Financial Aid FAQs

General eligibility requirements include that you are a U.S. citizen or eligible non-citizen and are enrolled in an eligible degree or certification program.

Yes, the FAFSA must be completed each year you attend college to receive financial aid. The FAFSA application typically opens every year on October 1st. However, the 2024-2025 FAFSA will be opening in December due to the FAFSA Simplification Act.

For the 2023-24 FAFSA, you and your parent's (if you are a dependent student) tax returns from two years prior is required. For example, if you are filling out the 2023-24 year FAFSA, you and your parent's 2021 tax returns are required. You can use the IRS Data Retrieval tool provided by FAFSA if you are eligible.  

The 2023-24 FAFSA may also required a parent's signature and personal information if you are considered a dependent student.

Some FAFSA applications are selected for a process called verification, where the UNK Office of Financial Aid will require additional information or documents from you. Check your email and your MyBLUE to-do list often to ensure there is no more documentation you need to submit. You will not receive financial aid until all documentation is submitted.

The 2024-24 FAFSA is undergoing changes called the FAFSA Simplification Act. This act will reduce the number of questions of the FAFSA from over 100 down to 30 questions. Another change is that tax return information will be pulled directly from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Every contributor on your FAFSA will be required to have their own FSA ID (username and password for studentaid.gov). Contributors can be:

-your spouse, if married,

-your parents, and

-if married, both parents will need an FSA ID

-if your parents are divorced, whichever household provided more financial support.

-the household could include a parent and stepparent, who would each need to have        separate FSA ID's

Students are encouraged to help contributors create an FSA ID before the 2024-25 FAFSA opens in December. To create an FSA ID, go to studentaid.gov and click on "Create Account" in the upper right corner.

On average, the FAFSA takes 40 minutes to complete your first time filling it out, and 26 minutes to renew. It is recommended to plan time to fill out the FAFSA with your parent, as the FAFSA will require information from both you and your parent(s). Fill out the FAFSA to receive federal financial aid, such as grants, loans, and work-study. 

For students filling out the FAFSA for the first time, it takes 40 minutes to complete on average.

For students renewing their FAFSA, it takes 26 minutes to renew on average.

It will take 3-5 business days for the government to process your FAFSA and send it to UNK. After the UNK Financial Aid Office receives your FAFSA, it will take up to 5 business days to upload FAFSA into the UNK system, which will remove the "Complete your FAFSA" item from your MyBLUE to-do list. If you make any changes to your FAFSA, this timeline starts over again. Make sure you check your to-do list on MyBLUE after the UNK Financial Aid Office has received your FAFSA in case you were selected for verification. If you are concerned about if your FAFSA was received by UNK, contact our office today.

The first thing you will do after completing your FAFSA and receiving your financial aid offer is to accept loans and work-study in your MyBLUE account. You can accept any amount up to the maximum amount that you were offered, so only accept what you will need. Scholarships and grants are automatically accepted for you since you will not have to pay these back. After you accept your financial aid, you will need to complete the Master Promissory Note and Entrance Loan Counseling if this is your first time borrowing federal student loans (if you  have previously completed these items in the past 10 years then you are not required to repeat them). Financial aid will begin to disburse to your UNK account up to ten days prior to the start of the semester and will continue to disburse daily throughout the semester as financial aid is processed and/or accepted. 

If you have not been given a financial aid offer, it could be for one of the following reasons:

• You have not completed the FAFSA for the current school year
• You are not meeting Satisfactory Academic Progress and cannot be offered financial aid
• This is your first time borrowing federal student loans and you have not completed the Master Promissory Note and Entrance Loan Counseling
• Your FAFSA was selected for verification and you have not given the required documentation to the UNK Financial Aid Office
• You are not meeting the minimum enrollment requirement of half-time

If you have any questions or concerns about your financial aid, contact our office.

No, you can accept any amount of loan up to the maximum amount that you have been offered. It is recommended to only accept what you need so you can keep your student loan debt as low as possible. To accept your student loans, log into your MyBLUE and click on the Financial Aid tab. Click Accept/Decline Offers and selected the correct year. Read through your Rights and Responsibilities and selected Continue. Review you loan (and work-study if eligible) offers and click the drop-down menu next to Offer Action. Here you can choose to accept the full amount, decline the full amount, or accept a lower amount. If you choose the accept a lower amount option, a new box will be created that will allow you to enter the exact amount you wish to borrow. Keep in mind that the loans you take out will be split between fall and spring semester, so take out enough to cover both semesters. For an estimate of what one semester will cost you, check out UNK's Cost Calculator. For questions and concerns about federal student loans, contact our office.

