Financial Aid Recipients
Rights and Responsibilities

Student Rights

As a student receiving financial aid at Washington State University, you have the following rights:

• You may decline all or any part of your financial aid award. This must be done in writing.
• You may be able to return loan proceeds within 14 days of the date of disbursement. The remaining balance on your student account must be institutional charges to be able to return loan proceeds.
• You will be notified in writing of any changes made by the OSFA to your financial aid eligibility and/or your awards.
• You may request review of your financial aid application due to special or unusual circumstances that would change the Expected Family Contribution and/or the Cost of Attendance. All such requests should be submitted in writing to the OSFA.
• You may request a re-evaluation of any decision (except from the Satisfactory Academic Progress Appeals Committee) concerning your financial aid award.
• In protection of your rights under the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), the staff at the OSFA/OSS cannot release specific information about your financial aid award to anyone over the telephone. You must present picture ID when seeking information in-person about your financial aid awards at the OSFA/OSS.  (See Confidentiality below for more details.)
• Students have the right to contact the Federal Student Financial Aid Ombudsman to resolve issues related to student loans. The Federal Ombudsman phone number is 1-877-557-2575, and the Web address is: http://www.ombudsman.ed.gov.
• For University related problems students may contact the WSU Ombudsman.

Student Responsibilities

As a student receiving financial aid at Washington State University, you have the following responsibilities:

• Be admitted by the Office of Admissions to a course of study leading to a degree or certificate.
• Report to the OSFA/OSS, in writing, any additional resources such as Veterans Education Benefits, scholarships, tuition waivers, and funding from outside agencies, etc.
• Confirm the awarded loan amounts on the Financial Aid Award Notification and return one copy to the Office of Student Financial Aid if you wish to borrow.
• Maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP).  Refer to the Satisfactory Academic Progress and Academic Deficiency section of our web for details, to the Financial Aid Handbook enclosed with your Award Notification, or the "Financial Aid" section of the current semester Time Schedule.
• Immediately inform Washington State University of any address changes through the myWSU.
• Notify the Office of Student Affairs if you do not plan to attend Washington State University.
  • If while previously in attendance at WSU you had a federal student loan, you must complete an Exit Counseling/Interview session. 
    • For Stafford Subsidized and/or Stafford Unsubsidized Loan, borrowers, contact our office for more information.
    • For borrowers of Federal Perkins Loans, Federal Nursing Loans, Pharmacy or Veterinary Medicine Health Professions Loans, contact University Receivables/Student Loan Office for more information.
  • This process is required even if you intend to return to WSU at a later date.

Due to the confidential nature of financial aid information 
and the regulations regarding release of this information, 
please be aware of the following:

• Specific information is released only to the student.
• A student must present a picture ID before receiving specific information. 
  This restriction includes spouses and/or parents even if they are paying or helping pay for college. If a spouse or parent requests specific information, they and the student must appear at our office together or the parent/spouse must have a written permission slip AND picture ID for both the student and parent and/or spouse.

• We are not allowed to quote specific dollar amounts to anyone over the phone.
  We are not allowed to release specific information to a parent or spouse of a student over the phone even if a permission slip has been signed. (The permission slip only applies to in-person visits.)

• We are allowed to answer general questions about a student only to the parent whose information appeared on the student’s current year FAFSA. 
  To receive assistance, the custodial parent must have their student’s WSU identification number and Social Security Number readily available. Non-custodial parents do not have access to custodial parental information even with a student’s permission or even by personally appearing with the student.

• We are allowed to answer general questions about a student only to the current spouse of a student.
  Former spouses and persons undergoing a separation or divorce can not be assisted.

• All tax returns and other requested documentation is considered confidential and available only to authorized WSU personnel for financial aid purposes. 

See also "FERPA" information.