Financial Aid

Haverford meets the full demonstrated need of all admitted students using the data provided by families on the CSS Profile application and applying a need-analysis formula developed by the College Board.

For the current academic year, financial aid is based on the family's income from two years prior. However, if this income does not adequately reflect your family's income at the start of the semester, your parents can request a current year estimated income form from the finaid [at] haverford.edu (subject: Estimated%20Income%20Form%20Request) (Financial Aid Office). Once the form is completed and returned, the Financial Aid Office will determine if your eligibility for aid can be reevaluated with the estimated data. Shortly after the school year begins, your parents will be required to corroborate the accuracy of their estimate before additional funds will be paid to your account.

Appeals and Grievances

We encourage students to work closely with the Financial Aid Office regarding any questions or concerns about their financial aid package. Students who believe their award was miscalculated, or who have additional (or new) information for the Financial Aid Office to consider regarding their or their family's financial situation, may follow the following procedures.

Informal Procedure
In general, most issues and concerns can be resolved informally. Therefore, prior to filing a formal complaint, students should contact the Office of Financial Aid to meet and attempt to resolve their concern.

The following information is needed in order to address the concern:

• Description of the concern
• Rationale of the concern
• Specific supportive details and documentation

The Financial Aid Office will review the student's case and, if necessary, will meet with the student to discuss the concern and will follow up as necessary. If the case is particularly complex, the Director of Financial Aid may involve the Financial Aid Committee, which includes key members of Haverford's Senior Staff, for their assistance in evaluating the request.

Formal Procedure
If a student feels that the informal procedure did not thoroughly consider and address their concerns, they may file a formal grievance by contacting the Dean of Admission and Financial Aid in writing. The Dean will review the information submitted with the informal procedure, meet with the student and other individuals as appropriate, and will issue a written decision within sixty (60) days.

No. All Financial Aid Office decisions are made solely according to the need-based allocation formula developed by the College. The College does not have any aid programs which are not based on need.

It makes no difference whether you apply Early Decision or Regular Decision. The financial aid decisions are the same. The amounts and types of aid are the same. The chances of receiving or not receiving aid are the same. We use the same procedures to determine the parental contributions for Early Decision students, Regular Decision students, and returning students who reapply for aid.

No. You may apply for aid in any year whether you applied for aid in your first year or not and without regard to the outcome of any previous aid application.

Aid is reassessed each year according to the procedures outlined in the "Paying for College" section of this website. It is vitally important that you and your parents read and understand all of the policies and procedures covering our financial aid program before you apply to the College. Our policies are consistent year to year. For example, if you should submit an application for your second year which shows the same income, assets, family size, number of children in college, etc. as this year, we will have the same parental contribution. If your application shows an increase in income or assets or a decrease in the number of children in college for instance, you can expect an increase in the parental contribution. Student's assets will be evaluated according to our procedures each year based on the amount of assets you report on each year's application. Self-help expectations generally go up each year (i.e. the loan, job and summer savings expectations made of all students applying for College aid) and these increases will reduce Haverford Grant aid since they are subtracted from need. The expectations in effect for each class are printed in the "Determining Your Financial Need" section of this website. Tuition and related College costs go up each year, increasing need, which leads to increased aid. Outside aid can reduce the Haverford College Grant according to the procedures outlined in "Determining Your Financial Need."

All of these items (family contribution, self-help, costs, outside aid) are used to determine the final amount of the College Grant according to the following formula: Total Costs minus Family Contribution minus Self-Help minus Outside Aid according to our formula EQUALS Need.

Both Haverford College and the Federal Government expect students to maintain an acceptable level of academic progress in order to retain eligibility to receive financial aid. This measure is done both quantitatively (to make sure the student will finish their degree in a timely manner), and qualitatively.

Haverford Funds (Haverford Grant and/or Haverford Loan)

Quantitative measure. Haverford College expects students to complete their full-time course of study in 4 years. Consequently, the College limits a student’s eligibility to receive Haverford funding to four years, or a maximum of 8 semesters. Full-time enrollment is defined as a minimum of 3 Haverford credits per semester. Students may register for more or less than this with approval of their advisor, dean, or the Committee on Student Standing and Programs (CSSP). CSSP approval is required for any student who wishes to extend the pursuit of their course of study beyond 4 years.

