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Financial Aid Information for Students Impacted by Katrina

The U.S. Department of Education has in place some disaster relief regulations that may be of assistance to students who are from those counties impacted by the recent hurricane. Mississippi State University is also implementing efforts to help these students.

  1. If additional documentation is needed to complete the federal student financial aid application process and this documentation has been destroyed by the hurricane, it may be possible to process financial aid requests without the documentation.
  2. In some cases, when a family experiences a loss of income due to a natural disaster, adjustments can be made which may increase a student's eligibility for federal student financial aid.
  3. When federal student aid recipients withdraw from college, a federally required calculation must be performed to determine if a student must immediately repay student aid funds that were used to pay tuition and fees. While we hope that no student will have to withdraw from school, MSU will attempt to provide tuition and fee refunds for students from these impacted counties that will be sufficient to cover any amount of federally required repayment of federal funds used to pay tuition and fees. In other words, MSU hopes to minimize the financial difficulties these students may incur as a result of withdrawing from school.
  4. Students who have previously borrowed through the federal student loan programs and who cease enrollment in school will eventually have to begin repaying their federal student loans. Forebearance and hardship deferrals may be available for those students who are from areas impacted by the hurricane. These options may allow a student to postpone the repayment of the student loan.

Any student who is from one of the counties impacted by the hurricane, and who is experiencing financial difficulties as a result of the disaster, should contact the Department of Student Financial Aid in Garner Hall for more information and updates. Please also periodically review the web site of the MSU Department of Student Financial Aid for updates and news.