Lyndon State College Student Services

1. Lyndon State CollegeStudent Services Tools at Your Disposal to Help You Reach Financial Clearance

2. The Portal • Use the Portal to: • Check your email • View important announcements and news • View your bill • Check your Financial Aid Document Status • Accept your Financial Aid Award • And much more!

3. Logging In Log in to the portal by entering your username and password

4. What Can You Find On The Portal? Important Announcements and News Link to LSC Email Web Services

5. Remember To Check Your LSC Email and Campus Mailbox Regularly • Your LSC Email and your campus mailbox are the two methods that we will use to contact you. • Check them both on a regular basis to ensure you don’t miss any important messages!

6. Web Services The Web Services tab is located on the right hand side of your portal. There are a number of tools that you can access through Web Services that will allow you to manage your student account and move you toward financial clearance. • FERPA Authorization Form • Make a Payment/View Your Bill • Student Health Insurance Form • Meal Plan Change Form Financial Aid Award Letter

7. FERPA Authorization Form • FERPA stand for Family Educational Right to Privacy Act. • This is a federal law that protects the privacy of student records. • If you want your parents to be able to call and speak to us about your bill then you must complete the FERPA Authorization Form and provide your parents with a FERPA code. The FERPA Authorization Form is found under the Student Academic Profile Tab under Web Services.

8. FERPA Authorization Form Select your relationship to the person/persons you wish to authorize from the drop down box. Enter the first and last names in the fields provided. Check the box to grant access. Create an access code. *Important Reminder* - Don’t forget to give your access code to the person that you authorize. Without this code we cannot discuss your account!

9. Student Health Insurance Form • All full-time students are required to have health insurance, and will be billed for a plan through the VSC. • If you are already covered by a plan, you must waive this coverage with the Student Health Insurance Form in order to remove this charge from your bill. This form can be found under the Student Billing/Financials tab in Web Services.

10. Student Health Insurance Form To waive the VSC Student Health Insurance Plan: • Check this box. • Enter your Carrier. • Enter your Policy Number. Enter the policy Expiration Date or N/A if not applicable. Check this box to electronically sign the form then click Submit. *Important Reminder* - Don’t forget to check the final box to sign this form electronically. Failure to do so will result in an invalid submission!

11. Changing A Meal Plan Students Residing in the dorms are automatically enrolled in the Unlimited Meal Plan. However, you do have the option of changing your meal plan to better suit you. To change your meal plan: Select Student/Billing Financials Click on Meal Plan Change Form *Important Reminder* - The last day to change meal plans is September 3!

12. Changing A Meal Plan Select your desired meal plan by clicking in the corresponding radial button. Make sure to click Submit to finalize your selection

13. Accepting Your Financial Aid Award • In order for your financial aid to be applied to your account, you must first accept your financial aid award. • This can be done through Web Services, and you can accept or decline any combination of the aid that you have been awarded. • If you do not accept your aid before the clearance deadline it will not count toward your financial clearance.

14. Accepting Your Financial Aid Award To view your Financial Aid Award: • Under Web Services select Student Financial Aid. • Select Financial Aid Award Notice • Select the Award Year • Select LSC as the Financial Aid Office • Click Submit

15. Accepting Your Financial Aid Award Your award shows a breakdown of the aid for which you are eligible.

16. Accepting Your Financial Aid Award • Use the drop down boxes to either accept or decline the aid awarded If you have any special comments about your aid you can enter that here. For example: If you only want to accept a portion of a loan, accept it in the drop down box and write an explanation in the comment box. • Click SUBMIT to continue to the conformation page.

17. Accepting Your Financial Aid Award Don’t forget to check your Financial Aid Document Status. This is where you can make sure that you have completed all of the necessary requirements for your Financial Aid to be applied to your account. *Important Note*: You can check your Financial Aid Document Status any time. It’s a good idea to check back regularly to make sure that the Financial Aid Department isn’t missing any information from you. Financial Aid Document Status must be complete and up-to-date in order to count toward financial clearance.

18. Make a Payment/View Your Bill There are a number of things that you can do under the Make a Payment/View Your Bill tabincluding: • Set up an Authorized User on your billing account. • Enroll in a Payment Plan. • And of course, view and pay your bill.

19. Make a Payment/View Your Bill After selecting Make a Payment/View Your Bill you will be directed to this page. Now, click on the MY ACCOUNTlink to access the Vermont State Colleges secure billing system.

20. Make a Payment/View Your Bill Sign in with your username and password.

21. Make a Payment/View Your Bill The Home screen displays a Quick View of your account, including: • Links to manage your account. • Announcements. • Current Account Status.

22. Viewing Your Bill If you select eBills on the top of the page you can view and print your account statements. You can select the statement to view from the dropdown box. (Statements are generated on or around the 1st and 15th of each month). Your Current Balance is displayed at the top of the screen and includes any activity since your last statement date. ****Make sure that pop-ups have been enabled in your**** ****browser when you select the statement to view!******

23. Viewing Your Bill ****Make sure that pop-ups have been enabled in your browser when you select**** **************************the statement to view!**************************

24. Make a Payment You can make a payment right from this screen by selecting the Pay link on the right, or by selecting the Payment tab at the top of the screen. This will open up information for your Most Recent Billing Statement and notify you of any Pending Payments. To make a payment click Make a Payment.

