Financial Aid

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Financial Aid Overview

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Federal Financial Aid Programs

Federal aid includes the Pell Grant, Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (SEOG), Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant, Work-Study Program, Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loan Programs, and Direct PLUS Loan Program. These awards are considered federal funding and are determined by the institution’s specific cost of attendance and federal regulations.

The federal government is the single largest source of funding in education. Federal aid is primarily need-based assistance— financial aid that supplements a family's ability to fund a college education. Essentially, the government attempts to reduce the gap between college expenses and the amount of money a family is able to provide for the cost of higher education.

Pell Grants usually are awarded only to undergraduate students who display exceptional financial need and have not earned a bachelor's, graduate, or professional degree. Need is determined by the student's EFC calculated from the FAFSA.

You are not eligible to receive a Pell Grant if you are incarcerated in a federal or state penal institution or are subject to an involuntary civil commitment upon completion of a period of incarceration for a forcible or non-forcible sexual offense.

A Pell Grant, unlike a loan, does not have to be repaid, except under certain circumstances.

Full-time status is based off of 12 credits during the Fall, Spring, and Summer semesters. Students must be enrolled in at least 6 credits during the summer to be eligible.

SEOG is for undergraduates with exceptional financial need. Pell Grant recipients with the lowest EFCs will be the first to get the SEOG. Like Pell Grants, SEOG does not have to be repaid. Typical award amounts at Southern Miss are between: $100 - $500.

The TEACH Grant Program provides grant funds to postsecondary students who are completing or planning to complete coursework that is needed to begin a career in teaching, and who agree to serve for at least four years as a full-time, highly qualified teacher in a high-need field, in a school serving low-income students. TEACH Grants are prorated for less than full-time enrollment.

For any TEACH Grant first disbursed on or after Oct. 1, 2020, and before Oct. 1, 2024, the maximum award of $4,000 is reduced by 5.7 percent ($228), resulting in a maximum award of $3,772.

To be eligible for the TEACH Grant, you must:

Be a U.S. citizen or eligible non-citizen.
Complete a FAFSA, although you do not have to demonstrate financial need to be eligible
Complete Southern Miss Application for TEACH Grant online in SOAR in the Financial Aid Menu under the Financial Aid Request option. NOTE: You will only have access to this application if you are in one of the eligible degree programs listed below AND have your Gold Card.
Complete TEACH Grant entrance counseling
Sign a TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve (ATS) each year.
Accept your Award in SOAR.
Be enrolled in a degree plan at either the undergraduate or graduate level and complete coursework toward a career in teaching in a high-need subject area.
Be admitted in one of the appropriate Southern Miss degree programs. Typically, students are fully admitted into the teacher education program their junior or senior years, once they earn their Gold Card. For information on how to earn full admittance, contact the College of Education and Human Sciences.
Establish and maintain a Southern Miss cumulative GPA of at least 3.25, will be reviewed each semester for continued eligibility.

Teaching Obligation

Within eight years of finishing your teacher preparation program, you must serve as a full-time teacher in a high-need field for at least four years in designated schools that serve low-income students. If you receive the TEACH Grant but do not fulfill the requirements of the program, your grant will convert to a direct unsubsidized loan, which you will have to repay with interest calculated back to the date the funds were disbursed. Once it converts to a loan it can never go back to a grant.

Work-Study (FWS) provides part-time jobs for undergraduate and graduate students with financial need, allowing them to earn money to help pay education expenses. The program encourages community service work and work related to the recipient's course of study. Typical award amount at Southern Miss is between $800 - $4,000 for undergrads and $1,800 - $9,200 for graduate students. Federal Work Study Funds are awarded to student who are enrolled Full-Time.

This award is offered as accepted in your SOAR account. Student can decline the award in SOAR or email at financial.aidFREEMississippi requesting award to be canceled. Student accepting FWS awards must apply for work study positions on campus. Apply for positions online by logging into your Handshake account here.

After your FAFSA is processed, your school will review the results and will inform you about your loan eligibility.

Your Federal Stafford Student Loan offer amounts for the financial aid year, which includes the fall semester, spring semester, and summer semester, are determined by your grade level:

Grade Level	Dependent Students	Independent Students
Freshman	$5,500	$9,500
Sophomore	$6,500	$10,500
Junior	$7,500	$12,500
Senior	$7,500	$12,500

Graduate Students are eligible for a total of $20,500 in unsubsidized loans per financial aid year. Interest Rate information for federal loans can be found here.

There are also enrollment requirements for stafford loans: undergraduate students must enroll in a minimum of six credit hours per semester and graduate students must enroll in a minimum of four credit hours per semester to be eligible for any stafford loan disbursement.

