LMU uses a standard formula to determine your financial need. The elements of this formula are explained below.
Estimated Cost of Attendance - Student Aid Index = Financial Need
LMU Estimated Cost of Attendance (COA)
The first component of this formula is your estimated cost of attendance (COA). Your COA is a standard amount used to represent the expected costs to attend one year at LMU. These costs include tuition and fees, averages for housing and meals, books and supplies, personal expenses, and transportation expenses.
The COA is an estimated amount used to determine eligibility for financial aid and is not meant to represent the actual expenses for each individual student.
Visit our Cost of Attendance page for more information.
Student Aid Index (SAI)
The Student Aid Index (SAI) is an eligibility index number that colleges use to determine how much federal student aid the student would receive if the student attended the school. This number results from the information that the student provides in their FAFSA form. The SAI is also used to determine what type of federal student loan you qualify for. The SAI is not the amount that you will need to pay to LMU. Therefore, if your SAI is zero, it does not mean that you will not have to make a payment to attend LMU.
Financial Need
Your financial need is the difference between the Cost of Attendance and your Student Aid Index, which determines the maximum amount of need-based assistance you can receive from federal, state, university, and outside agency sources. LMU is not able to meet 100% of every student's financial need.
Awarding Process
Once your financial need is determined, LMU offers federal, state, institutional aid, loans, and work programs based on general eligibility criteria.
First-year students: Your offer has been based on the assumption that you will enroll full-time (12 or more units) and your housing budget is based on the housing plans you provided on your admissions application.
Transfer students: Your offer has been based on the assumption that you will enroll full-time (12 or more units). Your housing budget is based on the housing plans you provided on your admissions application and we have used your academic grade level upon admission to award the Federal Direct Loan.
Continuing students: Your offer has been based on the assumption that you will enroll full-time (12 or more units) and your housing budget is based on the housing plans you provided on your FAFSA.
Should any of your plans change, please notify our office by completing a Revision Request Form available in the Forms section of our website.
Your Financial Aid Offer
LMU will, within federal, state, and university regulations, offer you the maximum amount available from each funding source, without exceeding financial need. For university funds, priority funding is given to those applicants who meet the financial aid priority funding deadlines.
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Federal funds are awarded based on the result of the federal formula and the availability of campus-based federal funds.
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State funds are awarded based on state-specified eligibility requirements such as GPA, family income, assets, and household size.
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LMU grant/scholarship funds are awarded according to policies established by the university.
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We coordinate any outside resources you may have received with your financial aid offer according to federal, state, and institutional policies. Important: If you receive resources that cover tuition and fees from any source that were unknown to LMU Financial Aid when your award was initially determined, your LMU Grant will be canceled or reduced.
The total amount of financial aid offer can not exceed your LMU Estimated Cost of Attendance, regardless of the source of additional funding.
For continuing undergraduates: need-based grants are awarded based on the grant amount received in the prior year unless the student's financial need is reduced beyond an established threshold.
Reasons for a Reduction in your Financial Aid Offer from the Prior Year
- Changes in federal, state or institutional aid program eligibility requirements.
- A reduction in the family size reported on the FAFSA.
- Increase in parent (or student) income significantly beyond the cost of living adjustment.
- Increase in parent (or student) assets.
- An appeal was submitted in the prior year to consider projected year income and actual income significantly exceeds the projection.
- You were offered a work award in the prior year and did not utilize it.
- You were offered an institutional loan (LMU California Loan and Burns Student Loan) and declined the offer or it was canceled because loan requirements were not completed.