Terms and Conditions

Financial need is determined by using a simple formula. Take your cost of attendance (COA) and subtract your Student Aid Index (SAI) from the FAFSA to determine your financial need (COA - SAI = Need).

See the Federal Student Aid Glossary for more definitions.

Need-based financial aid may not exceed your need, and your total financial aid cannot exceed your cost of attendance. 

There may be times when aid must be reduced as a result of an overaward.  An overaward exists when a student’s aid exceeds their need or overall COA.

Generally, overawards occur when a student receives a scholarship or grant from an outside organization after being packaged with aid. Other circumstances that may cause overawards include changes to the student’s enrollment (i.e., attending less than full time).

Find more at How Financial Aid Is Calculated.

Our office strives to complete processing of all required documentation, loans, and other items as expeditiously as possible. However, processing times vary based on the type of document(s) submitted and the time of year. During peak periods (August and January), processing times could be longer. Please see estimated processing times below:

• Verification = 4 to 6 weeks from the date last required document is received
• MPN and Loan Entrance Counseling = 2 business days
• Private Loans = 4 to 6 weeks
• Parent PLUS Loans = 3 to 5 business days
• SAP Appeals = 2 to 3 weeks
• Refunds = 5 to 10 business days after the 100% Fee Refund Deadline each term

Undergraduate

• Financial aid is based on full-time enrollment; twelve (12) credit hours per semester.
• If enrolled less than full-time, aid will be prorated where permissible or cancelled.

Graduate

• Financial aid is based on enrollment of six (6) credit hours per semester.
• Institutional graduate scholarship recipients must maintain an enrollment status of a minimum of nine (9) credit hours to receive their full scholarship. If enrolled six (6) credit hours, the scholarship will be prorated. Recipients are not eligible for the graduate scholarship if enrolled in less than six (6) credit hours.

 All Students

• If enrolled in fewer than the required credit hours per semester, awards will be reduced or cancelled, including Co-Op, Study Abroad, or other special programs.
• Students who plan to graduate must apply for graduation and pay the graduation fee. This action will permit Institutional Scholarships and other aid to be prorated if attending less than full-time during their last semester. Apply for graduation on ERNIE > Campus Solutions > Academic Advising > Apply for Graduation.For questions regarding your graduation status, please contact prescott.registrar@erau.edu.

General

• You are obligated to update your name, address, phone number, and email on ERNIE > Campus Solutions > Profile or at the Registrar’s Office.
• Failure to submit requested/required documents in a timely manner may result in cancellation of aid.
• Financial aid is contingent upon maintaining Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP).
• The University applies aid directly to charges on your University Student Account including tuition, fees, on-campus housing, meal plan, and other charges.
• Financial aid can only be used to pay the cost of attending Embry-Riddle. The cost of attendance includes tuition, fees, housing, food, books and supplies, transportation, miscellaneous personal expenses, and federal student loan fees.
• You must notify the Financial Aid Office of any outside funding resources obtained such as ROTC, sponsorships, military tuition assistance and external scholarships. Please be aware that these resources may result in your financial aid being reduced or cancelled.
• Students who are incarcerated in a state or federal correctional institution are required by federal law to inform the Financial Aid Office of their incarceration.
• Email is the official means of communication to students at Embry-Riddle. Additional financial aid information is communicated through the ERNIE student portal. Students are responsible for reviewing their university email and ERNIE accounts regularly.
• The Financial Aid Office reserves the right, on behalf of the university, to review and cancel any award at any time because of changes in a student’s financial status, academic status, or due to an awarding error. Changes will reflect on ERNIE and an email will be sent to the student which serves as notification of the change.

Direct Loans

• Federal Direct Loans require at least half-time enrollment for disbursement.
• Financial Aid Offer Notifications reflect the gross amount of loans. The disbursed amount may be reduced due to loan fees.
• First-time federal student loan borrowers must complete a Master Promissory Note (MPN) and Loan Entrance Counseling online before disbursement may occur.
• The U.S. Department of Education has set annual and lifetime loan borrowing limits for federal student loans based on grade level and dependency status. View the annual and lifetime loan limits chart on our Loans page by clicking on “Federal Loan Limits.”
• It is your responsibility to know your federal student loan borrowing limit and monitor you cumulative debt. If you reach your aggregate loan borrowing limit, you will not be eligible to receive additional federal student loans. If the Financial Aid Office determines you have exceeded your limit, we will reduce or cancel your federal student loan, and if the loan has been disbursed, you will be billed for any amount disbursed beyond your allowable loan limit. View your student loan balances at https://studentaid.gov by logging in with your FSA ID and going to your Dashboard (click on your name in the upper right corner for menu options).

Institutional Funded Scholarships (undergraduate students)

• Institutional Funded Scholarships (IFS) require full-time enrollment each term for disbursement. Full-time is 12 or more credit hours per term.
• IFS is not available during the summer term.
• IFS recipients must maintain a 2.50 or higher ERAU cumulative grade point average (CGPA) by the end of the spring semester to be renewed. Most IFS scholarships may renewed for up to 9 semesters.
• Embry-Riddle employees, their spouses, and dependents are not eligible for IFS funds while utilizing the tuition waiver. View the tuition waiver policy APPM 8.4.8 for details.
• If you have questions regarding IFS, please ask your financial aid counselor.

