Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG)

FSEOG
The Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG) is an additional grant available to undergraduate students with exceptional financial need and gives priority to students who receive Federal Pell Grants and whose Expected Family Contribution (EFC) is a zero. The FSEOG does not need to be repaid.

Award Amounts
The Student Financial Services Office will award a student up to $500 dollars per semester, depending on the student’s financial need, when he/she applies, the amount of other aid received and the availability of funds at South Texas College. There is no guarantee every eligible student will be able to receive a FSEOG. FSEOG funds are awarded by semester.

South Texas College receives a certain amount of FSEOG funds each year from the U.S. Department of Education’s office of Federal Student Aid. Once the full amount of the school’s FSEOG funds has been awarded to students, no more FSEOG awards can be made for that year. This system works differently from the Federal Pell Grant Program, which provides funds to every eligible student.

Eligibility determination
To determine if you are eligible, the U.S. Department of Education uses a standard formula to evaluate the information you report when you apply through the Free Application of Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The formula produces an Expected Family Contribution (EFC) number. Following Federal Regulations, South Texas College awards students with the lowest EFC (zero EFC), who have demonstrated Pell Grant eligibility for the same award year.

To be considered for FSEOG, you must:

  • Fill out a Free Application for Federal Student Aid,
  • Meet all Department of Education eligibility requirements including but not limited to:
    • Having financial need,
    • Having a high school diploma or a General Education Development (GED) Certificate,
    • Registering with the Selective Services, if required,
    • Being a U.S. citizen or eligible non-citizen,
    • Having a valid Social Security Number,
  • Be enrolled or accepted for enrollment as a regular student working toward a degree or certificate in an eligible program,
  • Meet the standards of the Financial Aid Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy (FA SAP),
  • Have a zero EFC,
  • Be registered and attending at least 6 credit hours in a semester.

Additional Requirements
South Texas College Student Financial Services Office monitors requirements that can affect your eligibility for Federal SEOG funds, including but not limited to:

Attendance Verification
The U.S. Department of Education requires that schools are able to document that students are actually in attendance to finalize their Federal Student Aid eligibility. For example, if a student doesn’t begin attendance in all of his or her classes, the school must recalculate the student’s award based on the lower enrollment status. A student is considered to have begun attendance in all of his or her classes if the student attends at least one day of class for each course in which that student’s enrollment status was determined for Federal SEOG eligibility.

In a distance education context, documenting that a student has logged into an online class is not sufficient, by itself, to demonstrate academic attendance by the student. A school must demonstrate that a student participated in class or was otherwise engaged in an academically related activity, such as by contributing to an online discussion or initiat­ing contact with a faculty member to ask a course-related question. A definition of attendance for Financial Aid Purposes can be found at http://studentservices.southtexascollege.edu/finaid/attendance_definition.html

South Texas College documents attendance for Federal SEOG purposes by collecting on-line rosters from all instructors. The instructors use the rosters to indicate whether a student has attended or not. Students must attend each class that they are enrolled in, at least once at the beginning of each term to be counted as being in attendance in that class for Federal SEOG eligibility purposes.

In cases where students do not attend class at least once, Federal SEOG eligibility will be cancelled if the enrollment status changes to 5 credit hours or less because those are the hours they are actually attending. If this cancelation results in a student not having sufficient grant funds to pay for any charges or advances that they have incurred or received, that student will be responsible to pay South Texas College for the difference between their adjusted eligibility and the original amount of the cost of their tuition and fees as well as any advances that the student received.

Fund Disbursements
South Texas College will credit Federal SEOG funds to your school account to pay for tuition, fees and other school related costs which appear on your student account (institutional charges). If you are eligible for funds in excess of your institutional charges, after completing eligibility verification, South Texas College will pay you the difference directly by: a)mailing you a check, or b)depositing into your personal bank account. Federal SEOG will be released to you as a final refund; final refund release dates are provided to students before the start of each semester; they are published at http://studentservices.southtexascollege.edu/finaid/book_allowances.html

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