Financial Aid Authorization and Tuition and Fee Payments
Tuition, Fees and other student charges are generally billed in mid-July for the Fall term and early-January for the Spring term. Students are responsible for ensuring that all financial aid requirements are met prior to the beginning of the semester.
Additionally, students have the option to complete the Title IV Authorization process to prevent being refunded financial aid payments when there are unpaid charges on their SUNY Potsdam Student Account.
Common Title IV Authorization Terminology
SUNY Potsdam must obtain authorization from a student before Title IV funds can be used to pay allowable, non-institutional charges. Otherwise, excess Title IV funds must be refunded to the student, and unpaid billed charges will be required to be paid by the student directly. This is in accordance with U.S. Department of Education Student Financial Aid policies.
Direct educational expenses billed by SUNY Potsdam are considered Institutional Charges. These primarily include tuition, comprehensive fees, course fees, and on-campus room and board. Title IV funds will automatically pay these types of charges, whether a student has completed a Title IV authorization or not.
Charges that are not required for enrollment, and educationally related optional expenses, are considered non-institutional. Federal Title IV funds can only be used to pay these charges if a student has completed an authorization! If a student chooses not to authorize the use of aid for these charges, they will remain personally responsible to pay the amount due out of pocket. Please note: unpaid account balances will result in an account hold which may prohibit registration. Additionally, accounts not paid in full prior to the start of each semester may incur a late fee charge.
These are charges that cannot be paid with Federal Title IV funds. If any of these charges are billed to the student account, another payment type, such as state aid or a personal payment, must be used to pay the amount of the billed charge, even if there’s enough federal aid to pay the charge. The U.S. Department of Education requires colleges to refund the excess payment rather than pay these types of charges.
The following aid programs are considered federal Title IV funds:
- Federal Pell Grant (FPELL)
- Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG)
- Federal Direct Subsidized Loan (FDIRSU)
- Federal Direct Undergraduate Unsubsidized Loan (FDIRUN)
- Federal Direct Graduate Unsubsidized Loan (FDIGRU)
- Federal Direct Parent PLUS Loan (FPLUS)
- Federal Graduate TEACH Grant (FGTECH)
- Federal Undergraduate TEACH Grant (FTEACH)
- Federal Work Study (FFWS)
- Federal Work Study America Reads (FWSAR)
Students will complete their authorization right in BearPAWS!
- Log into bearpaws.potsdam.edu
- Select ‘Financial Aid Dashboard’ from the Financial Aid Card
- If you have not yet completed your authorizations, the questions will be presented to you on the home Financial Aid Dashboard screen.
If you do not complete the Title IV Authorization and are receiving federal financial aid, those federal funds cannot be used to pay allowable, non-institutional charges. If the federal financial aid creates a credit balance, you will be refunded, even though you have unpaid charges on your account. You will be immediately liable for the remaining balance due. This means you must submit payment for any unpaid billed charges from another payment source.
You can change your completed authorization at any time! You must use your potsdam.edu e-mail account to send your intended changes to SUNY Potsdam.
Email finaid@potsdsam.edu with your request.