  Institutional Graduate Scholarships (master’s/doctoral students)

• Institutional graduate scholarship recipients must maintain a 3.00 or higher ERAU cumulative grade point average (CGPA) by the end of the spring semester to be renewed. Most institutional graduate scholarships may be renewed for up to 5 semesters.
• Institutional graduate scholarships are not available during the summer term.
• If you are offered a graduate assistantship, you will not be eligible for an academic scholarship award concurrently.
• Find more at Graduate Students & Financial Aid Options.

State Programs

• For state eligibility and renewal criteria, contact your state Board of Education.

Yellow Ribbon

• Embry‑Riddle is honored to partner with the Department of Veteran Affairs in the Yellow Ribbon program.
• If you participate in the Yellow Ribbon program, the university will provide a matching grant that will ensure that tuition and fees are fully funded. 
• All of our grants and scholarships are focused on providing financial support for tuition and fees.
• Since your total tuition and fees will be paid for by a combination of the university’s Yellow Ribbon contribution and the government’s contribution, we will not retain other Embry‑Riddle grants or scholarships that would exceed our direct charges for tuition and fees. 

Flight Students

• If flight courses are to be covered by financial aid funds, it is your responsibility to contact your Financial Aid Counselor.

• It is your responsibility to deposit your refunded financial aid for flight into your Flight Account.

• If flight funds are used for any purpose other than on-campus flight courses, we will not authorize more flight funding.
• Flight courses taken off-campus are not funded through Embry‑Riddle.

• Additional information for can be found on the Prescott Financial Aid Department page on ERNIE.

Before processing a drop, withdrawal or cancellation of a course or flight course, contact your Financial Aid Counselor to see if there will be any financial impact, as awards may be reduced or cancelled.

Awards are based on information provided by the applicant. Awards are subject to revisions and/or cancellations in the event of changes in regulations, fund allocation, Student Aid Index (SAI) from the FAFSA, or if an error has been made in the calculation of your eligibility or award.

To view your financial aid offer online:

• Log on to ERNIE and go to “My Tools.”
• Click on “Campus Solutions Student Center.”
• Click the "Financial Aid” tile.
• Select the Aid Year.
• Under Awards, click "Summary” to view Award Summary/Award Details.

View your Statement of Account starting July 1 for fall and December 1 for spring. Fluctuations in your bill may occur. Check your billing statement frequently.

• Log into ERNIE and go to “My Tools.”
• Click on “Campus Solutions Student Center.”
• Click the "Finances” tile.
• Click on “Statement of Account” for detailed transactions.

Determine if you want to accept, decline, or reduce the aid offered to you. Then, take the actions below.

• Log on to ERNIE and go to “My Tools.”
• Click the "Campus Solutions Service Center."
• Then click the “Financial Aid” tile.
• Select the Aid Year.
• Under Awards, click “Accept/Decline.”
• Click the pencil icon to edit (the drop down menu will appear next to each loan).
• Check the appropriate box(es) to accept, decline, or reduce your awards.
• To reduce an award, you must accept the award first, then check the “Reduce” box. Click “submit” once all changes are made and to accept your award(s).

Note about loans: When the Subsidized Loan is reduced, the Unsubsidized Loan will auto-cancel.  If you want to reduce or decline a loan AFTER you have already received the funds, contact the Financial Aid Office right away. (Students must personally decline or reduce their awards; parents cannot do this on a student's behalf.)

We strongly encourage you to learn as much as you can about the aid you are accepting and to know in advance what is expected of you in terms of your enrollment and academic progress. If you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact us for assistance.

Financial aid is disbursed to your student account after the 100% Fee Refund Deadline each term (second week of classes). All financial aid must be used first to pay University charges (tuition, fees, on-campus housing, and meal plan).

Any remaining financial aid after charges are paid will be issued to the student (or parent) and may be applied to other educational-related expenses (books/supplies, flight, transportation, miscellaneous personal expenses, and off-campus housing and food).

Notice of Disbursement and Right to Cancel a Federal Loan: You will receive a notification when your loan funds have been disbursed to your student account starting after the 100% Fee Refund Deadline each term. Once your federal loan funds are disbursed to your student account and you decide you do not want to borrow from the federal loan program, you may cancel all or part of your disbursement by informing the Financial Aid Office no later than 14 days after the date the funds were posted in your student account.

• If a disbursement has already been credited to your account then you may only request to cancel that disbursement if a refund has not been generated. Please note that you can request to cancel future disbursements.
• If a refund has been generated, you must repay the funds to the Department of Education.

The fastest way to receive remaining financial aid after charges are paid, is to enroll in eRefund (direct deposit) on ERNIE >Campus Solutions > Finances > My Student Account > Make a Payment – Access Account > Electronic Refunds > Set up Account. 

