Step 5: Finalizing Your Financial Aid Award and Getting Your Aid Disbursed

Step 5 for 2009-2010

During Step 5, you will complete the remaining documents listed on the "Documents" tab of My HLS Financial Aid. The information provided below will help you understand what is expected of you to complete this step. The deadline to submit all of the remaining documents listed as required in your customized documents list, and to complete the e-signing process for all required loan promissory notes is Friday, September 11, 2009 at 5PM. You will receive emails as web forms and promissory notes become available for you to complete/submit, as well as reminders about the deadline. All of this information will be reviewed as part of our fall review process and used to finalize your award for the academic year.

Note to returning students who have applied as temporary loan only and to entering students whose initial award was estimated based only on their Need Access data: In order for us to finalize your award you will need to submit all remaining parental information. We realize that many parents will not complete their tax forms until the October 15 tax extension deadline and therefore you will not be able to submit any outstanding parent tax data until then. Please complete all other items by the September 11th deadline and then follow up with any remaining parent items immediately after the October 15th filing deadline. We will be contacting all students in these categories directly to outline what is expected in more detail.  

The following is a list of documents that you may see on your "Documents" tab. Please refer to your actual list of required documents. ALL documents listed on your "Documents" tab must be "Received" or "Waived" by September 11th.

• Summer Income & Expense Update Form and Final Summer Pay Stub(s)/Volunteer Letter(s)
• Master Promissory Noes for Federal Direct Stafford, Federal Perkins, and Harvard Loans (Sub. & Unsub.)
• Entrance Counseling Web Form (All Entering Students,New  Transfer Students, and First-Time Aid Recipients)
• Restricted Grant Funding Web Form 
• Required Supplemental Loan Application (Base Loan)
• All Other Documents listed on the "Documents" tab of "My HLS Financial AId" as "Not Received"

Summer Income & Expense Update Form and Final Summer Pay Stub(s)/Volunteer Letter(s)

Every year Student Financial Services conducts a fall review process to finalize student contributions and financial aid awards. ALL AID RECIPIENTS, including those receiving only loans, are required to submit the Summer Income & Expense Update web form as part of this process. The information provided via this web form, as well as any other post-award documents required from you, will be used in our determination of your final assessed student & parent contributions and, therefore your final financial aid award. One of the primary goals of this process is to verify your actual summer earnings so that we can be sure to assess the appropriate student contribution from your income. To do this, along with your online submission of the Summer Income and Expense Update Form, we require you to submit paper copies of your final pay stubs from all summer employers.

There are a couple of exceptions to the pay stub(s) requirement:

• Most entering students will not be required to submit pay stub(s). However, if we determine we need a pay stub(s) from an entering student we will request it on a case by case basis.
• Returning students receiving summer income from ONLY the HLS Summer Public Interest Funding Program (SPIF) do not have to submit pay stubs since we can access their data directly from the summer funding database. Please note, however, that the pay stub document will not automatically be waived; that may take up to one week after the submission of your web form.

If you are a Entering 1L or a NEW 1st Year Transfer Student, use the following link to complete the update form:

If you are a continuing returning student, use the following link to complete the update form:

The Fall Financial Aid Update Process timeline is as follows:

• Late-August/Early September: Submit the Summer Income & Expense Update form and final employer pay stub(s), as well as all other post-award documents and promissory notes necessary to complete your financial aid application.
• Mid-September to End of October: Financial Aid Officers review student information and finalize awards.
• Late October: Final Award Notification is sent to all students, including a finalized LIPP-Eligible Borrowing amount for the academic year.
• Mid-November: Grant awards are disbursed to student's online term bill accounts.

Master Promissory Notes for Federal Direct Stafford, Federal Perkins & Harvard Loans (Sub. & Unsub.)

All of these loan programs generally require you to e-sign a master promissory note only once for all three years of borrowing that you may do in these programs. Your "Documents" tab will list which promissory notes you are required to complete, please refer to the statuses below to determine what you need to do.

