To assist students through the financial aid process, we have compiled a list of frequently asked questions and their answers. If you are unable to find an answer to your question, please contact our Office of Financial Aid for more information.
Applying for Aid
The FAFSA uses income tax information from two years prior. For example, for the 2026-2027 FAFSA, you and your parent contributor will enter your and your parent's 2024 federal tax information directly from the IRS using the Financial Aid Direct Data Exchange (FA-DDX). If you haven’t completed your taxes and you are not required to do so, the FA-DDX will allow you to share that information with us. If you are, you will need to file taxes and you can add the tax information in the self-reported section. We will ask for an IRS Tax Transcript for verification of submission.
Send a letter detailing those circumstances, along with appropriate documentation, to the Saint Anselm College Office of Financial Aid. Examples of special circumstances could be loss of employment, unusually high medical expenses, or reduced income. Upon receipt of your letter and documentation, your eligibility will be re-evaluated.
We believe financing your education is a family responsibility to the extent your family is able to help. Undergraduates who have living parents generally are required to file as dependent students. You may not file as an independent student unless you have highly unusual circumstances. Talk to a member of the financial aid staff if you think your circumstances warrant filing as an independent student.
- Admitted Students:
In addition to a mailed copy of your financial aid offer, an online copy of your financial aid offer is sent to the email address you used on your Common Application. You can also view the details of your financial aid offer on your Anselmian Aid portal.
- Current Students:
The details of your financial aid offer is available to view on your Anselmian Aid Portal.
Anselmian Aid is a web-based secure financial aid portal for Saint Anselm College students (both prospective and enrolled) to view various components of their financial aid application. It includes: the financial aid offered, all required documents and their status, as well as important messages.
Prospective students sign into the Anselmian Aid Portal with their Saint Anselm ID as their userid and date of birth MMDDYY as their password.
Current students access the Anselmian Aid Portal via the apps.anselm.edu dashboard.
If you do not plan to apply for need-based financial aid, we ask you to send us an email indicating you wish us to close your financial aid file.
Merit Aid and Non-Need-Based Aid
If you earn a local scholarship or other form of outside aid, it will be applied first to unmet need, then self-help (loans and work study), then need-based gift aid up to standard direct costs. We do this to encourage you to fund your education to the extent you are able. We will match up to $1,000 of Dollars for Scholars Scholarships when you file the appropriate paperwork.
Students must notify the Office of Financial Aid of any outside scholarship(s) received due to the federal government's mandates. We must include all outside scholarships as part of your financial aid funding.
Saint Anselm automatically considers all qualified applicants. We base selection on rigor of your high-school curriculum, secondary school grade-point average, rank in class, standardized test scores, overall superior academic performance, and extracurricular involvement.
Families who wish assistance with paying for college should apply for financial aid. Our merit aid structure allows for families to reduce the tuition and we offer various need-based and non-need-based resources according to various qualifications.
If you plan to take a leave of absence or withdraw from Saint Anselm College, you should first meet with the Academic Dean for Retention to discuss your plans. After that meeting you should schedule an appointment with Student Financial Services (financialservices@anselm.edu) to discuss the financial implications of that decision. Withdrawing from Saint Anselm College during the semester may entitle you to a partial refund depending upon the date of departure. The total amount of your refund will be determined according to Saint Anselm College and federal refund policies. We must return all unused money to the federal government. Please note that if you withdraw, you could owe money to Saint Anselm.
| Week | Refund |
| 1-2 | 80% |
| 3 | 60% |
| 4 | 40% |
| 5 | 20% |
Tuition, housing and meals are all calculated based on the weeks of enrollment and subsequent departure from Saint Anselm.
How Financial Aid is Determined
Send a letter detailing those circumstances, along with appropriate documentation, to the Saint Anselm College Office of Financial Aid. Examples of special circumstances could be loss of employment, unusually high medical expenses, or reduced income. Upon receipt of your letter and documentation, your eligibility will be re-evaluated.
