable to the PLUS Loan for Parents also apply to Direct PLUS Loans for graduate and professional students. To be eligible, you must not have an adverse credit history. Student applicants are required to complete the FAFSA. In addition, before you can receive a Direct PLUS Loan, the Financial Aid Office must have determined your maximum eligibility for Direct Unsubsidized Loans.
Information on Federal Direct Student Loans is available from the Financial Aid Office and its website, www.salem.edu/financialaid.
Graduate students may also apply for private educational loans at a variety of lending institutions such as banks or credit unions. Information on private loans is the responsibility of the borrower. Salem College does not have a preferred lender list for private/alternative loans.
Financial aid awards are made for no more than one academic year and must be renewed each year the student is enrolled in the College. Renewal of financial aid will depend upon completion of a FAFSA and maintenance of satisfactory academic progress (SAP) and demonstration of continued financial need by the student. You may view the current SAP policy on the Financial Aid webpage at www.salem.edu/financialaid and click Satisfactory Academic Progress from the menu.
Special Circumstances
At Salem College we recognize that, due to extenuating circumstances, the FAFSA may not always accurately reflect your financial situation and/or dependency status. The U.S. Department of Education permits financial aid administrators to exercise Professional Judgment, and possibly give additional consideration, to those students and their families experiencing certain limited specific situations as described below.
Special Circumstances refer to the financial situations that justify an aid administrator adjusting data elements in the Cost of Attendance or in the Estimated Family Contribution (EFC) calculation on their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
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, more commonly referred to as a dependency.
A student may have both a special circumstance and an unusual circumstance. Financial aid administrators may make adjustments that are appropriate to each student’s situation with appropriate documentation.
Please note that if a student already has a 0 EFC, there is no need to request a “second look” of FAFSA data. This is because a student with a 0 EFC is already receiving the maximum amount of financial aid available. Additionally, there is no need-based financial aid currently available for graduate students. Graduate students at Salem College are only eligible for unsubsidized federal Direct Loans. Therefore, a Professional Judgment request will not benefit a graduate student by providing need-based grant funding.
Special Circumstance: Professional Judgment Request
Professional Judgment based on Special Circumstance can be requested after the student receives their initial award notification for the current aid year. Before the special circumstances can be considered, the college will verify the accuracy of the information that the student provided on their current FAFSA through the federal verification process. Salem College utilizes Inceptia, Inc. (Verification Gateway) to complete verification. Salem will manually select the student for verification and Inceptia will send a “welcome e-mail” to the email address the student listed on their current FAFSA. The email will list the necessary documentation that both the student and parent are required to submit to Inceptia in order to complete the federal verification process. Inceptia will notify the college once the verification process is complete. Upon their notification, the Assistant Vice President for Financial Aid will review the Professional Judgement request.
After reviewing your special circumstance documentation, your financial aid package may remain the same, be increased, or reduced according to the financial information that has been submitted. Submitting a special circumstance request does not guarantee an adjustment will be made to your aid package.
Decisions are final and will be communicated directly to the student. For more information, contact the Financial Aid Office to see if your situation can be considered. If approved, any additional funding awarded is only available for the academic school year for which the special circumstance is approved. Special circumstances must be reviewed annually. Please do not submit documents unless instructed by our office.
Examples of Special Circumstances Considered
Loss or reduction of income (layoff, illness, forced reduction of hours, temporary employment, etc.) Medical or dental expenses not covered by insurance (and that exceed 11% of the AGI reported on current FAFSA)
- Death, divorce, or separation of parents or spouse
- Non-recurring payments receiving during the FAFSA tax year that will not be repeated
- Loss of benefits, such as unemployment, disability, social security, veterans, child support, or alimony
- Private elementary and secondary tuition for siblings, not including the Salem College applicant
Examples of Special Circumstances NOT Considered
- Parent refuses to provide financial support for higher education
- Parent refuses to complete or sign FAFSA
- Increase of standard living expenses
- Purchasing material items such as a car, home appliances, vacations, second homes, etc.
- Reduction of assets. Changes in assets will be reflected on the following year’s FAFSA. Credit issues, line of credit changes, previous student loan debt, etc.
- Medical bills paid by health insurance or that will be reimbursed by health care coverage.
- Siblings or parents who are also attending college. Siblings are already taken into account on the FAFSA. Students cannot list their parents in the number in college.