Please note that you will not be able to e-sign promissory notes until AFTER FALL REGISTRATION. We will send an email notifying you once we are ready for you to begin the e-signing process.

Loan Promissory Note Document Statuses listed on "My HLS Financial Aid"
To determine if you need to e-sign a promissory note for any of these loans, proceed to the "Documents" tab in "My HLS Financial Aid." You can find the status listed next to each loan promissory note which appears on your individualized document list. Below is the key which tells you what each document status means and outlines any action that is associated with that given status.

• Waived: Indicates that you have signed a master promissory note for this loan program in a previous year at HLS; therefore, you do not need to e-sign again this year. The loan amount listed in your award package will automatically disburse to your online billing account without further action from you.
• Received: Indicates that you have already signed a master promissory note for this loan program during this current academic year at HLS; therefore, you do not need to take any additional action at this time. The loan amount listed in your award package will automatically disburse to your online billing account without further action from you.
• Not Received: Indicates that you have been awarded funding from this loan program and you have EITHER not previously signed a master promissory note for this loan program OR you have previously signed a master promissory note but need to complete the e-signing process again. Promissory note documents in this status ARE NOT yet ready for you to e-sign. Once we are ready for you to complete the e-signing process we will notify you via email. The loan amount listed in your award package will not actually disburse to your online billing account until the e-signing process is complete; however, in the meantime, you will continue to see these loans listed as anticipated financial aid credits on your online billing account.
• Not Signed: Indicates that you have been awarded funding from this loan program and you have EITHER not previously signed a master promissory note for this loan program OR you have previously signed a master promissory note but need to complete the e-signing process again. Promissory note documents in this status ARE ready for you to e-sign by following the links to the e-signing directions listed below. The loan amount listed in your award will not actually disburse to your online billing account until the e-signing process is complete. In the meantime, you will see these loans listed as anticipated financial aid credits on your online billing account.

Links to E-Signing Instructions by Loan Program

• Instructions for E-signing your Federal Direct Stafford Loan
• Instructions for E-signing your Perkins & HLS (Sub & Unsub) Loan Master Promissory Note(s)

Entrance Counseling Web Form

Federal and American Bar Association regulations and HLS policy require that all entering students, transfer students and first-time aid applicants complete financial aid entrance counseling at the start of enrollment or when they receive Federal aid for the first time as a student at HLS. To fulfill this requirement we have created a simple web form for you to complete which satisfies this requirement. 

We ask that all new students complete this web form, even if it is the case that you currently are not receiving funds through one of the loan programs mentioned on the form. This will allow us to process any future loan applications and disburse the funds immediately instead of waiting for you to complete Entrance Counseling at a later date.

Restricted Grant Funding Web Form

The HLS Restricted Grant Funding Form is a web form required for all HLS need-based grant recipients. We use the information collected here to allocate our restricted funds according to a particular donor's intended preferences. Your responses to the following questions will have no impact on your grant/loan eligibility status or the actual amount of assistance you have been awarded. 

Required Supplemental Loan Application (Base Loan)

All grant recipients each year are required to borrow a minimum of the base loan, which for 2009-2010 is set at $36,6,00. For domestic students the base loan is made up of a $20,500 Federal Stafford Loan (subsidized and unsubsidized), a $2,600 Perkins Loan, and a $13,500 required supplemental loan. For international students the base loan is made up of $23,100 in Harvard Law School Loans (to replace federal loans) and a $13,500 required supplemental loan. In order to remain eligible for the grant, students must apply for the required supplemental loan through a lender of their choice before we can finalize their aid. Once you submit a loan application we will automatically remove this document from your required list so your file can advance to complete status. 

All Other Documents listed as "Not Received" on "My HLS Financial Aid"

Any other documents listed on the "Documents" tab must be completed prior to the deadline. This includes, but is not limited to:

• All Federal Tax Forms, Schedules and W2's not previously submitted and reviewed as part of our determination of your preliminary award offer.
• All other miscellaneous financial documentation added to your document list by a Financial Aid Officer. Please provide any required information of this sort IN WRITING and submit it to Student Financial Services.