Accept Your Financial Aid Offer

Before your financial aid is reflected on your student account, you’ll need to officially accept or decline your federal loans and complete any outstanding requirements. 

In order to accept your financial aid offer, you’ll need a myUSF account. If you haven’t created one already, here’s how to create an account.

  1. Log in to myusf.usfca.edu and click on the Banner Self- Service (Student) application.
  2. Click on the Financial Aid tab and select the correct award year located on the top right corner of the page.
  3. Click on the “Award Offer” tab.
  4. Review each section of your financial aid and make the selection to accept or decline your aid.

You can choose to accept or decline the full or partial amounts of your loans. Merit aid (like university grants and scholarships) and federal and state grants have already automatically been accepted to your student account, so you do not need to accept these amounts. 

You can also follow these step-by-step instructions to access your financial aid offer (PDF), or watch the video tutorial below:

Master Promissory Note and Entrance Counseling

If you have chosen to accept your federal loans, you also need to:

  1. Read and sign the Master Promissory Note (MPN). This is a legal document that you sign promising to pay back your federal loans.
  2. Complete Entrance Counseling. This is an interactive tutorial that shows you how to understand your loans, manage your spending, and make a plan to repay them. 

Learn more about the Master Promissory Note and Entrance Counseling.

Verification

Every year, the Department of Education randomly selects a group of students to verify the information provided on the FAFSA. If you are selected for verification, you’ll receive an email with more instructions. Learn more about the verification process. Your financial aid will not be applied to your student account until you’ve completed this process.

Outside Scholarships

If you are expecting to receive scholarships from other organizations or companies (including privately sponsored outside scholarships, tuition exchange benefits, or your parent’s employer-sponsored tuition benefits), please email us at financialaid@usfca.edu to let us know so we know what to expect. Learn more about outside scholarships.

By accepting your financial aid offer, you affirm that you have read and agree to the terms and provisions of the offer. USF may reduce, withdraw or require repayment of aid that exceeds your financial need. USF may revise your award offer at any time according to availability of funds, including government appropriations. You understand all Federal Title IV funds (except Federal Work Study) will be credited directly to your student account. In addition, you consent to the release of your grade report and extracurricular activities to donors of your scholarship and grant award(s). You certify that you will use all Federal Title IV money received only for expenses related to study at USF. You certify that you do not owe a refund on any grant or loan, are not in default on any loan  (or have made satisfactory arrangements to repay any defaulted loans), and have not borrowed in excess of the loan limits, under Federal Title IV programs, at any institution.