Submitting Your Request for the Consideration of Special Circumstances
The Professional Judgment Application is available by request only. If you feel you have a special circumstance, contact the Financial Aid Office for further guidance. The College will review all Professional Judgment requests as quickly as practicable. Per federal regulations, Salem cannot process a Professional Judgment that was submitted after the student is no longer enrolled for the period of enrollment; or was submitted before the end of the period of enrollment but processed by Salem after the end of the period of enrollment.
Unusual Circumstances: Professional Judgment Request
Unusual circumstances may be considered for a dependency override after you file your FAFSA and before receiving your initial award notification for the current aid year. After reviewing your unusual circumstance documentation, your aid package may remain the same, be increased, or reduced according to the information that has been submitted. A dependency override does not guarantee an adjustment will be made to your aid package.
Decisions are final and will be communicated directly to the student. Please do not submit documents unless instructed by our office.
Examples of Unusual Circumstances Considered
- Abusive/unsafe family environment
- Parental abandonment or incarceration
- Both parents became deceased after filing the FAFSA
- Parents cannot be located Parents are incapacitated
- Victims of human trafficking
- Refugee or asylee status
Examples of Unusual Circumstances NOT Considered
- Parents refusal to contribute to financing the student’s education
- Parents do not claim you as a dependent on their tax return
- Parents are unwilling to provide information on the application or verification documentation
- Student is no longer living with parents/demonstrates self-sufficiency (unless due to one of the unusual circumstances listed in the section above) Submitting Your Request for the Consideration of Unusual Circumstances
Submitting Your Request for the Consideration of Unusual Circumstances
If you believe you have an unusual circumstance that impacts your dependency status, please contact the Financial Aid Office as soon as possible after submitting your FAFSA. The College will review all requests for a dependency override as quickly as practicable. Per federal regulations, Salem cannot process a dependency override that was submitted after the student is no longer enrolled for the period of enrollment; or was submitted before the end of the period of enrollment, but processed by the Salem after the end of the period of enrollment.
Summer School
Summer School at Salem College is considered a trailer for financial aid purposes. This means that if you attend summer school, it will be calculated as financial aid for the previous academic year. Therefore, if you have accepted all of your eligibility during fall and spring, there may not be funds available for you to receive aid in summer.
For purposes of federal financial aid programs at Salem College, an academic year is a period of time (normally a minimum of 30 weeks or fall plus spring semester) during which a full-time graduate student is expected to complete a minimum of 12 semester hours.
Annual grant limits are tied to the completion of an academic year.
Award year refers to the specific enrollment period. The “normal” award year at Salem College is the fall and spring semesters (currently the 2024-2025 year). Award years run from July 1 to June 30.
A cross-over payment period is any period that includes both June 30 and July 1. For the purposes of federal financial aid programs, this period must be assigned to a specific financial aid award year. These years begin each July 1.
- Salem College offers a number of summer sessions in an effort to be responsive to the needs of the student body. For the purposes of all federal aid programs, the separate sessions are combined into one cross-over payment period.
- The 2024-2025 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) will be used to determine eligibility for all federal aid programs for the 2024 summer semester. Students who are entering Salem College for the first time during the 2024 summer session should complete the form online at www.studentaid.gov.
Students must be meeting federal satisfactory academic progress guidelines at the end of the 2025 spring semester in order to continue to participate in federal aid programs for the summer. Eligibility for federal student loans is limited to the difference between the amount borrowed during the previous fall/spring semesters and the maximum loan limits for each specific grade level as set by the U.S. Department of Education.
You must be registered for and maintain at least three hours before we can award you summer financial assistance.
Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP)
General Information
The federal and state governments require each educational institution to define standards of progress for students seeking financial aid. All students who wish to qualify for financial aid while attending Salem College will be assessed on the following criteria:
- Minimum G.P.A.
- Minimum semester course/credit hour completion rate
- Completion of a degree within a maximum number of courses/credit hours
- Has not exceeded 150%of required semester/credit hours
- Grades of F, W or I are not acceptable for SAP
These standards are applied uniformly to all Salem College financial aid applicants. If a student meets these standards, they are eligible to be considered for financial aid. If the student does not meet these standards, they will not be eligible to receive financial aid. Procedures for re-establishing financial aid eligibility are described in this policy.
