Once You Arrive on Campus …

How to Ensure Smooth Processing of
Your Financial Aid Funds

Arrival Links:

  • All of your financial aid mail will come to your campus drawer or via e-mail, so check both often. Your parents do not receive financial aid mail once you are on campus, so it is your responsibility to keep them informed if they are directly involved in handling your financial aid.

  • Respond to our mailed or e-mail notices. Your failure to respond can affect disbursement of your aid to your student account or even your overall aid eligibility. If you don't respond to our mailings, chances are the next office contacting you will be Accounting, due to an unpaid balance.

  • Keep copies of all loan papers, award letters and statements for your records.

  • Keep your address up to date with the Registrar's Office.

  • If you have questions, please ask!

  • Be smart with credit cards. Credit card companies are infamous for deluging college students' mail with applications. This is not free money. Credit cards can be useful for handling emergencies, but you must understand that it is a loan (sometimes with very high interest rates). Credit cards don't directly affect your financial aid award, but several students each year get in over their heads with credit card purchases; that does directly affect the budget they may have set for college expenses.

  • In order to receive financial aid, a student must be making minimum satisfactory academic progress toward their degree as described in the Earlham College Curriculum Guide. A student receiving financial aid should carefully read and fully understand these requirements. A student may receive the Earlham-funded financial aid, for which they qualify, for the equivalent of 8 semesters. Time spent at another college/university or on off-campus programs is included in the 8 semesters.