Subsidized Stafford Loan:

A subsidized loan is awarded on the basis of financial need. If you're eligible for a subsidized loan, the government will pay (subsidize) the interest on your loan while you're in school, for the first six months after you leave school, and if you qualify to have your payments deferred.

Unsubsidized Stafford Loan:

You might be able to borrow loan funds beyond your subsidized loan amount even if you don't have demonstrated financial need. In that case, you'd receive an unsubsidized loan. Your school will subtract the total amount of your other financial aid from your cost of attendance to determine whether you're eligible for an unsubsidized loan. Unlike a subsidized loan, you are responsible for the interest from the time the unsubsidized loan is disbursed until it's paid in full. You can choose to pay the interest or allow it to accrue (accumulate) and be capitalized (that is, added to the principal amount of your loan).

If you are a first time loan borrower, you will have to complete two items on the Federal Student Aid website:

The federal government also limits the amount of loans you be borrow in your lifetime. Those amounts are shown below.

Grade Level	Lifetime Maximum Loan Limit
Undergraduate Dependent Students	$31,000 (of which no more than $23,000 can be subsidized loans)
Undergraduate Independent Students	$57,500 of which no more than $23,000 can be subsidized loans)
Graduate/Professional Students	$138,500 including undergraduate loans (of which no more than $65,000 can be subsidized loans)

Additional Loan information can be found here.

Direct PLUS Loans (Parent Loans):

Parents can borrow a PLUS Loan to help pay your educational expenses if you are a dependent undergraduate student enrolled at least half time in an eligible program at an eligible school. PLUS Loans are available through the Department of Education.

Parents must complete and submit a PLUS Loan application online here. When submitting this application, the parent must be logged in with the parent's FSA ID and Password, not the student's.

If approved, the parent must complete the Parent PLUS Master Promissory Note. Parents may be required to completed Credit Counseling as well. Monitor your SOAR To-Do List for up to date items needed.

PLUS Loans for Graduate Students (Grad PLUS):
Graduate and professional degree students are now eligible to borrow under the PLUS Loan Program up to their cost of attendance minus other estimated financial assistance in the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program. The terms and conditions applicable to Parent PLUS Loans also apply to Graduate/Professional PLUS loans.

Applicants for these loans are required to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). They also must have applied for their annual loan maximum eligibility under the Federal Subsidized and Unsubsidized Stafford Loan Program before applying for a Graduate/Professional PLUS loan. The application can be completed online here.

Graduate students are required to complete the Graduate PLUS Master Promissory Note for the loan to be processed.

Institutional and Outside Miscellaneous Scholarships

Scholarships are gifts. They don't need to be repaid. There are thousands of them, offered by schools, employers, individuals, private companies, nonprofits, communities, religious groups, and professional and social organizations.

Some scholarships are merit-based, awarded based on academic achievement or on a combination of academics and a special talent, trait, or interest. Other scholarships are based on financial need.

A scholarship will affect your other student aid because all your student aid added together can’t be more than your cost of attendance at your college. So, you’ll need to let your school know if you’ve been awarded a scholarship so that the financial aid office can subtract that amount from your cost of attendance (and from certain other aid, such as loans, that you might have been offered).

The Southern Miss Office of Financial Aid encourages students and parents to visit our Office of Undergraduate Scholarships. This office is designed to be a hub for scholarship information and financial resources.

Other Scholarship resources:

Academic Common Market

State Financial Aid

The State of Mississippi offers several scholarship and aid programs to qualified MS residents. Find out what program you may qualify for and how to apply here. Students must apply each October. More information can also be found here.

State Aid Programs

Students must take 15 credits each semester and complete 15 credits to maintain eligibility for state aid.

All state program student eligibility requirements will be reviewed at the end of each semester.

Undergraduate state grant aid programs are no longer stackable with other state grant aid programs. If a student is eligible for more than one state grant aid program that student will only receive the state grant aid program that has the larger award amount. Example: a student eligible for MTAG and MESG will only receive MESG, since MESG is offered for $2500 compared to MTAG maximum amount of $1000.

Enroll in and complete at least 15 credit hours every term, beginning with the Fall term.
If you have already registered for Fall, review your schedule.
If you have registered for fewer than 15 credit hours, add additional hours via your student center in SOAR.
If you need academic help, see your academic advisor; or help adding classes, visit our Student Success website.
You need to successfully complete 15 hours each semester in order to continue to qualify for state aid. Successful completion does not include grades of I, W, NP, or F.

