Jackson State Community College
Jennifer Byrd
Financial Aid Officer
Fall 2013
Common Acronyms

 TELS – Tennessee Education Lottery Scholarship
 TSAC – Tennessee Student Assistance Corporation
(www.tn.gov/collegepays)
 FAFSA – Free Application for Federal Student Aid
(www.fafsa.gov )
 IRP – Institutional Review Panel
 AGI – Adjusted Gross Income from Federal Tax Return
 SAP – Satisfactory Academic Progress
Application & Renewal Process

 Student completes FAFSA or renewal FAFSA by
September 1st deadline (preferably by one of our other
deadlines – listed on next slide)
 TSAC receives FAFSA data
 Students are placed on the list of the FIRST Tennessee
school listed on their FAFSA
 The school has to check for possible eligibility. There is
a potential Non-traditional Student List – very
unwieldy!! Word of mouth works much better and gets
better results!
JSCC deadline dates

 Priority processing deadline – March 15th
 Processing deadline for returning/transfer students –
June 15th
 Processing deadline for new students – July 15th
 Deadline for students to complete FAFSA for fall and
receive Lottery funds for fall – September 1st
Types of TELS awards

 Hope – Base award – This award is given to students
that have a 21 ACT or 3.0 high school GPA (however,
homeschool students can only qualify by ACT and
have time restrictions on how long they MUST have
been at the home school; GED students must have a
525 GED AND a 21 ACT)
 Aspire – This is stacked on top of the Hope award if the
AGI is < $36,001 (if the student is dependent, it will be
based on the parent AGI). The AGI is verified each
year. If the AGI goes over the $36,000, the student will
only receive Hope that year.
Types of TELS Awards - continued

 GAMS – This is also referred to as the Merit award. It is
stacked on top of the Hope award and is given to
students who have a 29 ACT and 3.75 high school GPA.
 Access Grant – This award is given to those students
who have between an 18-20 ACT AND a 2.75 GPA AND
an AGI < $36,001 (if they are dependent students, it
goes by their parents’ AGI). At the end of 24 attempted
hours, these students are checked for the 2.75 TELS
GPA. If they have achieved this, they may begin
receiving the Hope scholarship. The Access Grant is
ONLY for the first 24 attempted hours.
Types of TELS Awards - continued

 Non-Traditional Hope – This scholarship is for NonTraditional Students who meet the following criteria
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Age 25 or over
Resident of TN for at least 1 year
AGI < $36,001 (this will be checked each year)
Incoming freshman or returning after 2 calendar year break in
enrollment
 Enrolled in eligible major (certificate majors are not eligible)
 Attempt 12 credit hours with 2.75 (if student withdraws while
establishing this, they must start over with another two
calendar year break)
Disclaimer

 There are also a few other types of Lottery awards
 Wilder-Naifeh Technical Skills Grant – This award is
only for students attending the Tennessee College of
Applied Technology (TCAT) – previously known as the
TTC’s.
 Foster Child Grant – This award is based on a list
provided by Department of Child Services and cannot go
over the Cost of Attendance according to the student’s
award budget
 Helping Heroes Grant – This award is for veterans who
meet certain criteria – found at www.tn.gov/collegepays
Important Notes

 All Lottery students must meet the following:
 TN residents at least one year
 US citizen or permanent resident
 Graduate of TN high school or approved surrounding high
school
 Registered with Selective Service (male)
 Not in default on Federal loans or in overpayment status for
Federal or State grants
 Not incarcerated
 Degree-Seeking (our certificate programs are NOT payable)
Receipt as a Non-Traditional
Student

 To begin receiving the Lottery as a Non-traditional
student, the student must first attempt 12 hours
earning a 2.75 Lottery GPA
 The Lottery GPA is determined only using those hours
taken after beginning college as a first time freshman
or after the two calendar year break in enrollment
 Students must also meet JSCC’s Satisfactory Academic
Progress (SAP) policy to begin receiving the Nontraditional Lottery scholarship
Changes in Enrollment

 If a student trying to establish eligibility for the Nontraditional Lottery scholarship is going withdraw from
a semester, they will need to request PRIOR
permission from the IRP so that they may still
continue establishing eligibility; otherwise, they will
have to begin again with another two year calendar
break before they may be evaluated.
 This must also be done to sit out a semester.
Refer to Financial Aid

