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Financial Aid Process

1. Apply to BJU

  • You may apply as early as your high school junior year.
  • If you have submitted your application form, be sure to complete the items listed on your online admissions checksheet.
Apply to BJU

2. File the FAFSA

The FAFSA opens in December 2023 for the 2024-25 year, so you can begin it the year before you plan to enter college. Until it becomes available, you can use the Federal Student Aid Estimator.

FAFSA is required to be considered for BJU scholarships and grants. File your FAFSA by March 1 for best consideration.

File FAFSA (fafsa.gov)

School Code: 003421

FAFSA stands for Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Essentially, it’s the U.S. Department of Education’s way of qualifying which students are eligible for financial aid. We also use it to qualify students for aid from BJU.

The U.S. Department of Education uses the financial and family information provided on your FAFSA to determine your Student Aid Index (SAI). Your SAI represents the amount of money the Department of Education believes you and your family should be able to provide to help pay for your college expenses. This amount is not what you will pay, but what money may be available for you to contribute. You will be notified of your SAI number when you receive confirmation of the submission of your FAFSA.

The SAI number is used by the Department of Education to determine your level of need for financial aid assistance. The lower your SAI the more need-based aid, such as the Pell Grant, may be available to you.

Submitting the FAFSA also establishes your eligibility for federal loans. Your SAI helps to determine the type of loan money, subsidized or unsubsidized, that is available to you. For more information about federal loans, go to www.studentaid.gov.

What is verification?

Verification is a process by which the information on the FAFSA is checked for accuracy. A student’s FAFSA can be selected for verification by the U.S. Department of Education or by the school. About 30-40% of all FAFSA’s sent to BJU are generally selected.

How do I get selected for verification?

The reasons for being selected include but are not limited to the following:

  • Your FAFSA was randomly selected. (Chances of random selection increase if you are a potential Pell grant recipient.)
  • Your FAFSA includes incomplete information.
  • The information on your FAFSA is contradictory.
  • The tax information on your FAFSA was estimated.

What happens if I am selected?

The BJU Financial Aid Office will contact you if your FAFSA is selected for verification. Your financial aid awards cannot be determined until the BJU E-Verification process has been completed. Create an account and view your tasks.

Tax Transcript

If you are selected for verification, you may verify your tax information in one of the following ways:

  1. Use the IRS Data Retrieval to update the tax information directly from the IRS.
  2. Submit an official IRS tax transcript to the Financial Aid Office

If you have any questions concerning financial aid, email the Financial Aid Office.

3. Receive a Financial Aid Offer

If you’ve included BJU’s school code (003421) on the FAFSA and applied to BJU, the Financial Aid office will send you a financial aid offer. This offer will list all of the federal, state and institutional aid you are eligible to receive.

Some grants and scholarships cannot be processed until your final high school transcript is received.

Filing Date Sending Date of the Financial Aid Offer
By March 1 By the first week in April
After March 1 Within 1 month of receiving FAFSA

Important Dates

Date Notes
October 1 FAFSA available for upcoming year (available in December 2023)
March 1 Recommended that you complete the FAFSA and all scholarship and grant applications by this date for best consideration
June 1 FAFSA must be completed by this date in order to have financial aid appear on the student account statement due August 5 as expected aid
June 30 FAFSA must be completed by all residents of South Carolina in order to be eligible to receive SC Tuition Grant
July 1 All financial aid forms (i.e. verification worksheets and tax information) must be received in order to receive BJU grants and scholarships

Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy (SAP)

Students receiving federal financial aid must meet standards in 3 areas: completion rate, cumulative grade point average and maximum time frame.

Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy (SAP) for Federal Student Financial Aid: Undergraduate SAP | Graduate SAP

View all financial aid documents

If you have any questions concerning financial aid, email the Financial Aid Office.