After applying for financial aid, you will receive your Financial Aid Award Letter from the Office of Financial Aid. The award letter contains information about your financial aid eligibility, including:

• Your Cost of Attendance
• The types and amounts of funds you are eligible to receive
• Your rights and responsibilities regarding financial aid 
• How to notify us of any additional funds you are receiving
• How to decline/reduce any of the funds you have been offered

Depending on the completeness of your financial aid application, you may receive one or all of the following versions of the Financial Aid Award Letter:  

Tentative Financial Aid Award Letter
If you are a prospective HMC student who has been offered admission, you may receive a tentative Financial Aid Award Letter if the information you supplied is incomplete. Tentative aid is based upon the estimated information provided to the Office of Financial Aid at the time of awarding. Additional information is required to verify application data prior to issuing an official award.  

Additional information might include:

• A signed and complete copy of your and your parents tax forms for the past year
• A completed or corrected FAFSA using the IRS data retrieval process
• An IRS Tax Return Transcript
• A Business/Farm Supplement, if requested
• Additional tax forms for corporations or partnerships

Note: The aid listed on the tentative Financial Aid Award Letter is not final. It is not credited to your student account, and may be adjusted after we receive your additional information.

HMC students continuing for their second, third, or fourth years will not receive a tentative Financial Aid Award Letter. Continuing students will receive only official Financial Aid Award Letters after all necessary information is received. Only incoming first-year students may receive tentative offers of aid.

Official Financial Aid Award Letter

Once we have received all the information required to verify your financial aid, we will send you an official Financial Aid Award Letter. You may receive this letter after you have responded to a tentative Financial Aid Award Letter, or this may be your first notification of aid eligibility (if you supplied all the information needed in your original application). After you receive an official Financial Aid Award Letter, you should complete all forms and Master Promissory Notes (MPNs) for the student and/or parent loans that you are accepting from your Financial Aid Award Letter. You must indicate the loan(s) you want to modify or decline in the "Request changes to your award here" section of your Financial Aid Award Letter.

Only aid from an official or revised Financial Aid Award Letter will be credited to your student account.

Revised Financial Aid Award Letter
Once you have received an official Financial Aid Award Letter, revisions may be necessary because:

• You received an outside scholarship
• Your Cost of Attendance budget has changed
• Additional funds have been approved
• You've decided to decline one of your awards

Any changes or additions to a Financial Aid Award Letter will be reflected on a new, revised Financial Aid Award Letter. Revisions are sent throughout the year, if necessary. If required, a signed copy of your Financial Aid Award Letter must be returned to the Office of Financial Aid by the deadline specified or within ten days of receipt. 

Note: Early Decision (I and II) applicants will receive a tentative Financial Aid Award Letter approximately one week after they are notified of their admission to HMC. Regular Decision applicants will receive either a tentative or an official Financial Aid Award Letter in early April if a financial aid application was filed prior to our February 1 deadline. Late applicants will receive notification of eligibility on a rolling basis after the late application has been reviewed. Continuing HMC students receive their official Financial Aid Award Letters beginning June 1.

Last Updated: November 2011