Summer hours cannot be added to Fall and/or Spring hours.
If enrollment drops below 15 credits before state aid has been disbursed to the student, the aid will be cancelled for that term and the following term. If enrollment drops below 15 credits after state aid has been disbursed to the student, the aid will be cancelled for the following term.
Students should not report their enrollment directly to the Mississippi Office of Student Financial Aid. Enrollment is reported by the institution on behalf of its students.
All credit hours for a given term must be completed at a single institution. Credit hours cannot be completed at multiple institutions for a single term.
Students with fewer than 15 credit hours remaining in the course of study may appeal for an exception for a single term.
Students with 24 or fewer credit hours remaining in the course of study may appeal for an exception for two terms. Instructions for submitting an appeal is provided below.
Students enrolled in certain programs with defined curriculum pathways (lock-step) should NOT apply for individual exceptions. Each institution will apply for program exceptions to apply to all students in such programs.
Exceptions will be made for students in certain majors that require clinical, practicum, or student teaching terms. Each institution is being advised regarding how to report enrollment for such terms.
All students, even athletes, will be impacted in the same way. In order to receive and continue to receive state aid, the student must take and complete 15 hours, regardless of whether or not the student is an athlete or on any other kind of institutional scholarship.

Acceptable Reasons for Appeal:

Student undergoes a significant personal event, such as a serious illness, personal injury, divorce, or death of an immediate family member. An immediate family member is defined as a parent, spouse, sibling, or child. (Historically, appeals have not been granted for students with certain learning disabilities. However, if a student submits an appeal for such a reason and provides compelling documentation from a physician, the appeal will be considered.)
Student is nearing degree completion and does not have enough hours remaining to warrant 15 hour enrollment. Students with fewer than 15 credit hours remaining in the course of study may appeal for an exception for a single term. Students with 24 or fewer credit hours remaining in the course of study may appeal for an exception for two terms.

Steps for Submitting an Appeal:

The student should make the appeal in writing.
The personal event appeal should be accompanied by appropriate supporting documentation.
The nearing degree appeal should be accompanied by a letter on institutional letterhead from the appropriate dean, director, or academic advisor.
The letter from the faculty/administrator should indicate the number of hours the student needs to complete his/her degree.
There is no deadline for appeals from students. Appeals are received and considered year-round.
The appeal and supporting documentation may be mailed, faxed, or emailed to the attention of “Appeals Committee”:
- Mississippi Office of Student Financial Aid, 3825 Ridgewood Road, Jackson, MS 39211
  Scan and email to: sfa@mississippi.edu
  Fax to: 601-432-6527

Mississippi Office of Student Financial Aid
3825 Ridgewood Road | Jackson, MS 39211-6453
1-800-327-2980 (toll-free in Mississippi) or 601-432-6997

Almost every state education agency has at least one grant or scholarship available to residents, and many have a long list of student aid programs. Eligibility is usually restricted to state residents attending a college in-state, but that's not always the case. You can visit https://www.nasfaa.org/state_financial_aid_programs

October 1: Application for next Aid Year becomes available
March 1: Online application deadline for the Nissan Scholarship
March 31: Online application deadline for the HELP Grant and for forgivable loans
April 30: Supporting document deadline for the HELP Grant and for forgivable loans
September 15: Online application deadline for MTAG and MESG
October 15: Supporting document deadline for MTAG and MESG

Other Aid Sources

Alternative loans are available to students who are not eligible for financial aid or who need additional funds to meet educational expenses. The student's eligibility is determined by the cost of attendance minus other financial aid or the annual loan maximum amount as determined by the lender.

Because alternative loans are not guaranteed by the federal government, they must be insured privately. This extra cost is passed on to the borrower in the form of higher fees and interest rates. Additionally, the lender will evaluate your credit history as well as other factors to determine if they will lend to you. You may be denied by one lender and approved by another because of the different ways they interpret your information.

Choosing an alternative loan lender is an important aspect in securing additional financial aid resources. The Office of Financial Aid recommends that you borrow from one of the lenders listed below because of their automated processing, their commitment to providing quality service to their borrowers, and their repayment incentives for helping students manage their loan debt, however, it is not required. Our office processes loans regardless of your lender choice; however, we may need additional information concerning your lender if they are not set up in our system.

To search for potential alternative loans from lenders Southern Miss students have been routinely using over the last five years, click here.

Federal financial aid recipients who are concurrently enrolled at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College or Pearl River Community College and The University of Southern Mississippi may be able to receive the maximum funding for which they have eligibility based on the combined enrollments. Applications are available from the Office of Financial Aid.

In order to participate, students must be admitted with the appropriate admission status, be seeking a first bachelor's degree, have a current Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) on file with all required documentation, and be in good standing both academically and financially. Other restrictions may apply.

Qualified veterans and the dependents of deceased or disabled veterans whose death or disability is a direct result of their military service may be eligible for VA educational benefits while attending The University of Southern Mississippi.

For assistance regarding veterans educational benefits, please contact the Veterans Administration (VA) at 1.888.442.4551 or http://benefits.va.gov/gibill/. More information regarding VA educational benefits can be found by contacting the Center for Military Veterans, Service Members, and Families here.