Denver Seminary > Award Letter

Award Letter

All financial aid offer notifications will be communicated through an Award Letter, which will be emailed to the address submitted on the FAFSA. Scholarships, grants and tuition discounts will be offered within 1-2 weeks after the Scholarship Committee's monthly meeting (typically by the end of the applicable month). Student loans will be offered within 2 weeks after a completed FAFSA has been received by the Financial Aid Office (although no earlier than the first round of scholarship/grant/discount offers are sent out, which is April 30th for fall-starts and November 30th for spring-starts).

Your Award Letter

If an Award Letter has already been received and another copy is needed, please contact the Financial Aid Office. Students are given 30 days to accept or decline scholarship / grant / discount offers, and up until 3 weeks prior to the start of the semester to accept or decline student loan offers.

Once an Award Letter is sent, emails will continue to be sent on a bi-weekly basis (at the minimum) until all award offers have accepted or declined. If students have not responded to any offers by the 1st week of classes the offers will be automatically cancelled.

Disbursement Procedures

Scholarships, grants, and discounts are not actually applied to student accounts until after the drop/add date (about 2 weeks after the start of the semester). Up until that point all accepted offers will appear on the student account as "pending aid." Students are financially cleared for all pending aid on their student account, which can be viewed on the course and fee statement.

In addition, scholarships will not be applied until a Thank You Letter is written to the donor. Scholarship/grant recipients will be sent a reminder email at least a week before the deadline (about 3 weeks prior to the start of the semester).

Cost of Attendance (COA)

Every financial aid applicant is assigned an annual Cost of Attendance (COA), which will be published on the Award Letter. The COA represents the maximum amount of financial aid a student can utilize for an academic year (it is not the actual amount you will be charged by Denver Seminary), and is also used in conjunction with the student's Expected Family Contribution (EFC) to determine eligibility for need-based financial aid.

A student's COA is calculated by the Financial Aid Office using amounts from published tuition/fees, estimated books/supplies, and state-published estimated living expenses. This amount generally cannot be changed unless the student qualifies for an adjustment. Students can apply for an adjustment by completing a Special Circumstances Request form (downloadable here) and submitting it to the Financial Aid Office. If the adjustment is approved, it will allow the student to utilize additional financial aid for that academic year. The student must reapply for the adjustment each academic year after that year's FAFSA is complete.

Award Terms and Conditions

These terms and conditions are also listed in the Scholarship Application Packet, which can be downloaded from our Downloadable Forms page. All terms and conditions are subject to change without notice. Changes will be made to this online version.

1. All institutional aid offers (scholarships, grants, tuition discounts) expire 30 days from the Award Letter's sent date. The Scholarship Committee will reallocate the award to another student if they have not been accepted by that time. Loan offers do not expire as long as the student maintains eligibility, although they need to be accepted at least 1 week prior to the financial clearance deadline (typically 10 calendar days prior to the start of the applicable semester) in order to ensure financial clearance. Students who are not cleared by the deadline will be dropped from their classes.

2. Financial aid funds cannot be disbursed to student accounts until after the Financial Aid Office has received a completed Award Letter and all additional required steps (as listed on the Award Letter) are complete. Additional steps include, but are not necessarily limited to: 1) annual submission of a thank you letter and picture for recipients of scholarships, grants and tuition discounts; 2) completion of Entrance Counseling at https://studentloans.gov for students receiving federal student loans for the first time at Denver Seminary; 3) completion of a Master Promissory Note (MPN) at https://studentloans.gov for students receiving federal student loans for the first time at Denver Seminary.

3. Award amounts listed on the application are approximate and subject to change based on availability.

4. Recipients of a scholarship, grant, and/or tuition discount may not receive more than 50% of the cost of tuition. Therefore for students who are awarded multiple awards where the sum is greater than 50%, the tuition discount amount (Spouse Half-Tuition, Church Partnership, etc.) will be reduced by the amount of the additional award(s) in order that the total amount awarded (not including federal aid) equals 50% of the student's tuition. Recipients of external assistance (e.g. VA benefits, external scholarships, etc.) will not be eligible for institutional aid beyond 100% of tuition and fees.

5. All awards require full-time enrollment status (min. 9 credits/semester) unless otherwise stated within the award’s description. Failure to register for and maintain the award’s minimum amount of required credits will result in forfeiture of the full award. Federal Direct Loans require a minimum of half-time enrollment status.

6. Eligibility for all awards is contingent upon course completion. The student will be required to return at least a portion of any scholarships, grants and tuition discounts back to Denver Seminary if any courses are dropped after the semester starts or are not completed with passing grades. Adjusted amounts will be based on final enrollment status. Denver Seminary is required to return at least a portion of Federal Direct Loan funds to the lender if a student fully withdraws before at least 60% of the semester is complete. Please read our tuition refund policy and financial aid return policies before dropping any classes after the semester's start date. Students are responsible for those policies should any classes be dropped between the semester's start and end dates.

7. All award recipients must maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP), the minimum cumulative GPA required by the applicable degree program (typically 2.0 cumulative). Failure to do so will result in forfeiture of future disbursements of all institutional awards (scholarships, grants, tuition discounts). Students who fail to maintain SAP will have one (1) semester to bring the GPA back into good standing before eligibility for student loans is also terminated.

8. With exception to “renewable” scholarships (as stated in the scholarship’s description in the Scholarship Application Packet), all financial aid requires an annual application submission.

9. Scholarship, grant and tuition discount recipients may be invited to attend a Scholarship Lunch with the scholarships' donors during the upcoming academic year. If applicable, details will follow via email. Invitees will be required to attend the lunch. Students may not contact donors directly to request funds. All donor communication must be filtered through the Advancement Department.

10. International students who receive scholarships, grants and/or tuition discounts must return to their home country immediately upon completion of the degree. Failure to do so will create a debt with the Seminary for all previously disbursed funds and a hold will be placed on the student’s transcript. The recipient will be required to fully pay down the debt through a direct payment or a payment plan before an official transcript will be released. This policy applies to graduates who stay in the U.S. after graduation to pursue a job and/or further education.