Faculty and Staff Information

Keep this information in your back pocket when advising students who receive financial aid.

Financial aid includes scholarships, grants, loans and need-based or academic employment.

Applying for financial aid

• The FAFSA must be completed each year to receive federal and state aid. It is available Oct. 1 of each year for the upcoming academic year.
• We encourage all students to complete the FAFSA. It is free and you never know if a financial emergency might arise and a student needs to take out a student loan.

Learn more →

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Enrollment requirements to receive financial aid and scholarships

• Many institutional scholarships require students to attend full-time to receive assistance, but many federal and state financial aid programs do NOT require students to attend full-time to qualify for assistance. Financial aid is initially awarded based on full-time enrollment and is prorated based on the student’s actual enrollment.
• Enrollment status for federal and state aid is determined on the last day to add classes for the semester and financial aid is adjusted accordingly.
• Financial aid is awarded for the academic year, half for the fall and half for the spring.

Learn more →

Financial Aid Satisfactory Academic Progress requirements

Dual enrollment hours DO count in attempted hours for federal/state aid.

Undergraduate students with 225 or more attempted hours are not eligible to receive financial aid. There is no appeal if a student has 225 or more attempted hours.

All financial aid recipients must meet Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP). Failure to meet the following requirements for Satisfactory Academic Progress in coordination with Federal Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) guidelines, may result in the loss of financial aid.

 Learn more →

Completion of the Graduation Plan

• Your role as an advisor is to assist the student with the completion of the graduation plan. Each plan must have your signature and the student’s signature. The plan should be accurate and reflect each class the student must take to graduate. Once you have completed and signed the graduation plan, give the plan back to the student to submit with his or her appeal or you may fax to the Financial Aid Office at 423-425-2292.
• The faxed graduation plan must have the student's signature. If received without the student's signature, we will consider it incomplete.
• The peak time for the completion of the graduation plans will be at the end of each term after students are notified of their new SAP status and at the beginning of each term when students are submitting appeals prior to the first day of classes.
• Students not meeting SAP are not eligible to receive TN HOPE and Institutional scholarships. Requirements may differ for outside scholarships. Students not meeting SAP will go on unsatisfactory academic progress (Unsat) and can submit a Financial Aid Appeal if reasons for not meeting SAP are due to extenuating circumstances.
• The Financial Aid appeal committee meets the second Thursday of every month.
• Students who have an appeal approved will have a specific semester GPA and course completion rate to maintain until requirements are met. They are sent an email stating the requirements.

Access the Graduation Plan form →

Supervisor's guide to student employment

Interested students should contact the Student Employment Coordinator in the Financial Aid Office regarding eligibility.

• Students are offered work study and must accept the award through the MyMocsNet account within 30 days to avoid cancellation. Eligible students employed through the Federal Work Study Program work 10-15 hours a week. Eligible students employed through the Academic Service Scholarship Program must work 125 hours per semester. If you have a position to post through the Academic Service or Federal Work Study Program, contact our work study group, [email protected].
• All students participating in the Federal Work Study Program for the first time must be verified through the E-Verify program before beginning work. This process must be completed by the work study coordinator within three days of the student's hire date. The work study coordinator will notify both the student and supervisor when the student can begin work.
• A contract must be signed by you as the supervisor and the student each academic year. No student should work before the first day of classes or after the last day of classes each semester unless approved by the work study coordinator. Students must be enrolled in classes during the semester they are employed. All students must maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) including 2.0 cumulative GPA.
• As the supervisor, you are to monitor and report hours worked into IRIS for each student and submit time sheets to the Work Study Coordinator by the due dates. Please review the FWS Supervisor Guidelines provided below. Also listed below are necessary forms needed for placement and submitting time.
  • FWS Supervisor Guidelines
  • Sign-In Sheet (For Student Use)
  • Performance Evaluation
  • Self Evaluation
  • Position Evaluation
  • Request for Student Personnel
  • UTC Bi-weekly Work/Pay Schedule for FWSP/CSLP

Learn more about student employment →

Scholarship requirements (including TN HOPE Scholarship)

• The UTC Online Scholarship Application is available via MyMocsNet mid-September each year. The student must be fully admitted to the University before applying. This online scholarship application is for Institutional and Endowed scholarships.
• Students with TN HOPE and scholarship questions should be directed to the Mocs One Center.

Learn more about UTC Scholarships →

Search UTC Scholarships →

Advising students who are considering dropping or withdrawing from classes

Officially dropping or withdrawing from classes

• Students considering or being advised to drop courses or withdraw from all classes should speak with a financial aid representative before doing so.
• Some of the implications for financial aid students of dropping or withdrawing from classes include:
  • Forfeiture of the TN HOPE Scholarship. Learn more →
  • Repayment of federal and state financial aid. Repayment amounts generally vary with the length of time enrolled during the term. Learn more →
  • Loss of future financial aid eligibility due to lack of satisfactory academic progress. Federal financial aid regulations require that institutions measure a student’s progression towards graduation, not just GPA when determining ongoing eligibility for financial aid. Learn more →

Students who stop attending classes

• Federal aid recipients who cease attendance and receive grades of F in all classes, or a combination of Fs and any of the following grades in all classes for the semester–W, I, IP, NC, NR, WF–are considered unofficially withdrawn. The determination that a student has unofficially withdrawn is made after grades are posted at the end of the semester.
• Unofficially withdrawn students are held to the same repayment of federal aid calculation as students who officially withdrew from classes during the semester. The last date of attendance, as reported by faculty members when students are assigned a grade of F, is used to calculate the amount of federal aid the student must repay.
• For purposes of determining a last date of attendance for federal aid recipients, academically related activities include but are not limited to:
  • physically attending a class where there is an opportunity for direct interaction between the instructor and students;
  • submitting an academic assignment;
  • taking an exam, completing an interactive tutorial or participating in computer-assisted instruction;
  • attending a study group that is assigned by the school;
  • participating in an online discussion about academic matters; and
  • initiating contact with a faculty member to ask a question about the academic subject studied in the course.