{"id":10,"date":"2011-07-28T14:07:32","date_gmt":"2011-07-28T18:07:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/finaid\/?page_id=10"},"modified":"2025-10-07T08:42:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T12:42:12","slug":"eligibility","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/finaid\/how-aid-works\/eligibility\/","title":{"rendered":"Eligibility"},"content":{"rendered":"

Make sure you know what you need to do to establish and maintain your eligibility.<\/h4>\n

BU students receive financial aid funded by Boston University, the federal government, certain state governments, and other agencies. Each entity establishes eligibility criteria and specific renewal requirements.<\/p>\n

Who is eligible?<\/h4>\n

You must be a US citizen or permanent resident, with demonstrated financial need, entering college for the first time. In addition, you must submit your CSS Profile™ and FAFSA by the BU financial aid deadline.<\/p>\n

What is demonstrated financial need?<\/h4>\n

It is the total cost of attendance\u2014including tuition, housing and food, books, and supplies\u2014minus the amount your family can be expected to contribute, as determined by BU Financial Assistance using the information you provide on your CSS Profile and FAFSA.<\/p>\n

What kind of aid can you expect?<\/h4>\n

It depends on your family\u2019s financial situation. One person might receive a package of grants and student loans. Another, Work-Study, and a scholarship. Yet another, some combination of all four. Further, if you are also eligible for a Pell Grant, your aid package is guaranteed to be free of loans, thanks to BU’s University Scholarship fund.<\/p>\n

What about next year?<\/h4>\n

We guarantee your BU need-based aid will not be reduced for any of your four years here, as long as your aid does not exceed your cost of attendance and you meet academic and deadline requirements. In fact, if tuition goes up, your scholarship aid will be increased by the same percentage as the tuition increase.<\/p>\n

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Frequently Asked Questions<\/h3>\n

What does BU mean by \u201cwill meet my need\u201d?<\/h4>
<\/p>\n

Meeting your need means that the gap between the cost of BU and what your family can be expected to pay will be covered through some combination of scholarships, grants, subsidized government student loans, and Work-Study. This can greatly reduce or in many cases eliminate your need to take out supplementary private loans. Additionally, your BU need-based scholarships will increase at the same percentage rate as any future tuition increases.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

What is demonstrated financial need?<\/h4>
<\/p>\n

It is the total cost of attending BU minus your family\u2019s expected contribution, as determined by BU Financial Assistance. Your aid package will be equal to this demonstrated need and will be comprised of some combination of scholarships, grants, loans, and\/or Work-Study.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

What is included in the cost of attendance?<\/h4>
<\/p>\n

For financial aid purposes, the cost of attendance is the yearly expected total of tuition and fees, estimated housing and food, and allowances for books, supplies, personal expenses, and local transportation.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

Will I be required to buy health insurance?<\/h4>
<\/p>\n

By state law, Massachusetts requires all full-time college students to carry health insurance that meets certain criteria, including that it be transportable to Massachusetts. The University bills all students for BU health insurance, but students with coverage that meets these criteria can waive that charge.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t

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Expected Family Contribution<\/a><\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t
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Satisfactory Academic Progress<\/a><\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t
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Enrollment Status<\/a><\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t
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Study Abroad and Financial Aid<\/a><\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t
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Citizenship<\/a><\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t
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Appeal for Reconsideration<\/a><\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t
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Loss of Parental Income<\/a><\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t
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Parents Do Not Share the Same Household<\/a><\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t
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The BU Scholarship Assurance<\/a><\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t
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Co-op<\/a><\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Make sure you know what you need to do to establish and maintain your eligibility. BU students receive financial aid funded by Boston University, the federal government, certain state governments, and other agencies. Each entity establishes eligibility criteria and specific renewal requirements. Who is eligible? You must be a US citizen or permanent resident, with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1393,"featured_media":0,"parent":10073,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/finaid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/finaid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/finaid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/finaid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1393"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/finaid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/finaid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11778,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/finaid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10\/revisions\/11778"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/finaid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/finaid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}