Financial Aid

General Information

Students interested in scholarships, assistantships or other aid offered by the graduate divisions should contact the appropriate graduate division. The graduate divisions award their own scholarship funds. The graduate/professional school decides what gift aid, if any, it will offer, and at some point will share their aid decisions with the Financial Aid Office. The Financial Aid Office then calculates (or recalculates, if federal aid has previously been offered) a student's eligibility for additional federal aid to supplement the award made by the Graduate Division.

Graduate students must complete the 2012-2013 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to be considered for federal financial aid for the 2012-13 academic year. The FAFSA may be completed as early as January 1st.

Once the Financial Aid Office receives Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) data, it determines need and makes its decision on the Federal Perkins Loan and/or Federal Work Study employment certification and/or Federal Stafford Loan  and/or Federal Graduate PLUS Loan eligibility. When you receive your financial aid package, make sure it contains all gift aid you have been awarded from your school; otherwise, the package is not accurate and must be revised.

For more information regarding financial aid for graduate students, please consult the Graduate Financial Aid Sourcebook 2012 - 2013.

For those considering graduate programs (other than public health, medicine or law JD/LLM degree programs), an introduction to financial aid may be found by clicking here:Introduction to Graduate Student Financial Aid at Tulane.

Please note that all federal aid decisions for students seeking a law degree are made at the Law Financial Aid Office. All federal aid decisions for graduate-level Medical and Public Health students are made at the Tulane University Health Sciences Center Financial Aid Office.

Tulane Student Direct Loan Processing
Steps for Federal Direct Loan processing may be found here.

For an introduction to financial aid for those considering fall 2011 graduate programs for which financial aid counselors are based at the main financial aid location (programs other than public health, medicine or law JD/LLM degree programs), click here: Graduate Student Financial Aid at Tulane.

Maintaining and Renewing Financial Aid: Academic Requirements
Please read the academic requirements for aid section for academic requirements for retaining, maintaining and/or renewing financial aid.

Verification Requirements
Some applicants are selected by the federal processor for verification of information submitted on the FAFSA. Students selected will be notified on the FAFSA results. In most cases, the prior year's federal tax transcript (2011 income tax return for the 2012-2013 academic year) is used to verify the information. The applicant can contact the Internal Revenue Service for a copy of a tax transcript. The IRS has established a site that provides answers to frequently asked questions. Students who did not earn enough in 2011 to file a federal tax return should complete the 2012-2013 Student Non-Filer Worksheet.

Additional documents may be requested depending on the information to be verified. Some applicants may need to provide verification of Social Security benefits received by their family. Others may need to provide verification of their Social Security number. Still others may need to provide documentation of the type and amount of their Veteran's education benefits.

Application Deadlines
Suggested federal financial aid application deadlines for each graduate division are as follows:

School of Architecture February 15, 2012
A.B. Freeman School of Business April 15, 2012
School of Science and Engineering May 1, 2012
General Graduate Students
   Incoming Students  April 15, 2012
   Returning Students  May 1, 2012
School of Law (students seeking JD or LLM degree) February 15, 2012
Payson Center at School of Law May 1, 2012
School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine April 15, 2012
School of Medicine April 15, 2012
School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine April 15, 2012
Social Work
   Incoming Students March 15, 2012
   Returning Students April 15, 2012

Page last modified on February 20, 2012.