Award Notices: What to Expect and Next Steps
UM's Student Financial Services generates estimated award notices for eligible students once UM receives a student's processed FAFSA. Award notices continue to be sent out throughout the year as processed FAFSAs are received.
New Student Timeline
Review of scholarship eligibility begins in November after a student has been admitted to UM, based on information provided on the admission application. Award offers begin to be generated in December and are available for students to view and accept on GrizPortal. ( that provides students access to academic records, billing information, financial aid details and more.) Any additional requirements also will be posted on GrizPortal.
Notifications
New students will receive email notification at the email address they provided in the FAFSA and are also mailed a packet of information.
Continuing students will receive their FAFSA notifications via email and they will be available to view in GrizPortal.
Accept or Decline Award Offer
After receiving their award offer, students are then directed to the financial aid section of GrizPortal to answer a series of questions, and accept or decline the offered aid.
Final Review
For a student's "estimated award" to become "actual," it must go through a final review.
As soon as a student has completed the online acceptance of their financial aid and submitted any required documents, Student Financial Services can begin the final review process.
During the review, adjustments are made if the student's Estimated Family Contribution has changed, they are receiving additional aid or changes have been made to their residency status, campus, program or enrollment status.
Adjustments
If additional information is received that affects a student's aid eligibility, awards will continue to be adjusted, even after an application has gone through final review and been disbursed. To reduce the likelihood of unanticipated changes, Student Financial Services should be notified as soon as a student's plans or resources change.
Award Notice Details
-
For a student's estimated award offer to become "actual" it must go through a final review process. While this process is automated for many students, some may require manual review.
During the final review process the Student Aid Index is double checked for accuracy. If any changes to the Student Aid Index have been received from the U.S. Department of Education, aid is adjusted accordingly.
Anytime additional information about a student that may affect aid is received by UM, adjustments to financial aid packages can be made. Situations that might lead to aid adjustments can might include changes a student's residency status, budget, campus program or enrollment status.
For example, if a student receives an additional scholarship after their original aid offer was accepted, Student Financial Services is required to review the new funds being received and see if it fits into the student's aid award.
Students will be notified at any time their aid is adjusted. To reduce the likelihood of any unanticipated changes, please notify Student Financial Services as soon as your academic plans or resources change.
Initial award offers are estimated and made with the assumption that the student will be enrolled full-time as an undergraduate student, meaning they are taking 12 or more credits. For a graduate student, full-time is reached at six or more credits.
-
Students use their NetID to . If you do not know your NetID, please use the . Once in GrizPortal, navigate to Financial Aid, then change the award year. Lastly, select "Award Offer" to see options to accept or decline.
Once students receive award notices, they must visit the financial aid section of GrizPortal to answer a series of questions, then accept or decline the aid offers.
-
Students can accept, modify or decline their financial aid awards through GrizPortal. Once accepted, any corrections or modifications must go through Student Financial Services. Requests made close to the start of a semester may take longer to process due to peak processing times.
When Student Financial Services generates a student award offer it is available to be viewed and accepted on GrizPortal. Once a student logs into GrizPortal, a message will come up stating your estimated financial aid offer is ready to accept. Follow the link to take you to the financial aid section. Then, go to the home tab to provide answers to the questions regarding enrollment status, outside monies and graduation date. Once the questions are answered, then the student can continue to the award offer tab to accept or decline the aid.
When accepting aid, the student has an option of accepting the full amount, modifying the amount and accepting a partial amount or declining the full amount. Federal grants and most scholarships are automatically accepted on your behalf.
-
Some students have additional requirements that must be satisfied before they receive an initial award notice and/or go through the final review process.
Verification is the most common additional requirement. Students selected for verification must submit all requested documents to Inceptia and have their process verified prior to going through the final review process.
Federal holds are another common reason for additional requirements. If a student has a federal hold or needs to provide proof of independent status, they will not receive an estimated award offer until the holds have been cleared and their independent status has been confirmed.
When a student has an additional requirement holding up their financial aid, they are sent emails to their UM student e-mail address on a regular basis until the document has been reviewed and satisfied. These outstanding requirements are also listed on the home tab in the financial aid section on GrizPortal.
If you see a request for additional documentation or do not understand what the e-mail is requesting, contact Student Financial Services and we will work with you to get your documents submitted.
-
For loans and grants that appear as a credit on a student’s bill, aid has to be accepted and the file must have gone through the final review process.
To ensure that your financial aid is processed in time to pay your bill by the first day of classes, please submit all documents requested in a timely manner.
- For autumn term, submit all documents prior to June 15
- For spring term, submit all documents prior to Nov. 1
-
Once the award offer has been accepted in GrizPortal, any corrections must go through Student Financial Services. If you would like to make a change to your financial aid after you have already accepted it in GrizPortal, please contact Student Financial Services to complete a Revision Request Form.
If a student receives outside monies that are not originally known when accepting financial aid/scholarships, the student must notify Student Financial Services as soon as possible. Submit a Revision Request Form via e-mail or come by the Student Financial Services office on the fifth floor of Aber Hall to report additional financial aid and/or scholarships.