By signing your 2025-26 Financial Aid Offer Letter on your My Sage Aid account, you are agreeing to the following Financial Aid Terms and Conditions:

  1. It is my responsibility to read all college policies, as stated in the catalog, regarding the academic and institutional policy requirements of academic performance, registration, financial aid eligibility and student account liabilities.
  2. Your financial aid is based upon projected enrollment and your anticipated completion date. Your Offer Letter is provided for a full academic year unless your anticipated completion date is December of that year. If your completion date is not accurate, please reach out to us as soon as possible so we can adjust your awards accordingly. Failure to do so may result in a lack of financial aid in the spring semester. Adjustments to projected enrollment can be made prior to disbursement, through your Offer Letter on My Sage Aid. If you enroll less than full-time, federal aid will be prorated based on your level of enrollment. Courses for which you are wait-listed do not count when determining your level of enrollment. Please note that changes to your enrollment after the add/drop period may affect your future aid eligibility and your Satisfactory Academic Progress. Prior to withdrawing from coursework, you may want to inquire with the Financial Aid Office to see how your future semester financial aid eligibility may be impacted.
  3. Awards for federal and state aid are estimated until they are approved by these agencies. If the amount awarded is different from the amount estimated, adjustments may be made to my award package.
  4. Russell Sage College reserves the right to review and adjust at any time, any award to maintain compliance with federal, state, and institutional regulations.
  5. Your Cost of Attendance (COA) is based on an allowance for direct costs (charges that are billed to your student account) and indirect costs (educational expenses not billed to your student account) for full-time enrollment. Some examples of direct costs include tuition, fees, meal plans, etc. Indirect costs may include books, supplies, transportation, maintenance, etc. All financial aid is limited to the total cost of attendance. If you are awarded more than the COA, other aid will be reduced.
  6. To qualify for Federal financial aid, a student must be matriculated in a degree or eligible certificate program and be enrolled in at least 6 credits per semester/term in an undergraduate program or at least 4.5 credits per semester/term in a graduate program. Only those courses required for your degree are eligible for financial aid.
  7. To qualify for institutional grants and scholarships, an undergraduate student must be registered for 12 credits of required courses per semester. Incoming freshmen are awarded up to 4 years (8 semesters) of institutional aid and transfer students are awarded up to 3 years (6 semesters) of institutional aid provided you remain in good academic standing. Institutional grants and scholarships may only be applied to your undergraduate degree program.
  8. Students who are receiving external scholarships, grants or external benefits that are specifically intended to be applied to tuition may have a portion of their RSC merit scholarship reduced. The combination of all external tuition related awards and the RSC merit scholarship cannot exceed the cost of tuition and fees. In situations where the RSC merit scholarship is reduced, a portion may be applied to on campus housing and meal plans. Students receiving the RSC tuition benefit, Tuition Exchange or CIC Tuition Exchange do not qualify for additional institutional aid since the full amount of their tuition is covered. If you have any questions regarding your specific benefit, please feel free to contact [email protected].
  9. Russell Sage College institutional grant and scholarship funding is provided, in part, through the generosity of individual donors, alumni, corporations, and other resources. At any point during the academic year, you may have Russell Sage grants/scholarships replaced by a named endowed fund. At that time, you may be asked to provide a letter of thanks to the scholarship donor, the donor’s heirs, or an individual or committee overseeing the administration of the fund.
  10. If I am awarded an endowed scholarship, I give Russell Sage College permission to release biographical, financial, and academic information to the donor or fund contact responsible for the award.
  11. The Campus Room and Board Grant is awarded to full-time undergraduate students living in on-campus housing. The grant is renewable for 4 years provided the student files a FAFSA, has unmet financial need, is a full-time undergraduate student living in on-campus housing and remains in good academic standing. Resident assistants (RA’s) and students receiving Tuition Exchange, Tuition Remission, and Veterans benefits are ineligible for the Campus Room and Board Grant. The amount of the grant may be adjusted annually if financial need changes.
  12. All students living on campus have a meal plan included in their cost of attendance. If you chose to change your meal plan to a less expensive plan, your cost of attendance will be adjusted, and your Russell Sage College grant or Campus Room and Board Grant will be reduced accordingly.
  13. Financial Aid can be affected if I do not maintain satisfactory academic progress. Please refer to the college catalog for details.
  14. If I withdraw or take a leave of absence from school during a semester, a portion of my financial aid may be refunded back to its source as required by federal regulation. Please refer to Sage’s tuition adjustment policy in the college catalog.
  15. Return of Federal Funds Policy: A student who receives federal financial assistance and withdraws from all classes through the 60% point in the semester may no longer be eligible for the full amount of federal aid that was originally awarded. A percentage is used to determine the amount of federal funds the student has earned at the time of withdrawal. Any unearned funds must be returned by the school and/or student. This federal calculation must also be done after semester grades are submitted in the event that a student receives all F’s (a 0.0 Semester GPA) and the F’s are due to lack of attendance. Further details regarding the return of federal funds calculation is available in Student Services.
  16. Federal Student Aid regulations require that I report to the Financial Aid Office any monetary awards not listed on my offer letter. These awards must be included in the financial aid package and may affect other financial assistance being offered. Examples of these awards include, but are not limited to, private grants and scholarships, health alliance waiver, graduate assistantships, veteran’s benefits, and ACCES-VR funding.
  17. It is the policy of Russell Sage College to utilize outside scholarships in the following manner:
    ▪ To reduce any unmet federal demonstrated need
    ▪ To reduce student self-help in the form of Federal Work Study, Federal Direct Loans or Private Education Loans
    ▪ To reduce Institutional Grants, Federal Grants and/or State Grants
  18. If you are awarded a scholarship from an outside agency, it is your responsibility to submit proof of the award to the Financial Aid office. Please note: In some cases, the awarding organization may have specific awarding criteria. In those cases, Russell Sage College reserves the right to make the necessary adjustments.
  19. A Federal Work Study award is not a guarantee of earnings. Students must secure their own on campus jobs. Actual earnings are paid directly to the student bi-weekly; earnings are not deducted from a student’s bill.

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