Consortium Agreements
A Financial Aid consortium agreement allows financial aid to be shared or split between 2 Utah schools. Consortiums allow students to group credits they are taking at two institutions, which can affect their financial aid eligibility (it usually improves their eligibility). Students need to be taking a minimum of 6 credits to be eligible for student loans. Federal Pell Grants are prorated, and pay based on full-time (12+ credits), three-quarter time (9-11 credits), half-time (6-8 credits), and less than half-time (<6 credits) status. USU currently has consortium agreements with the following schools. Students cannot receive financial aid through USU under a consortium arrangement unless attending USU and one of the following Utah schools simultaneously:
Weber State University
Dixie College
College of Eastern Utah
Snow College
Southern Utah University
Utah Valley University
Salt Lake Community College
A copy of the consortium agreement can be found at www.usu.edu/finaid/forms/pdf/consort.pdf.
Here are some facts you need to know about a consortium agreement:
- On the consortium agreement form, you will select one school as a disbursing school and the other will be a participating school. The disbursing school is the institution which the student intends to graduate from.
- You may need to add the disbursing school to your FAFSA. This can be done by making a correction to your FAFSA and adding Utah State University (or UVU, as the case may be) to the list of schools you are attending (you can add up to 6 schools on the FAFSA form).
- You must be admitted to both USU and UVU. For admission information at USU go to www.usu.edu/admissions/ (create link here)
- You must complete a new form for each semester of the agreement. A representative from each school's financial aid office is required to sign the form.
- You must submit your final grades from the 'participating school to the 'Disbursing School's' financial aid office before future financial aid can be disbursed. A hold is put on the account until the grades are submitted. The disbursing school will use your financial aid to pay your tuition for credits carried there, and then issue you the remainder by check (or by direct deposit in some cases). You are responsible to use this remainder to pay the tuition costs at the 'participating' school. The disbursing school cannot pay a participating school directly, but must issue any remaining financial aid money directly to the student.
- You must maintain satisfactory academic status and progress (at least a 2.0 GPA and a 70% completion rate).
- Financial aid funds are disbursed based on the schedule (or calendar) of the disbursing school. It is highly recommended that students plan their finances and payment arrangements based on the financial aid disbursement date of the disbursing school, and how that may affect their tuition payment at the non-disbursing school. Most State schools do not adhere to common semester start and end dates.'
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