Transfer & Continuing Students
Transfer and Continuing students have different requirements than first time freshmen. Knowing what these requirements are can make the transition to South easier and ensure you get the best Financial Aid Award Letter possible.
Transfer Students
Being a transfer student requires extra steps as you prepare to begin at South. When you transfer is also important, making a transfer from your old school to South between Financial Aid Award Year and is a much easier transition than transferring in the middle of a school year. It’s important to know that you are responsible for any Student Overaward that happen because of financial aid you received during the Financial Aid Award Year that was not fully disclosed to the South Financial Aid Office.
To avoid a Student Overaward, you must declare 100% of all of your previously attended colleges, universities, and trade schools, even if you did not pass a single class at the school or the classes you took were not relevant to your South degree. You declare your previous schools on the Data Sheet, a document that will be requested on your Missing Document Letter. Not declaring a school, regardless of the reason constitutes Financial Aid Fraud, and is a federal and state crime, and is a violate of the Student Code of Conduct.
Once the Financial Aid Office receives your Data Sheet we will notate the previous schools you listed and will send you a new Missing Document Letter indicating that you are now required to complete the Official Transcript Evaluation process (you will have a portion of this process every time you change your degree/certificate at South).
The Official Transcript Evaluation process requires you to obtain Official Transcripts for 100% of your previously attended colleges, universities, and trade schools. Students that are unable to obtain a copy of their Official Transcripts from a previous school because they have an owing balance at that school, will not be able to receive financial aid at South until the Official Transcript Evaluation process is complete—there are no exceptions to this policy. Students who received no credit at a previous school, may be eligible to use Unofficial Transcripts for the process—please contact the Financial Aid Office to see if you qualify.
Your Official Transcripts need to be delivered to the South Seattle College Registration Office.
After you request your Official Transcripts from all previous schools, you will need to complete the Incoming Academic Transcript Evaluation (pdf). You should indicate that you are pursuing Financial Aid, and be sure that the degree or certificate that you indicate on the form matches what you put on your Financial Aid Data Sheet. Once complete, submit the form to the Registration Office.
The Official Transcript Evaluation process takes about 3 weeks from the time the Income Academic Transcript Evaluation Request Form, and all Official Transcripts are received by the Registration Office. Once the Evaluation is completed the Credential’s Office will email you a copy of the Evaluation. You are required and responsible for forwarding a copy of that Evaluation to the Financial Aid Office’s email account FinancialSouth@seattlecolleges.edu If you are trying to meet the Financial Aid Deadline, know that we do not consider the Official Transcript Evaluation requirement satisfied until AFTER YOU forward the email from the Credential’s Office. As this process takes around 3 weeks from the time all pieces for the evaluation are received, you should plan accordingly to meet the deadline.
In addition to the Official Transcript Evaluation, if you transfer in the middle of a Financial Aid Award Year from one school to another, you may have already used all of your annual financial aid at your old school. Financial Aid is awarded annually and then broken out by quarter. If you received all of your annual financial aid at your old school, South will inform you that you are out of eligibility. If you’re transferring in the middle of a Financial Aid Award Year between two schools, you should plan to meet with a Financial Aid Staff Member to discuss your individual situation.
Continuing Students
Students have to complete the FAFSA or WASFA every year using two year old Federal Tax information. One of the biggest mistakes Continuing students make is not completing the Application for Financial Aid early. Classes, exams, and life cause the Continuing student to delay turning in their Application for Financial Aid, and it will cost them thousands of dollars in financial aid funding.
Remember, both the FAFSA and the WASFA are available in October, and should be completed in that month. Missing Document Letters contain the items need to begin reviewing your Application for Financial Aid, and you have 3 business days to turn in any items we request. Like Freshmen and Transfer students, you also need to Accept your Award Letter within 30 days or your funds will be canceled and given to other students.
If you’re planning to transfer from South to another school, remember that financial aid at South can only cover classes that are required for your degree at South. If you need additional credits to transfer, beyond your degree requirements, you will have to pay for those out of pocket. The best way to know what classes your financial aid can cover and which one’s it can’t is to run a Degree Audit. Any classes that fall into Unused Coursework, cannot be covered by financial aid. In fact, if the Financial Aid Office does give you money to take course that fall into Unused Coursework, you will have to pay the money back. If you want to take courses outside your degree, you are required to come into the Financial Aid Office and let us know so that we can adjust your financial aid accordingly.