To determine your financial need, the Office of Financial Aid analyzes data from the FAFSA and other documents as requested to arrive at a Student Aid Index (SAI). Demonstrated financial need is determined by subtracting the cost of attendance less the SAI.
The SAI requires the student and the parent contributor who contributes the most, in the case of divorced parents, to use the FA-DDX to add annual income- the adjusted gross income, tax paid, number of dependents and assets.
We prepare a financial aid offer consisting, in most cases, of a grant and/or scholarship, loan, and work-study. The offer is designed to help cover the difference between the total cost of a Saint Anselm education.
Grants and scholarships are gift aid funded by Saint Anselm College, the federal government, or individual state governments. You do not need to repay a grant or scholarship. Be sure to apply for your state’s scholarship.
After you have been offered admission to the College, and shortly after all financial aid forms are received and analyzed, the Office of Financial Aid will send a notification of your financial aid offer so that you may enroll before May1 Candidate Reply Date. Please refer to Dates and Deadlines and choose the appropriate checklist for which the student is applying. Returning students will be notified after receipt financial aid documents and we run Satisfactory Academic Progress after spring grades post, mostly in late May and early June.
Change of Residency Status
Your need-based and non-need based financial aid may be affected by a change in residency status. For incoming students, we use the residency choice reported on your application for admission. As a returning student, for the purposes of offering financial aid, we will adjust your budget according to the residency as reported to the Office of Residential Life.
In general, your aid is reduced proportionately if you move off-campus. All non-need-based aid offered above the merit scholarship will be reduced by half unless a fund has a residency component. Because need-based financial aid cannot exceed a student’s demonstrated need, some students have aid decreases of greater than 25% or are not eligible for need-based aid at all when moving off-campus. Please see the Office of Financial Aid about your particular situation.
Loans/Managing Debt/Financial Literacy
For subsidized loans, the government pays the interest on the loan while you are going to school. Interest begins accruing on subsidized loans 6 months after you graduate or cease attending at least half-time.
For unsubsidized loans, interest begins accruing on the loan from the date the loan posts to your student account. It is strongly recommended that you make regular payments for at least the minimum monthly accrued interest. At the time of loan repayment (6 months after you graduate or cease attending at least half-time), any unpaid accrued interest will be added onto the principal of the loan ("capitalized") and you will then pay interest on your interest. Please contact your loan servicer to determine what you may owe in accrued interest.
The Federal Direct Loan(s) included with your financial aid offer are automatically accepted on your behalf. However, in order for us to disburse your loans to your student account, you must complete two requirements:
- Direct Loan Entrance Counseling
- Direct Loan Master Promissory Note
Both of these must be completed at Federal Student Aid (log in with your (student's) Federal Student Aid ID and password (same ID as used to complete your FAFSA).
The Federal Direct Loan(s) included with your financial aid offer are automatically accepted on your behalf. If you choose to reduce or decline your direct loan(s), you must contact the Office of Financial Aid at financial_aid@anselm.edu or (603) 641-7110. If the direct loan has already disbursed to your account, you have 120 days from the date of disbursement to decline or reduce the loan and we will return the loan (or portion of loan) for you. If the request is after the 120 days, then you would need to make the payment directly to the loan servicer.
Soon after your first federal direct loan posts to your student account, your loan servicer will send you an email (to the email address you used when you created your Federal Student Aid ID) encouraging you to create an online account to monitor your federal direct loans.
You can also find your loan servicer by logging into NSLDS (the National Student Loan Data System) with your Federal Student Aid ID and password (the same ID and password as used for completing the FAFSA). From your loan history, click on loan details to find contact information for your loan servicer.
Federal Student Aid provides detailed information on the different loan repayment options.
We have also teamed up with Solutions at ECMC. This vendor is a great resource for one-on-one loan counseling while you are a student here and anytime after you graduate. In addition to tools like loan repayment calculators, Solutions at ECMC has many financial literacy short videos on topics including budgeting, credit, debt management, etc. Check them out online and follow them on Facebook and Twitter!
And, of course, you can make an appointment with the Office of Financial Aid to review loan repayment options as well.