Financial aid is defined as all federal, state and institutional programs (except as otherwise noted). In this policy, “eligible for financial aid” means that a student meets the standards of the Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy for financial aid. A student must also meet all other financial aid requirements in order to receive financial aid.
Minimum Grade Point Average
Graduate students’ cumulative and semester GPA must meet standards established by the Salem College Academic Catalog. If your cumulative GPA falls below the minimum standard, you will be placed on Financial Aid suspension and must submit an appeal. Financial aid will be cancelled immediately for any student who is academically excluded.
Class: Graduate Students Required GPA: 3.000
Minimum Course/Semester Hour Completion Rate Requirement
At the end of each academic semester (including summer) a student (undergraduate or graduate) must earn a minimum of 67% of the semester hours for which they were registered as of the end of drop/add. Drop/add is usually five days into the semester; please check the course schedule for specific dates. Students must also complete 67% of their cumulative attempted hours. This completion requirement measures both semester and cumulative semester hours and is referred to as pace. Pace defines the rate at which a student must progress to ensure educational program completion within the maximum timeframe, i.e., number of semester hours attempted x 67% = number of semester hours successfully completed.
Graduate Student Example
For the semester, if a student has a total of 6 semester hours at the end of drop/add, then the student would have to complete at least 4 semester hours to remain eligible for further financial aid (6 x .67 = 4). Cumulatively, if a student has attempted 21 semester hours, then the student must have cumulatively completed at least 14 semester hours to remain eligible for further financial aid (21 x .67 = 14).
Completion of a Degree Within a Maximum Number of Courses/Semester Hours
Students are eligible to receive financial aid for a maximum of 150% of the courses/semester hours required for the degree. Graduate students may receive financial aid for a maximum of 150% of the hours required for the degree. . If a student changes their graduate program, the credits and grades that do not count toward the new graduate program will not be included in the Satisfactory Academic Progress determination. The college will only take into consideration a student changing their graduate program one time.
You are meeting the Completion Rate Requirement if: overall attempted courses/semester hours < = 150% of courses/semester hours required for the degree
Grades of F, W, NC (no credit), or I are not acceptable for SAP.
Failure to Maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress
The Financial Aid Office will notify students of their failure to meet the standards of this policy. Each student is responsible for knowing their own status, whether or not they receive this notification. If a student is not making SAP, they will be placed on Financial Aid Warning for the following semester. Students who fail to meet the minimum requirements at the end of the Financial Aid Warning semester will be placed on Financial Aid Suspension. At that time, they will lose eligibility for federal, state, and institutional financial aid until such time that the minimum SAP requirements have been met. All students placed on Financial Aid Suspension as a result of the failure to meet these SAP standards have the right to appeal.
- Financial Aid Warning is a warning that the student has failed to meet the minimum SAP requirements. The student has one (1) semester, including summer, to meet the minimum SAP requirements. Students will be notified by the Financial Aid Office if they are placed on Financial Aid Warning. Students may receive federal, state, and institutional funds during their warning period. However, students who fail to meet the minimum SAP requirements at the end of the warning period will be placed on Financial Aid Suspension.
- Financial Aid Suspension is when a student fails to meet the SAP requirements after their warning period. Students will not receive federal, state, or instructional funds during their probation period until they submit all documentation for their appeal, and it is approved.
- Financial Aid Probation: If the SAP Appeal Committee approves the student’s appeal, the student will be placed on academic probation which will allow one term of financial aid.
Note: Students may receive a maximum of three Financial Aid Suspensions during their academic career at Salem College. After the second suspension, students are required to meet with the SAP Appeal Committee in order to review and agree to the terms of the third suspension. If the agreed upon terms are not met, the student will no longer be eligible for federal, state, or institutional aid at Salem College.
Please refer to the Salem College SAP appeal process. You can find this policy on the Salem College Financial Aid website: http://www.salem.edu/financial-aid
Re-establishing Financial Aid Eligibility
Students who fail to meet the standards of this policy may re-establish their financial aid eligibility at Salem College in one of two ways:
The student can earn the number of semester hours for which they are deficient or improve their GPA without financial aid. These hours may be earned at Salem, or, they may be earned at another institution and transferred to Salem for any term after the deficiency occurs. Students should get prior approval from the Registrar’s Office to ensure that courses taken at another institution will be accepted. After the deficiency is resolved, the student must submit a written appeal requesting the Financial Aid Office to review their eligibility to receive financial aid.
