Financial Aid FAQs

You can request a book voucher by completing the form in the Student Services portal via my.lapu.edu. New students can request a book voucher for the first session they attend. Continuing students can request a book voucher for the first session only. It is expected that the refund check will be received prior to the start of the second session and books will need to be purchased using the excess funds in the refund check

If you completely withdraw from all classes and have already received your refund check, you may end up owing the university a balance after the calculation is performed. Unfortunately, we won’t be able to tell you what that exact amount is until the calculation is performed. Keep in mind if you have already received your refund check, you may have to pay back LAPU a portion of that refund check.

Title IV is the U.S. Department of Education’s program that handles the federal loans and Pell Grants. The RZT4 is a calculation that was established by the U.S. Department of Education to determine the amount of Federal Student Aid a student has earned as a result of a student’s withdrawal. All students that completely withdraw from LAPU are subject to the R2T4 calculation.

Dropping or withdrawing from one or more classes can negatively impact your financial aid eligibility as an R2T4 (Return to Title IV) calculation may be required. If you are considering dropping or withdrawing from one or more classes, you are strongly encouraged to contact your Success Coach regarding academic impact or Student Financial Services regarding potential financial impact. Unfortunately, we may not be able to tell you exactly what the financial impact will be if you withdraw because we have to wait for our financial aid office run the R2T4 calculation to determine what portion of aid you have earned and what portion will need to be returned.

SAP (Satisfactory Academic Progress) is used to define the successful completion of coursework to maintain eligibility for Federal Student Aid. You will need to make satisfactory academic progress in order to continue to receive federal student aid. If you are not making good grades, completing your classes, or meeting your maximum time frame, you will lose financial aid eligibility.

The federal government administers the National Student Loan Data System that provides detailed information on the outstanding loans that you have.

Loan deferment is normally an automatic process. LAPU verifies half-time enrollment for all students to the National Student Clearinghouse. Your lender or servicer should also check with the Clearinghouse and refrain from collecting on students who are enrolled at least half-time. If you are attending at least half-time and your lender is still trying to collect from you, please contact your lender to notify them of your status. If they request that you fill out an in-school deferment request form, please contact the Office of the Registrar at (626) 624-4673 or registrar@lapu.edu for assistance.

Yes. Though we may award you in excess of your tuition amount, you do not have to accept the full amount that is awarded to you. During the loan process, you will have the option to specify how much money you want to accept by sending us your request in writing.

Federal Stafford Loans can be used toward educational-related expenses and for those items included in the university’s published cost of attendance, often referred to as the student budget or the COA (cost of attendance). The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) includes a Statement of Educational Purpose, in which the student certifies that he or she “will use federal and/or state student financial aid only to pay the cost of attending an institution of higher education.

LAPU has a “passive acceptance” policy in regards to the Federal Direct Loans. That means we assume you are accepting the full amount of your offer unless you tell us otherwise. If you would like to decline all or a portion of your offer, please complete and submit the Loan Decline/Reduction Form through your student portal. Federal Direct Loans are funds that must be repaid. We encourage all students to borrow wisely and only borrow what is needed to cover their tuition charges.

The origination fee is an expense for borrowing a Direct Loan. It is a percentage that is subtracted from each loan disbursed by the Direct Lending Program.

Federal Stafford loans are awarded for a gross amount and are disbursed to the university in a net amount after loan origination fees have been deducted.

The U.S. Department of Education has established regulations to prevent fraud and abuse in the Federal Student Aid programs by identifying students who have unusual enrollment histories. The U.S. Department of Education uses this to select students who have used federal aid at multiple institutions during the past four academic years to determine if academic credit was earned for the funds that were received.

Verification is the process used to confirm that the data reported on your financial aid application is accurate. The main reasons for being selected for verification include that you were chosen randomly, the information you submitted was incomplete, or the data you provided is inconsistent.

Yes. You must complete a new FAFSA for every academic year that you wish to receive loans. The FAFSA form must be completed each year, as soon as January 1, for the academic year you plan to attend and apply for student aid.

If you completed a FAFSA for the current academic year for another school, and you are transferring to LAPU, please go back to the FAFSA website and add Los Angeles Pacific University to the existing FAFSA. The school code is 042788.