25. Make a Payment • Select Current account balance, Amount due, or Pay by term • Enter the amount to pay in the corresponding box on the right • Select Continue to advance to payment method

26. Make a Payment Select your preferred method of payment from the drop down box. You can select either Electronic Check or Credit Card. After you make your selection, click the Select button.

27. Make a Payment Enter your payment information in the space provided. If you would like to save this payment method for future use, check the box and enter a name for it in the space provided. When your are finished click continue.

28. Make a Payment • After you enter your payment information you will be directed to the Confirmation page to verify that the information you entered was correct. • Following confirmation, you will be able to view/print your receipt for the transaction.

29. Payment Plans You can set up a Payment Plan right from the Billing Home Page. Select Payment Plans from the navigation bar at the top of the page.

30. Payment Plans This screen gives you the option to enroll in a new payment plan as well as view your previous payment plan history. Select Enroll Now to begin the payment plan enrollment process.

31. Payment Plans Select the current term from the drop down menu then click Select.

32. Payment Plans This gives you information about your payment plan. For a full plan description you can select this link. To continue with the payment plan click the continue button at the bottom of the screen.

33. Payment Plans The Budget Worksheet shows the total bill after financial aid. It also calculates the down payment due at the time of set-up. To continue, click Display Payment Schedule.

34. Payment Plans This page shows the amount due at time of set up (first installment plus the $30.00 enrollment Fee) • This page also shows the remaining payment schedule dates and dollar amounts. • At the bottom of this page, you must decide your payment options. Selecting yes means we will automatically deduct the payment from your selected payment method on the 15th of each month. Selecting no means you will need to log on every month to make your payment manually.

35. Payment Plans Now choose your payment method and select Continue.

36. Payment Plans • This page shows the Payment Plan Agreement. After you read this you have the option to Print Agreement. To accept the terms of the plan click the check box next to I Agree at the bottom of the page, then click Continue.

37. Adding an Authorized User • An Authorized User is not the same thing as FERPA Access • If you want your parents or anyone else to be able to view your bill, make payments, set-up payment plans, and/or receive email alerts about changes to the bill then you must make them an authorized user for your billing account.

38. Adding an Authorized User To add an authorized user, begin by selecting the Authorized User tab along the top of the screen. Click Add an Authorized User

39. Adding an Authorized User Enter the E-mail address of the person you wish to make an authorized user. Select whether or not you want this person to be able to view your billing statement and/or payment history. Click Continue to finalize the process.

40. www.studentloans.gov • To complete your financial aid requirements, you may need to go to studentloans.gov • If you have been awarded and are accepting a Federal Loan you must electronically sign a Master Promissory Note and complete online Loan Entrance Counseling

41. Completing Loan Entrance Counseling Go to www.studentloans.gov Click Sign In to log in with your FAFSA pin.

42. Completing Loan Entrance Counseling Enter your information in the boxes provided and click the sign in button • On the left hand side of the page select Complete Entrance Counseling. • Select the Counseling Type that corresponds to the loans you are accepting. • Read the Guidelines and continue. • Select the Vermont from the School State drop down menu. • Select Lyndon State College from the School Name drop down menu. • Complete the Counseling Session/Quiz

43. Completing the Master Promissory Note The Master Promissory Note (MPN) is essentially your promise to repay your federal student loans. Like the Entrance Counseling, the MPN can be found by logging in to studentloans.gov. • When you are logged in, select Complete MPN on the left hand side of the screen. • Select which type of MPN to complete (Subsidized/Unsubsidized). • Follow the directions on screen to enter your personal information and personal references. • Review the Terms and Conditions. • Review and Sign • If you choose to, you can print a copy of your MPN.

44. Parent Plus Loan If you are in need of additional funding, your parents can apply for a Parent Plus Loan through studentloans.gov as well. This loan is taken by your parents, and, as such, becomes their financial responsibility.

45. OVERVIEW OF DIRECT PLUS LOANS • The U.S. Department of Education is the lender • The borrower must not have an adverse credit history • Loans have a fixed interest rate of 6.41% and a 4.2% origination fee • The maximum loan amount is the student’s cost of attendance (determined by the school) minus any other financial aid received • Repayment is 60 days after the loan is fully disbursed • Repayment deferment options are available

46. Parent Plus Loan Parents log in to studentloans.gov in much the same way that students do. The only difference is that parents use their own parent federal PIN.

47. Parent Plus Loan After signing in, parents will select Star PLUS Application Process. Select the loan type (Parent PLUS). Follow directions to complete the four step process.

48. Alternative Student Loans Alternative student loans are also available through private lenders. Here are some links that will help you compare different lending programs if you are looking for additional funding: • www.studentlendinganalytics.com/alternative_loan_options.html • www.finaid.org/loans/privatestudentloans.phtml