Understanding Your Award Offer
The financial aid award offer consists of six parts:
- The student’s cost of attendance, which itemizes the cost of attending for the period of the award (usually a full academic year of two semesters)
- A display of the family contribution
(student and parental obligation), the calculated amount that the family is expected to contribute toward educational expenses
- A listing of the amounts and types of aid for which the student is eligible
- An estimate of the annual net cost
(the amount of billed charges and indirect expenses in the cost of an admitted student’s attendance not covered by grant aid)
- An estimate of the amount admitted students must pay to Wesleyan for the charges billed by the institution
(sample student statement)
- Notes pertaining to your financial aid application and instructions for submitting follow-up documents so that funds may be credited to your account, if applicable
The financial need listed on the award offer is the difference between the Cost of Attendance and the Expected Family Contribution. Usually, the total amount of financial aid awarded is equal to the financial need.
Requesting a Review
Wesleyan recognizes that occasionally a family may experience a sudden and precipitous change in financial circumstances. In such an event, Wesleyan is willing to review a student’s eligibility for additional assistance at any time. A request for a review must be made in writing and submitted with appropriate documentation to substantiate the change in circumstances. Check out some additional information on the reconsideration process.
Verification of Information
Some financial aid applicants are selected by the U.S. Department of Education to submit additional documentation to the Financial Aid Office to verify information reported on their financial aid application. If you are selected for verification, you may be asked to complete a Verification Worksheet and provide Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Income Verification to our office.
IRS Income Verification can be obtained by requesting a tax transcript through the IRS. If there are discrepancies in information between the original application and the verification worksheet, the award may be adjusted. Check out more detailed instructions on the verification process and what additional documents we may need.
Check out more detailed instructions on the verification process and what additional documents you may need.