If there were circumstances beyond the student’s control that prohibited the student from keeping the standards of this policy, and those circumstances are now resolved, the student may submit a written appeal to the Financial Aid Office, according to the SAP appeal calendar.
SAP Appeal Calendar
SAP appeals and documentation MUST be received no later than one week before the first day of class of the semester you wish to attend. Appeals received after 5:00 p.m. on the aforementioned date will not be accepted.
SAP Appeal Process
Salem College students who have had financial aid suspended due to unsatisfactory progress may appeal.
Students may obtain a Salem College SAP Appeal Application from the Financial Aid Office or online at: http://www.salem.edu/financial-aid. The appeal documents should be based on one of the following categories:
- Death in the immediate family or relative
- Illness/injury or medical condition
- Extenuating/mitigating circumstances
Appeals must include a detailed description of the extenuating circumstances that occurred during the semester in which the student failed to meet this policy. The appeal must also include all necessary documentation to support the existence of the circumstances described and evidence that the circumstances have been resolved.
Students are encouraged to contact Ida Turner Davis, Director of Academic Support, at (336) 721-2822 to develop an Academic Plan. This may be submitted with your appeal.
Students will be notified in writing of the decision of the SAP Appeal Committee within two weeks of all documentation being received. (Please note that students are responsible for any charges incurred until the appeal committee has rendered a decision.)
Appeals may be approved or denied.
- Approved appeals - A student whose appeal is approved will be placed on academic probation, and receive one semester of financial aid.
- Denied appeals - If an appeal is denied, the student is not eligible for federal, state, or institutional financial aid. The student may submit a second appeal to the SAP Appeal Committee. Once the appeal has been reviewed by the Committee, notification will be sent to the student along with any other options available. If an appeal is denied a second time, the student is only eligible for private/alternative loans, or take courses at their own expense until they meet the minimum SAP requirements.
Students seeking to re-establish financial aid eligibility remain ineligible to receive financial aid assistance until the appeal process is complete and a decision has been made by the SAP Appeal Committee. Students should be prepared to pay tuition, fees, and other educational expenses until they have been approved to receive financial aid.
For further details, please visit the Salem College Financial Aid Office web page: www.salem.edu/financialaid.
Enrollment and Withdrawals
Graduate students’ initial financial aid awards are based on full-time status. If you are not enrolled full-time at the end of drop/add, your award will be adjusted. If you are enrolled less than half-time, your award will be canceled.
- 6+ semester hours = full-time
- 3 to 5 semester hours = half-time
- < 3 semester hours = less than half-time (ineligible for financial aid)
If you withdraw from Salem or stop attending classes before attending 60 percent of the term, any refund of money will be made first to the financial aid program from which you benefited for that term. In addition, you may be required to repay some or all of the financial aid funds you received for the term. You should always talk with a financial aid administrator before dropping a course or withdrawing from Salem College.
Withdrawal from the College
Students who wish to withdraw from the College are required to notify the Dean of Graduate Studies in writing and provide the dean with any requested information needed to process the withdrawal. If the student withdraws from the College, her grades in those courses are governed by the deadlines referenced in the Add/Drop Policy above. Any student who is approved for readmission after one calendar year or more (two consecutive regular terms) or who returns to the College after a “step out” period of one calendar year or more will be bound by all requirements of the catalog in effect at the time of re-enrollment; the college may also re-evaluate previously awarded transfer credit. Prior-year catalogs are viewable at www.Salem.edu/catalog.
Unofficial Withdrawal
A student who leaves the College or stops attending courses without officially withdrawing will be administratively withdrawn and will receive a grade of WF (or NC, for courses graded P/NC) for those courses. The date of withdrawal is the midpoint (50%) of the semester. The student will be financially responsible for the payment of all tuition and fees, and will be responsible for the repayment of federal financial aid, if applicable. The student who stops attending and who receives all WF’s for a regular semester has 14 days from the last date of the term to apply for a medical withdrawal and provide supporting documentation. After 14 days, the grades of WF will stand, even if the student presents documentation of a medical issue that caused the unofficial withdrawal. Grades of WF are considered as F’s where satisfactory academic progress is concerned and will calculate in the student’s GPA as such.
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