Update for students receiving PHEAA grants this semester (9.10.09)
While efforts continue at the state level to gain approval of a budget for the Commonwealth, the impasse still affects the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA) and its grants to students.
Last summer students received information from PHEAA indicating a student's potential award amount. PHEAA has announced that because a budget has not been approved, the agency is unable to finalize and disburse grants for the 2009-10 academic year. Despite this situation, all PHEAA grant recipients who attend Shippensburg were allowed to register and attend classes as normal for the fall semester.
Even though a state budget is not yet approved, the university will fund a portion of each student's PHEAA grant with university funds until the budget is approved and PHEAA disburses those funds to the university. Based on the current situation, the university will provide to each of the recipients 80 percent of their original potential award amount.
Please be aware, however, that until a budget is approved, PHEAA will not be able to inform students of their final award amount. According to its website, after the final budget is approved, recipients will be notified via e-mail and those who were eligible for a grant will see the final state grant award displayed in their system.
The final award, however, may possibly be less than the initial amount students were informed about last summer. In that event, the university will apply the final amount to each recipient's bill and that may result in each owing a balance for this semester.
The university is currently preparing to distribute these funds and recipients should receive information no later than the end of this month. Recipients are asked to check the student financial aid portal at http://www.ship.edu/ss for updated information. Information is also available at PHEAAs website at www.pheaa.org.