Financial Aid

Overview
Financial Aid
The Graduate School offers Federal Student Loans under the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP), as well as, assistantships and an extended payment plan. Inquiries may be directed to the Director of Financial Aid, Ms. Kathryn Mulligan, by telephone 617-277-3915 x32 or email financialaid@bgsp.edu.

Good Financial Standing
Students are required to make either a complete loan application or a tuition payment in order to be admitted to class. Students not applying for financial aid or whose financial aid application is incomplete are expected to make payments in keeping with the Extended Payment Plan in order to remain in good financial standing. Students whose extended payment plan payments are not honored may lose their good financial standing.

Students who are not in good financial standing are not permitted to attend class until the situation is rectified. Please note any absences may be counted as unexcused absences by the instructors. All students with outstanding balances at the end of the semester will be assessed a 1% per month financial charge until the balance is cleared.

The Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis may withhold diplomas, degrees, transcripts and other official notice of work done at the School from students who are not in good financial standing. A student may not withdraw in good standing nor graduate until all obligations to the school are paid in full.

Extended Payment Plan
Under this plan, the full tuition may be equally divided and paid in five equal payments as specified in the registration materials. The application for the extended payment plan is provided with the registration materials and should be submitted with the registration form. The student submits five post-dated checks representing the five calculated payments. There is a $30.00 fee for this service, paid at the time of registration.

Types of Aid
ASSISTANTSHIPS A limited number of assistantships are available and granted on the basis of need and the ability to perform the tasks of a specific assistantship. Under special circumstances, an assistantship may be given to a student with a skill useful to the operation of the school. Generally, assistantships are not available to first year students. The assistantship is considered a loan and un-worked hours will be billed to the students account. Please contact the Dean, Dr. Lynn Perlman, and the Director of Financial Aid, Ms. Kathryn Mulligan, for more information.

SCHOLARSHIPS. The School does not offer scholarships. Students are encouraged to seek outside scholarships. Contact the Director of Financial Aid if you need assistance.

FEDERAL STUDENT LOANS
Eligibility
To qualify:
1. You must be a U.S. citizen or eligible non-citizen (i.e. non-resident alien, citizen of U.S. Territory),
2. You must be registered at least half-time (4 credits or more). For Financial Aid purposes only, Special status will be granted for students who have completed all coursework and are working on their thesis or clinical paper. You must be registered for at least 2 credits of Directed Research each semester, up to three (3) semesters, to qualify for Federal Student Aid. It is possible for some students to complete their thesis or clinical paper in less than three semesters. It is also possible for a student to take longer than three semesters. No Federal Student Aid will be disbursed to a student that registers for less than two (2) credits of Directed Research and/or takes longer than three semesters to complete their thesis or clinical paper. Please see the student bulletin and your advisor for information on thesis, clinical paper completion and graduation requirements.

Satisfactory Academic Progress
To receive Federal Student Aid, you should be in good academic standing by progressing through the program, earning passing grades and making up any incomplete (I) grades by the deadline. If you do not meet this requirement, you will not be able to receive Aid and may go into repayment, until such time that you are in good standing again.

Add/Drop Class
Adding and/or Dropping a class may affect your Cost of Attendance, which is used in calculating your award. Please contact the Office of Financial Aid if you add or drop one or more classes.

Withdrawal from the program and its affect on Federal Aid
Withdrawal from the program may affect loan eligibility. The Federal Student Loan law requires that a student who withdraws from school may be obligated to “payback” unearned loan funds to their lender. The general rule allows the loan to be prorated from the beginning of the semester up to the withdrawal date. Once a student has attended 60% of the semester, all funds are earned and no payback is necessary. If the student fails to officially withdraw in writing, the last date of attendance will be their official withdrawal date.

Please note that BGSP’s withdrawal/refund policy differs from Financial Aid rules. Though the school may refund the prorated amount of tuition to the lender, the student may end up owing a balance to the school. Also, if you received loan proceeds for living expenses, you may also be obligated to payback the unearned portion, out of pocket. The Director of Financial Aid will notify you if this is the case.The amount owed will be reported to the National Student Loan Database System (www.nslds.ed.gov). The lender has access to this system as well and will contact the student. The student is obligated to notify his/her lender(s) of any changes in status, residence, or other eligibility and contact information. You may look up your entire loan history by using your PIN (www.pin.ed.gov) at the NSLDS website (www.nslds.ed.gov). It is imperative that you contact the Director of Financial aid if your status changes. Status changes are as follows:
• Withdrawal from the school,
• Dropping from full-time to half-time,
• Dropping below half-time,
• Your expected graduation date changes.