Statement of Policies

Registration

Federal student aid funds for graduate students are available only to students who are enrolled in a degree program.  Post-doctoral students are not eligible for federal student aid funds. 

You must register for and complete at least six units each quarter in order to maintain eligibility for your financial aid funds.  If you do not meet the minimum enrollment requirement, you will be required to immediately repay the entire amount of federal student aid funds received, even if you have already spent these funds.

Academic Progress

As a recipient of federal student aid funds, you must be making satisfactory academic progress as defined by the Registrar’s Office.  If you are in the second year of your degree program, or any subsequent year, you must have an official Eligibility End Date (EED) that is the same as, or later than, the last day of the enrollment period for which you are receiving aid funds. 

You can view your EED in AXESS under the Academics tab, Graduate Student Information, Candidacy/Eligibility. If your EED as shown in AXESS is incorrect, you should contact your academic department to have it corrected.  You will need to notify the Financial Aid Office once your EED has been updated, so that we can resume processing of your aid application.

Notification Requirements

As a recipient of federal student aid funds and/or private student loan funds, you are required to immediately notify the Financial Aid Office if you:

• Enroll in fewer units than was used to establish your eligibility. See quarterly Cost of Attendance in AXESS. 
• Receive funding in addition to any listed as "Estimated" in AXESS. Examples: internal or external fellowships, tuition allowance, health insurance subsidy, stipends of any kind including support for research costs, conference attendance, etc. Funding may not exceed your cost of attendance.
• Move to on-campus housing during the award period.

Any of these changes may affect your eligibility for financial aid funds.  Depending on your situation, you may be required to immediately repay some or all of your financial aid disbursements, even if the funds have already been spent.  You may be ineligible to enroll for future quarters at Stanford, or to receive future federal student aid funds at Stanford or elsewhere, until you have resolved your repayment obligations.

Withdrawal

If circumstances require you to withdraw from enrollment during an academic quarter, you must file an official withdrawal request with the university’s Registrar’s Office.  The Financial Aid Office will determine the portion (if any) of your federal student aid funds for the quarter that you are eligible to keep.  This determination is made using a standard calculation specified is the U.S. Department of Education’s regulations.  If we determine that you must repay all or a portion of your aid funds, such funds will be immediately due and payable, and you will not be able to obtain future federal student aid funds until your ineligible funds have been repaid.  The University’s refund policy is described in the University Bulletin.