Students do not have to take a full-time course load to qualify for Haverford Grant; however, any semester a student receives Haverford Grant, even if they are less than full-time, counts toward their minimum of 8 semesters of aid eligibility.

Qualitative measure. For the first two years of study (freshman and sophomore year), the qualitative measure for retaining eligibility for Haverford Grant is determined by the student’s advisor, dean, and CSSP. For the third and fourth years (junior and senior year) the qualitative measure for retaining Haverford Grant is maintenance of a minimum GPA of 2.0. This measure is taken at the end of each semester. Students failing to maintain a 2.0 GPA must appeal to the Financial Aid Office to have their Haverford Grant reinstated. Appeals are reviewed by Committee, and reinstatement of Haverford funds is not guaranteed.

Federal Financial Aid Funds (under Title IV)

To receive Title IV financial aid at Haverford, a student must be matriculated and in good academic standing, and making satisfactory academic progress toward a recognized degree in an eligible program.

Quantitative measure. Federal regulations limit a student’s eligibility to receive federal aid to a timeframe that is equal to 150% of the normal time needed to receive a degree. For Haverford, this means a student can receive federal aid for a maximum of 6 years as they strive to complete the 32 mandatory credits required to receive a Haverford degree. However, to ensure that the student can do this within this length of time, a minimum number of completed credits is expected per semester, and this is part of the quantitative measure. Therefore, at the end of each semester a student must have successfully completed the following number of credits:

• First Year, End of Fall Semester = 2.7 cumulative credits
• First Year, End of Spring Semester = 5.4 cumulative credits
• Second Year, End of Fall Semester = 8.1 cumulative credits
• Second Year, End of Spring Semester = 10.8 cumulative credits
• Third Year, End of Fall Semester = 13.5 cumulative credits
• Third Year, End of Spring Semester = 16.2 cumulative credits
• Fourth Year, End of Fall Semester = 18.9 cumulative credits
• Fourth Year, End of Spring Semester = 21.6 cumulative credits

To attend Haverford beyond four years, the student needs permission from the dean and CSSP. To receive financial aid for additional years, the student must submit a written appeal to the Financial Aid Office for a Committee review.

• Fifth Year, End of Fall Semester = 24.3 cumulative credits
• Fifth Year, End of Spring Semester = 27 cumulative credits
• Sixth Year, End of Fall Semester = 29.7 cumulative credits
• Sixth Year, End of Spring Semester = 32 cumulative credits

Transfer students are assigned a prorated timeframe based on the academic level at which they are classified when they matriculate.

Qualitative measure. Because Haverford does not have an established GPA measure for a student’s first year, but rather tracks a student’s progress via monitoring by the student’s advisor, dean, and CSSP, the Financial Aid Office is required to use the federal standard of a 2.0 GPA by the end of the first year (freshman year). This same 2.0 GPA measure is required for all grade levels. The measure is taken at the end of each semester. Students failing to maintain a 2.0 GPA may go on financial aid probation (which is separate from any academic action) for the subsequent semester, and may receive federal aid for that semester. If at the end of the probationary semester the student has achieved the requisite 2.0 GPA, federal aid eligibility may continue. If the student fails to bring up the GPA to the requisite 2.0, all future federal aid eligibility is suspended. The student may have federal aid eligibility reinstated once  they have achieved the 2.0 GPA, but this eligibility may not be retroactive.

Appealing Federal Aid. Any student found ineligible to continue to receive federal financial aid may request that the Director of Financial Aid review their individual circumstances. If the student is not satisfied with the Director’s decision, they may submit an appeal to the Financial Aid Committee. Per Federal regulations, only appeals based on the death of a relative, an injury or illness to the student, or other extreme circumstance may be considered. Appeals must provide documentation detailing the circumstances on which the appeal is based, and must also specify why the student failed to satisfy Federal satisfactory academic progress requirements. In addition, the student must meet with their dean to prepare an academic plan that will satisfy the SAP requirements, with the Dean agreeing to monitor the student’s progress in accordance with the plan. The dean and director of financial aid will consult and come to consensus regarding the student’s progress in restoring satisfactory academic progress to federal specifications.

Students who receive financial aid at Haverford College and then withdraw during a semester may have all or a portion of their financial aid reduced. This is called a return of funds. There is a return of funds policy for Haverford financial aid, and a separate return of funds policy for federal financial aid. Generally speaking, the longer a student remains enrolled in a semester, the more financial aid they are able to retain. However, it is also true that the longer a student remains enrolled in a semester, the more tuition and fees they will be responsible to pay. (Refer to the “Refund Policy” on the Haverford Student Accounts web page.)

