Title IV Authorization
Federal financial aid is referred to as Title IV financial aid. There are certain regulations that schools must follow regarding the treatment of Title IV aid. The state of Massachusetts also requires that we follow Title IV regulations when it comes to any state sponsored financial aid programs.
One of the requirements that we must follow concerns how we can use your financial aid as it relates to your bill with Massachusetts Maritime Academy. In particular, we can only use your financial aid to pay for certain items on your bill, unless we have written permission from you to use it for other purposes.
MMA must receive your written permission to use your financial aid for the following charges:
- To carry any semester credit balance that remains on your account after your fall financial aid has been applied to pay for winter and/or spring charges; or to carry a spring credit balance on your account to pay for summer charges.
- to pay for any non-mandatory charges (charges that not all students are subjected to) such as health insurance, parking passes, exam/certification/licensing fees, dorm damage, health service charges, international exchange fees such as flight expenses and other non-tuition/fee/room/board charges.
- to use current year financial aid to pay a past year balance of up to $200, if your current year aid produces a credit balance after all current year charges have been taken out of your financial aid.
Students are encouraged to sign a Title IV Federal Authorization Form if they wish to use their financial aid for any of the above situations. The most common reasons a student signs this form is to use excess aid from the fall to pay for winter expenses, or to use excess aid from the spring to use for summer expenses (#1).