 See the Financial Aid Office BEFORE you make any
changes to your enrollment status or degree
 If you have questions about your future eligibility or
your TELS GPA, please see us
 ALL changes in enrollment brackets or sitting out a
semester require PRIOR permission from the IRP
 Forms to obtain said permission may be found at
http://www.jscc.edu/financial-aid/gettingstarted/types-of-financial-aid/lottery.html
SAP

 Ways to have unsatisfactory standing - appeal process
for SAP is separate from Lottery appeal
 Not complete any credits in one semester
 Fail to meet minimum GPA standards (see chart in
policy) – NOT APPEALABLE
 Fail to meet Pace (only looks at college level work) –
must be 67%
 Reach Maximum time limit – 150% of program length
(for example for a 60 hour program this would be 90
hours)
Example of Pace

 Pace is a calculation of the cumulative college level
hours earned divided by the cumulative college level
hours attempted
 If a student takes 15 hours of college level work in the
fall semester passes 9 hours, withdraws from 3 hours
and fails 3 hours, their Pace would be 60% (9/15). This
student would be unsatisfactory. This would cause
them to lose federal and state aid (including lottery)
 If this same student passed 12 hours and failed 3 hours,
their Pace would be 80% (12/15).
TELS GPA vs. JSCC GPA

 A student’s TELS GPA and JSCC GPA may differ
 Reasons include
 Classes taken in high school
 Transfer credits (included for TELS even though grades
are not included in JSCC GPA)
 Repeated courses
 For Non-traditional students – courses taken prior to 2
year break and/or the 12 hours taken to establish
eligibility are excluded (or if the student did not request
to be evaluated until later they may have more hours)
Example of Non Traditional Hours

 If a student was a first time freshman but was here for three
semester before they heard about the non-traditional
scholarship, they may still ask to be evaluated. If they meet
all the other eligibility criteria, we will evaluate their hours.
 Say they have 36 attempted hours with a 3.0. We will look
back at what they had at their 24 hour benchmark hours
and see what they had then to determine eligibility. We will
also look to ensure that they have been enrolled each fall
and spring with no withdrawals.
 If they are eligible, ALL 36 hours will be excluded once they
start receiving the award and they will begin at zero. This is
ONLY for the TELS GPA, not the JSCC GPA.
Attempted hours

 Hours that count in attempted hours
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Learning Support courses (also called DSP)
W’s (after the census date)
F’s
I’s
Repeated courses
Passed courses
Transfer hours (even if JSCC does not accept them)
Attempted hours - continued

 Courses excluded from attempted hours
 Audit (however, can cause you to lose eligibility if switched to
audit during term)
 Taken before high school graduation
 Continuing Education courses
 By examination (CLEP, AP, etc.)
 W’s (before census date)
 Military credit
 Any hours taken prior to the 2 year break for non-traditional
students AND the credit hours used to establish eligibility
(once they begin receiving the scholarship)
IRP – Institutional Review
Panel

 IRP is responsible for hearing appeals from students
who have lost eligibility and petitions from students
wanting to drop/withdraw/sit out
 Grounds must be medical or personal (such as illness,
death of immediate family member, extreme financial
hardship, etc.) and MUST be documented
 LOW GPA IS NOT APPEALABLE
Appeal Process

 Student completes appropriate form (found on our
website) and submits it along with a detailed, signed
letter and documentation to the Financial Aid Office
 IRP reviews and decides on appeal within 14 days
 Student is notified in writing by Financial Aid of IRP’s
decision
 If appeal is denied by IRP, student may appeal this
decision to TSAC’s Appeal Board (this information is
provided to the student at that point)
To request review

 If you think you might be eligible (based on the criteria
from earlier) for the Non-traditional Lottery, you may
contact the Financial Aid Office after you have
attempted 12 credit hours with a 2.75 GPA and ask to
be evaluated.
 Contact information is on the last slide.
Suggestions for your success

 Get to know your teachers
 Seek help early – tutoring is available
 AAC
 Math Lab
 Writing Center
 Go to the Counseling Office if you are having personal
issues and need assistance
 We are here for you!! We want you to succeed!
Questions
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???????
Contact Information
Jennifer Byrd – Financial Aid Officer
[email protected]
731-425-2605
Financial Aid Office