1. All Title IV funds are awarded based on the information received from the FAFSA. You must complete the FAFSA to be eligible. The FAFSA can be found at studentaid.gov/h/apply-for-aid/fafsa.
2. For financial aid purposes, our regular academic year is 24 credits across 32 academic weeks. This includes four 8-week terms of Fall 1, Fall 2, Spring 1 and Spring 2. Students may also elect to take courses in the Summer term (also 8 weeks in length) outside the regular academic year.
Summer terms are treated as ‘header’ or ‘trailer’ terms based on what provides the most benefit to the student, in compliance with Year-Round Pell regulations. The Financial Aid Office will determine the optimal assignment. Students beginning in a term other than Summer should complete the FAFSA for that academic year. For example, students planning to start in Summer 2026 could complete either the 2025-2026 FAFSA or the 2026-2027 FAFSA. However, students planning to start in Fall 1 2026 or later should complete the 2026-2027 FAFSA, once it is available.
If you have any questions about which FAFSA you should file, please contact our financial aid department at financialaid@cityvision.edu for clarification.
3. Once the FAFSA is received and processed in our office the student’s file will be pulled for awarding in groups based on the date all the information was received, including any required verification documents. Awards are made on a first-come, first-served basis.
As part of processing the FAFSA, a Student Aid Index (SAI) is calculated by the Department of Education. The SAI is an eligibility index used to calculate your federal student aid. It considers income, assets, and family size to determine your financial need. Unlike the previous EFC, the SAI can be a negative number (down to -1500), indicating the highest level of financial need.
4. An estimated Cost of Attendance (COA) will be assigned by City Vision University for packaging purposes. The Cost of Attendance (COA) includes direct costs (tuition, books) and indirect costs. Indirect costs include allowances for Housing and Food (formerly Room and Board), transportation, miscellaneous personal expenses, and costs for professional licensure or certification where required for your program. These indirect costs are not billed by City Vision but are estimated to determine your aid eligibility.
A COA is calculated to establish the amount that can be awarded.
The standard COA figures for the current financial aid year may be found here.
5. The Student Aid Index (SAI) is subtracted from the Cost of Attendance (COA) to determine each student’s demonstrated financial need.
COA – SAI = Financial Need (Note: A negative SAI is treated as zero for the purpose of calculating Financial Need.)
The sum of all need-based awards will not exceed the financial need of the student. The sum of all awards (need and non-need) will not exceed the COA.
The packaging methodology for undergraduate students is as follows:
- Pell Grants are awarded based on your SAI and your Enrollment Intensity. The University does not use broad enrollment categories (like full-time or half-time) for Pell calculations. Instead, your award is prorated based on the exact number of credits you take in a term relative to the full-time standard of 6 credits. For example, taking 4 credits results in an Enrollment Intensity of 67%.
- Other sources of financial aid, such as Workforce Investment Act and Veteran’s Educational Benefits, are included.
- All institutionally awarded tuition scholarships are included.
- If the student is eligible for AmeriCorps funds, those funds are added.
Pell Grant Formula
Pell Grants are calculated using Formula 3 for non-standard terms. Your payment for each 8-week term is calculated by multiplying your Annual Scheduled Award by your Enrollment Intensity, and then adjusting for the length of the term (weeks in term / weeks in academic year). Students may receive up to 150% of their Scheduled Award (Year-Round Pell) if they attend summer terms, regardless of enrollment status (e.g., even if taking only 1 credit).
If a student is half-time in a particular term, instead of full-time, then the Pell grant is pro-rated to be one half of what it otherwise would be.
A student is full-time if he or she takes 6 or more credits in a given term; a student is half-time if he or she takes 3.
Tuition Billing Date
See the policy as defined here.