If the tax return (for you or your parents) you submitted on your FAFSA (FAFSA requires the tax returns from two years prior to the FAFSA year) is not a good representation of your current financial situation, please fill out and submit a Special Circumstances Form. A financial aid counselor will review this form and may be able to account for changes in circumstances and adjust the data on the FAFSA. If you have questions about special circumstances or the Special Circumstances Form, contact our office at (308) 865-8520 or email finaid1@unk.edu.

If your parents are divorced or separated and don’t live together, you will list the parent with whom you lived with more during the past 12 months on your FAFSA.

If you lived the same amount of time with each divorced or separated parent, you will list the parent who provided more financial support to you during the past 12 months or during the most recent 12 months that you actually received support from a parent.

If your parents are divorced but live together, you’ll indicate their marital status as “Unmarried and both legal parents living together," and will list both parents on the FAFSA.

If your parents are separated and live together, you’ll indicate their marital status as “married or remarried" (NOT “divorced or separated"), and will list both parents on the FAFSA.

For questions or concerns, contact our office.

UNK does not require students to complete a FAFSA, but highly encourages it. Completion of a FAFSA will allow students potential eligibility for federal loans, grants, and work-study. Some scholarships also require students to have completed their FAFSA. Students will need to fill out a FAFSA every year to continuing remaining eligible for federal financial aid.

If you are an admitted incoming freshman: to qualify for UNK merit scholarships, all you have to do is have applied to UNK and submitted your transcripts by March 1st of every year. To apply to other UNK scholarships, fill out the Admitted Incoming Freshmen Scholarship application that will submit you to every UNK scholarship that you qualify for. This application opens August 1st and closes March 1st of every year. For more information, see our scholarships page. 

If you are a current undergraduate or graduate student: you can apply for the Current Student Scholarship. This is one application that will submit you to every UNK scholarship that you qualify for. The Current Student Scholarship opens January 15th and closes March 1st of every year. You can access this scholarship application through your MyBLUE. For more information, see our scholarships page. 

If you are a transfer student, there are multiple transfer student scholarships UNK offers. These scholarships close March 31st. For more information, see our scholarships page. 

Most UNK scholarships for admitted incoming freshmen and current students close March 1st of every year. Most UNK scholarships for transfer students close March 31st of every year.

Once UNK scholarships have closed, we encourage you find outside, or non-UNK, scholarships. Often times community organizations, businesses, and religious organizations will offer scholarships.

You can also use scholarship search databases, such as EducationQuest, to find scholarships.

Remember that if you receive an outside scholarship, report it on your MyBLUE account.

If you are receiving an outside, or non-UNK, scholarship, you will need to report it on your MyBLUE account so that the funds can be added towards your UNK bill. Watch this video to see step by step instructions on reporting your outside scholarships. 

Students who received a merit scholarship (Board of Regents, Blue and Gold, Distinguished Scholar, Loper Achievement) will be notified no more than two weeks after being admitted to UNK and UNK having received their transcripts. Students who received an admitted incoming freshmen, current student, or transfer student scholarship will be notified at the beginning of May every year. Scholarship recipients will be notified of their award by email through their preferred email address.

If you have not been notified about a scholarship, it likely means that you did not receive that scholarship. For questions or concerns, contact our office.

Once you have been offered financial aid, you can view your estimated net cost, or how much college will cost you after scholarships and grants, in your MyBLUE account. Click on the financial aid tab and scroll to the bottom of the page until you see two charts. The first chart is labeled "Cost of Attendance" and calculates your direct costs, or bills charged by UNK (tuition, housing, student fees, etc.), and indirect costs, or an estimate of expenses you may incur in college (transportation costs, travel, personal expenses, etc). You will only be billed by UNK for direct costs, and will not be billed by UNK for indirect costs.

The second chart is labeled "Estimated Net Cost" and includes your direct and indirect costs from the chart above, along with gift aid awarded, or any scholarships and grants you received.Your estimated net cost is your direct and indirect costs minus your gift aid awarded. You can use federal student loans, work-study earnings, or personal finances to fund the remaining expenses.

