Skip to main content

Additional Policies

Correspondence Courses
Currently, the South Dakota Board of Regents schools do not offer correspondence courses. South Dakota State does not award financial aid for correspondence courses and will not approve consortium agreements for students who are taking correspondence courses at another college or university.

Outside Scholarship Policy
Students are required to notify the SDSU Financial Aid Office of any non-SDSU scholarships the student receives. Students should complete the Non-SDSU Scholarship/Gift Report Form to provide the required notification.

When possible non-SDSU scholarships should be made payable to SDSU and include the student's name, address and student ID number. Generally, when the scholarship donor does not specify, non-SDSU scholarships for less than $2,500 will be posted to the student’s account the semester the funds are received and non-SDSU scholarships for $2,500 or more will be evenly split between the fall and spring semesters. Student may request an exception to this policy by contacting the SDSU Scholarship Office (link the email and phone). Requests will be approved only after ensuring it does not violate donor intent and will not result in a reduction in other financial aid or a deficit in financial aid funding for a subsequent term.

Over-awards
Financial aid received after the initial financial aid offer has been provided may result in revisions to the aid offer. If the additional awards exceed the student's financial-need or cost of attendance, other financial aid may need to be reduced to ensure the student’s financial aid offer is compliant with federal financial aid requirements.

Professional Judgment

Financial Aid Administrators are allowed to exercise professional judgment within the limits established by the U.S. Department of Education to:

  • Allow a dependent student with unusual circumstances to be considered independent for federal financial aid purposes
  • Make changes to certain data elements on the FAFSA for students who have unusual special circumstances related to their financial situation.
  • Increase a student’s cost of attendance when the student’s educational costs as defined by the U.S. Department of Education exceed the estimated costs used in the financial aid offer.

For more information including information on how to request a professional judgment review, visit our FAFSA Special and Unusual Circumstances page.

Please contact the Financial Aid office if you have questions about any of these policies or need additional information.