H. Financial Aid

Please refer to the following financial aid definitions when completing Section H.

• Awarded aid: The dollar amounts offered to financial aid applicants.
• Financial aid applicant: Any applicant who submits any one of the institutionally required financial aid applications/forms, such as the FAFSA.
• Indebtedness: Aggregate dollar amount borrowed through any loan program (federal, state, subsidized, unsubsidized, private, etc.; excluding parent loans) while the student was enrolled at an institution. Student loans co-signed by a parent are assumed to be the responsibility of the student and should be included.
• Institutional scholarships and grants: Endowed scholarships, annual gifts and tuition funded grants for which the institution determines the recipient.
• Financial need: As determined by your institution using the federal methodology and/or your institution's own standards.
• Need-based aid: College-funded or college-administered award from institutional, state, federal, or other sources for which a student must have financial need to qualify. This includes both institutional and non-institutional student aid (grants, jobs, and loans).
• Need-based scholarship or grant aid: Scholarships and grants from institutional, state, federal, or other sources for which a student must have financial need to qualify.
• Need-based self-help aid: Loans and jobs from institutional, state, federal, or other sources for which a student must demonstrate financial need to qualify.
• Non-need-based scholarship or grant aid: Scholarships and grants, gifts, or merit-based aid from institutional, state, federal, or other sources (including unrestricted funds or gifts and endowment income) awarded solely on the basis of academic achievement, merit, or any other non-need-based reason. When reporting questions H1 and H2, non-need-based aid that is used to meet need should be counted as need-based aid. 

Note: Suggested order of precedence for counting non-need money as need-based:

1. 1. 1. 1. 1. Non-need institutional grants
            2. Non-need tuition waivers
            3. Non-need athletic awards
            4. Non-need federal grants
            5. Non-need state grants
            6. Non-need outside grants
            7. Non-need student loans
            8. Non-need parent loans
            9. Non-need work

• Non-need-based self-help aid: Loans and jobs from institutional, state, or other sources for which a student need not demonstrate financial need to qualify.
• Private student loans: A nonfederal loan made by a lender such as a bank, credit union or private lender used to pay for up to the annual cost of education, less any financial aid received.
• External scholarships and grants: Scholarships and grants received from outside (private) sources that students bring with them (e.g., Kiwanis, National Merit scholarships). The institution may process paperwork to receive the dollars, but it has no role in determining the recipient or the dollar amount awarded.
• Work study and employment: Federal and state work study aid, and any employment packaged by your institution in financial aid awards.

Aid Awarded to Enrolled Undergraduates

Enter total dollar amounts awarded to enrolled full-time and less than full-time degree-seeking undergraduates (using the same cohort reported in CDS Question B1, “total degree-seeking” undergraduates) in the following categories.

• If the data being reported are final figures for the 2024-2025 academic year (see the next item below), use the 2024-2025 academic year's CDS Question B1 cohort.
• Include aid awarded to international students (i.e., those not qualifying for federal aid).
• Aid that is non-need-based but that was used to meet need should be reported in the need-based aid columns.
• For a suggested order of precedence in assigning categories of aid to cover need, see the entry for “non-need-based scholarship or grant aid” on the last page of the definitions section.

Which needs-analysis methodology does your institution use in awarding institutional aid? (Formerly H3)

Number of Enrolled Students Awarded Aid 

List the number of degree-seeking full-time and less-than-full-time undergraduates who applied for and were awarded financial aid from any source.

• Aid that is non-need-based but that was used to meet need should be counted as need-based aid.
• Numbers should reflect the cohort awarded the dollars reported in H1.  
• In the chart below, students may be counted in more than one row, and full-time first-time, first-year students should also be counted as full-time undergraduates.

Number of Enrolled Students Awarded Non-need-based Scholarships and Grants

List the number of degree-seeking full-time and less-than-full-time undergraduates who had no financial need and who were awarded institutional non-need-based scholarship or grant aid. 

• Numbers should reflect the cohort awarded the dollars reported in H1.
• In the chart below, students may be counted in more than one row, and full-time freshmen should also be counted as full-time undergraduates.

H4-H5

Note: These are the graduates and loan types to include and exclude in order to fill out CDS H4 and H5. 

Include:

• 2025 undergraduate class: all students who started at your institution as first- time students and received a bachelor's degree between July 1, 2024 and June 30, 2025.
•  Only loans made to students who borrowed while enrolled at your institution.  
•  Co-signed loans.

Exclude:   

• Students who transferred in.  
• Money borrowed at other institutions.
• Parent loans.
• Students who did not graduate or who graduated with another degree or certificate (but no bachelor's degree.)

Number and percent of students in class (defined in H4 above) borrowing from federal, non-federal, and any loan sources, and the average (or mean) amount borrowed.

• The “Average per-undergraduate-borrower cumulative principal borrowed,” is designed to provide better information about student borrowing from federal and nonfederal (institutional, state, commercial) sources.
• The numbers, percentages, and averages for each row should be based only on the loan source specified for the particular row. For example, the federal loans average (row b) should only be the cumulative average of federal loans and the private loans average (row e) should only be the cumulative average of private loans. 

Aid to Undergraduate Degree-seeking Nonresidents 

• Report numbers and dollar amounts for the same academic year checked in item H1.

Indicate your institution’s policy regarding institutional scholarship and grant aid for undergraduate degree-seeking nonresidents:

Check off all financial aid forms that nonresident first-year financial aid applicants must submit:

Check off all financial aid forms domestic first-year financial aid applicants must submit:

Indicate filing dates for first-year students:

Indicate notification dates for first-year students (answer a or b):

Indicate reply dates:

Please check off all types of aid available to undergraduates at your institution:

H12

Loans

Need Based Scholarships and Grants

Check off criteria used in awarding institutional aid. Check all that apply. 

If your institution has recently implemented any major financial aid policy, program, or initiative to make your institution more affordable to incoming students such as replacing loans with grants, or waiving costs for families below a certain income level please provide details below: