Office of Financial Aid
USF Health • College of Medicine

USF Morsani College of Medicine
Financial Aid Guidelines

  1. The financial aid guidelines are formulated by the Morsani College of Medicine Student Affairs Committee. The Associate Dean for Student Affairs is responsible for allocating funds in compliance with the guidelines.
  2. The goal of the Medical School Student Affairs Committee is to prevent attrition from school solely for financial reasons.
  3. The primary responsibility for meeting educational costs rests with the student and/or the student's family. The Morsani College of Medicine aid sources and other sources are viewed as secondary.
  4. Federal funds are awarded by following the federally established procedures for each individual fund. Students who meet the federal criteria of an independent student are evaluated as such for the federal programs that do not require parental financial data.
  5. The final responsibility for the distribution of Morsani College of Medicine financial aid rests with the Medical School, following analysis of each student's total economic circumstance (student/spouse/family) by the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and the Morsani College of Medicine Financial Aid Application.
  6. The Student Affairs Committee recognizes that the majority of medical students wish to be independent of parental financial assistance. However, students cannot be "independent" if they are actually transferring their dependence from their families to the school. Since the Morsani College of Medicine aid funds are very limited we require income/asset data from both parents (even if divorced) for analysis and use this information to assess the comparative collateral position of all students requesting this funding.
  7. Financial aid from the Morsani College of Medicine is awarded to help meet direct educational expenses and, when possible, a portion of maintenance costs.
  8. The total amount of aid awarded from the Morsani College of Medicine cannot exceed the calculated "Funding Level" for each student. "Funding Level" is defined as the cost of education minus the student's available resources (student, spouse and parents) as determined by the FAFSA and Morsani College of Medicine Financial Aid Application and has been established for the purpose of ranking students by financial need. Funding level and cost of attendance are the same as Cost of Attendance (COA).
  9. The total amount of all aid awarded to the student cannot exceed the total cost of education.
  10. A new FAFSA and Morsani College of Medicine Financial Aid Application must be submitted each academic year. March 1st is our priority deadline every year .
  11. Exceptional financial need is defined as a family contribution of one fourth or less of the total budget.
  12. Students who withdraw, transfer, take a leave of absence exceeding 120 days, or who are dismissed from the Morsani College of Medicine before completion of 60% of the academic year may be granted a prorated refund of tuition paid. Students must attend a Financial Aid counseling session at the time of withdrawal, transfer, dismissal, or start of leave of absence. Refunds will not be given to students who are enrolled for more than 60% of the academic year. A written request for a refund of tuition must be submitted to the Morsani College of Medicine Registrar's Office to initiate the refund.

Pro rated refunds are calculated by weeks of enrollment within a given academic year. If a refund is due a student and the student received Title IV funds, the refund will be paid directly to the Title IV financial aid program(s) from which the student received assistance. Payment will be made in the following order:

  1. Graduate/Professional PLUS Loan
  2. Unsubsidized Federal Direct Loan
  3. Other Federal, State, private or institutional sources
  4. The student
  5. A student may appeal a decision of the Financial Aid Office to Student Affairs Committee.
  6. In the event that an appeal of a financial aid decision cannot be resolved between the student and the Student Affairs Committee, the student may appeal directly to the Dean of the Morsani College of Medicine.