If you have not yet been offered financial aid, you can calculate an estimate of your Cost of Attendance and Estimated Net Price with these UNK offered calculators. If you would like to talk to a financial aid counselor about how much UNK will cost you after financial aid, call (308) 865-8520 or email finaid1@unk.edu. 

Refunds are issued two ways:

1. Direct deposit, and
2. Paper check.

If you're wondering when you'll get your refund, follow these steps:

1. Check your MyBLUE to see when your refund was ordered. Go to the "Student Accounts" tab, then click on "Account Details."
2. Refunds typically take 5-10 business days to process after the refund order date. If you signed up for direct deposit before the refund order date, then your refund will be deposited into your bank account after it is processed. If you are not signed up for direct deposit, or signed up after your refund order date, then there will be a paper check that you can pick up from the Student Accounts Office. These checks will also be mailed to the student's primary address if it was not picked up.
   1. You can sign up for direct deposit through your MyBLUE account. Click on the "Student Accounts" tab, then click on "Direct Deposit."
3. If you do not see a refund order date on your MyBLUE, or it has been longer than 10 business days since your refund date and you have questions about your refund, please contact the Student Accounts Office at (308) 865-8524 or unkfinance@unk.edu. To pick up your refund check or visit the Student Accounts Office in-person, their office is located at University Residence North (URN), Pod C 1st floor (southeast corner of building), 1601 University Drive.

• 12+ credit hours: Full time
• 9-11 credit hours: Part-time
• 6-8 credit hours: Half-time

• 9+ credit hours: Full-time
• 7-8 credit hours: Part-time
• 5-6 credit hours: Half-time

As an undergraduate dependent student, additional financing options would be the Loper Payment Plan, Federal Parent PLUS Loan, and Private Student Loans.

As an undergraduate independent student, additional financing options would be the Loper Payment Plan and Private Student Loans.

As a graduate student, additional financing options would be the Loper Payment Plan, Federal Graduate PLUS Loan, and Private Student Loans. Please note that if you are interested in a Graduate PLUS Loan, you must talk with a UNK Financial Aid Counselor before being approved for this loan.

Watch our video on Additional Funding Options.

The easiest way to submit your verification documents is to upload them through your MyBLUE. For steps on how to do this, see our Verification Process page. You can also bring your documents in-person to the financial aid office located in the Memorial Student Affairs Building, fax documents to (308) 865-8096, or mail documents to this mailing address: 

University of Nebraska-Kearney 

Office of Financial Aid 

Memorial Student Affairs Building 

2510 11th Ave. 

Kearney, NE 68844 

Please do not send documents with sensitive information (social security numbers, credit card information, medical documents, etc) by email. We will not accept verification documents sent by email. 

As a graduate student, you may be eligible for Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loans, Current Student Scholarships, Outside Scholarships, Graduate Assistantship, and the Federal TEACH Grant (eligibility for the TEACH grant is limited to specific education degrees). For questions or concerns about graduate financial aid options, contact our office.

To receive text messages from UNK Financial Aid, follow these steps:

1. Log in to your MyBLUE
2. Click on the "Profile" tab
3. Scroll to the bottom until you see the "Text Number" header
4. If your phone number is listed, you are signed up to receive texts. If not, click on the "Change Text Number" and input your phone information.
5. Hit "Save" and verify that your phone number is listed under the "Text Number" header

Repayment of federal student loans starts after you graduate, withdraw from all classes, or drop below half-time (6 credit hours for undergraduate, 5 credits for graduate). There is a 6-month grace period before repayment begins. To view your federal loan amount, interest collected, and repayment options, log into studentaid.gov. 

For Private Student Loans, consult your loan repayment agreement or Private Student Loan lender.

The U.S. Department of Education (ED) uses several loan servicers to handle the billing and other services on federal student loans. Your loan servicer will set you up under the Standard Repayment Plan unless you tell your loan servicer you want a different repayment plan. To view your federal loan amount, interest collected, and repayment options, log into studentaid.gov.

If you want to pay more of your federal loan off per month, or are having trouble paying your monthly loan repayment, contact your loan servicer. 

For Private Student Loans, consult your loan repayment agreement or your Private Student Loan lender.