Haverford Financial Aid Return of Funds Policy

A student receiving Haverford Financial Aid (Haverford Grant or Haverford Loan) will retain the same percentage of aid that matches the percentage of tuition and fees being charged. For example, if a student withdraws during the second week of a semester and must pay 10% of tuition and fees, they will keep 10% Haverford Grant and/or Loan.

This same return of funds policy also applies to the Pennsylvania State Grant, and most other state grant programs.

Federal Title IV Refund Policy

Students who receive federal financial aid under Title IV (Pell Grant, SEOG, Perkins Loan, and the Direct Stafford and PLUS Loan programs) and leave the College during the first 60% of the semester will have their federal aid recalculated to determine how much of that aid the student actually earned. However, if the student is enrolled for 60% or more of the semester, no federal recalculation is necessary and the student may retain all federal financial aid for the semester.

The recalculation of federal aid is based on the percentage of earned aid using the following Return of Title IV Funds formula:

The percentage of the payment period (semester) completed = the number of days completed by the student up to the withdrawal date divided by the total days in the payment period. Any break of five days or more is not counted as part of the days in the term. This percentage of the payment period completed is used to determine the percentage of earned financial aid.

To determine how much unearned aid is to be returned to the appropriate federal program, the following formula is used:

Aid to be returned = 100% of the aid that could be disbursed minus the percentage of earned aid, multiplied by the total amount of aid that could have been disbursed during the payment period (semester).

If the formula shows that the student earned more aid than was disbursed to him/her, the College will owe the student a post-withdrawal disbursement of the remaining earned aid, which the College must pay within 120 days of the student’s withdrawal.

If the student earned less aid than was disbursed, the College is required to return a portion of the funds and the student would also be required to return a portion of the funds. (Be aware that in this scenario the student could be left with a balance owed to Haverford once the financial aid is returned to the federal programs.)

The College must return the amount of Title IV funds for which it is responsible no more than 45 days after the date the College determined that the student had withdrawn. Unearned federal funds are returned in the following order:

• Unsubsidized Federal Stafford Loan
• Subsidized Federal Stafford Loan
• Federal Perkins Loan
• Federal Parent (PLUS) Loan
• Federal Pell Grant
• Federal Supplemental Opportunity Grants (SEOG)
• Other assistance under Title IV for which a return of funds is required

Students who owe a repayment of Title IV funds must repay those funds before becoming eligible again for federal aid. Both the Haverford College return of funds policy and the federal Return of Title IV funds policy are administered by the Haverford Financial Aid Office.

Withdrawals and Length of Eligibility for Haverford Funded Aid

Your Loans

Federal regulations allow a six-month grace period after you cease to be enrolled as a full-time student. During this time you are not required to make payments on your student loans. After the six-month grace period, principal and interest payments commence. If you have already used all or part of your six-month grace period, you may not receive another grace period. If you have any questions about the repayment terms of your loan, contact your lender immediately.

The Registrar's Office periodically reports student enrollment status to the U.S. Department of Education. Please consult with the Registrar's Office if you have a question about your enrollment status. The Department of Education shares the Registrar's information with loan guarantors, lenders, and processors to determine when you must make payments on your Loan.

The Haverford College Business Office also uses your enrollment status information to determine payment status for the Federal Perkins Loan. For the Federal Perkins Loan, the Student Accounts Coordinator of the Haverford Business Office can answer your repayment questions.

Aid Funded by Haverford College

Haverford will only provide up to eight semesters of eligibility for aid funded by the College. Eligibility includes years when you may or may not have received aid, years when you may have attended less than full-time, and any foreign study program. If you are admitted to the College as a transfer student, your eligibility is reduced by any year(s) for which credit is accepted toward your Haverford degree. For example, if you are admitted as a Junior to the College, you will have four semesters of aid eligibility at the beginning of the Junior Year. Students who find that they might need additional semesters of aid funded by the College must discuss their academic plans with their Dean and then consult the Financial Aid Office.

The Business Office sends out bills shortly before each semester. Financial aid funds are credited directly to the account, half each semester. The Business Office sends information on a monthly payment plan before the first semester bill.