Otherwise, a paper check will be mailed to you, so keep your address up to date on ERNIE > Campus Solutions > Profile.

When disbursement begins, eRefunds will be processed daily while paper checks will be printed and mailed once a week on Wednesdays. Once you receive your remaining financial aid, you may deposit funds onto your EAGLE card for EAGLE Dollars or Flight Dollars.

*If your parent indicates on the PLUS Loan application that they want to receive the remaining PLUS Loan funds after your charges are paid, they will receive the remaining funds via paper check by mail or an ACH (direct deposit) to their personal bank account, if enrolled.  View the process for ACH PLUS Loan Parent Refunds here.

Financial aid that exceeds the amount due will be refunded within 7 business days after it has posted to your student account. Contact Student Financial Services (formerly the Cashier's Office) at 928-777-3726 or pcbursar@erau.edu with any refund questions.

Students may purchase textbooks online or in-person at the Prescott Bookstore, which accepts the following types of payment:

• Online: American Express, Apple Pay, Discover, EAGLE Dollars, gift cards, MasterCard, Pay with PayPal, PayPal Credit, and Visa.
• In-person: cash, credit cards, debit cards, gift cards, and EAGLE Dollars.

Students with financial aid in excess of their charges may contact Student Financial Services (formerly the Cashier's Office) and request some of their excess aid be moved to EAGLE Dollars prior to disbursement. Contact Student Financial Services by phone 928-777-3726, email pcbursar@erau.edu, or in-person at building 13, Monday-Friday 8am to 4:30pm. Once transferred, purchase your textbooks at the Prescott Bookstore using EAGLE Dollars. 

Federal student aid recipients earn their aid disbursement based on the number of days in which they attend class. A recipient who fully withdraws from Embry-Riddle before the 60 percent of the term is complete will have their aid recalculated based on the number of days attended. The unearned aid will be billed and owed to Embry-Riddle. See the Return of Title IV Funds Policy for details.

Overpayment is the disbursement of more federal student aid funds to a student than they are eligible to receive.

If a financial aid overpayment is made as a result of a student's error or failure to report requested information, the student is responsible for repaying the amount of the overpayment. The amount of the overpayment may be satisfied by reducing the student's federal award(s) in a subsequent enrollment period during the same award year as the overpayment was created.

If the overpayment amount cannot be satisfied by deducting the amount from a future disbursement, the student is responsible for making direct restitution. As required by federal regulations, the Embry‑Riddle Financial Aid Office will report the overpayment to the Department of Education through the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS). An overpayment alert in your Account Dashboard on studentaid.gov will let you know whom to contact to resolve the overpayment. Indication of an outstanding overpayment will be recorded on future output documents generated by the Department of Education and may prevent the student from receiving certain types of financial aid funding in the future.

As a transfer student, it is your responsibility to know your annual and lifetime loan borrowing limits for Federal Student Loans and have all pending disbursements cancelled at your previous school before transferring to ERAU. This ensures a more accurate aid offer.

Before accepting Federal Direct Loan(s) at ERAU, you must inform the Financial Aid Office of any disbursements you received at another school during the academic year. Due to the timing of loans, we may not be aware of the total loan amounts you may have received at your other school. Failure to notify our office of any loans you received at another school during the year can result in your existing loans being reduced and billed in order to keep within the annual loan limits. This would result in a balance owed (by you) to ERAU.

To avoid being over paid at ERAU, please follow these simple steps:

• Cancel any pending financial aid disbursements at your previous school before transferring.
• Inform us of any financial aid received at another Institution in the same academic year.

Note: Your previous school may also contact us directly by looking up our contact info on the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS).

Don’t Over-Borrow

If you inadvertently received federal student loan funds in excess of your borrowing limit, you are ineligible for additional federal student aid unless you repay the excess loan amount in full, or agree to repay the excess loan amount in accordance with the terms of the promissory note that you signed.

Agreeing to repay the excess loan amount in accordance with the terms of the promissory note is called “reaffirmation.” You can reaffirm an excess loan amount by signing a reaffirmation agreement with your loan servicer.

Then, you must submit documentation of the action taken to the Embry-Riddle Financial Aid Office. Acceptable documentation may include but is not limited to:

• Payment confirmation from your loan servicer that you have paid the excess amount.
• Loan Summary Sheet from Direct Loans confirming you have consolidated all loans that were in excess.

To review your loan amounts and determine your loan holder (loan servicer), log into studentaid.gov with your FSA ID.

Resolving a Loan Overage

If you have received loans in excess of the lifetime aggregates, you must choose from the two options listed below in order to resolve the overage:

• Repayment of the excess loan amount by contacting the servicer of the loan indicated in NSLDS and following the servicer's instructions. Once the loan has been repaid, you must attach a copy of the repayment confirmation from the servicer to ERAU.
• Request a reaffirmation of loan funds with the servicer of the loan indicated in NSLDS. Please contact the servicer and ask for a reaffirmation letter in the amount of your overage. Once you receive your reaffirmation letter, please email to us at prfinaid@erau.edu. Be sure to include your student ID number when submitting.