Dear Ole Students and Parents:
On behalf of the Financial Aid Office and the Student Accounting Office, we’d like to extend you a warm welcome. We look forward to working with you for the next four years as you finance your St. Olaf education.
The primary role of the Financial Aid Office is to assist students in paying for college through the use of federal, state, private and institutional financial aid programs. An important piece of that role is to help students and parents complete all of the appropriate paperwork so various forms of financial aid can be disbursed to the student’s account in a timely manner (by the time school starts in September). And, we want to be a resource for students as they begin to learn to manage their financial lives—as a student, we’ll provide you with a variety of opportunities to learn about basic money management and debt management during your years at St. Olaf.
The primary role of the Student Accounting Office is to create and maintain each student’s comprehensive fee billing statement, and to work with families to settle those accounts as they come due. We can answer specific questions about the student’s account and process credit balance refunds for students.
Since many St. Olaf students use financial aid, it’s understandable that, even though we are housed in separate offices, the Financial Aid Office and the Student Accounting Office work very closely together to assist families in paying the bill and managing their student account at St. Olaf. The enclosed information will give you an overview of how the billing process works at St. Olaf, and will answer some of your questions about how our offices work together.
If you are a financial aid recipient, you should have received a black packet of information containing your award. You will want to make sure to follow the Financial Aid Timeline and complete necessary paperwork on time to assure your aid will disburse by the time school starts this fall. We’ve provided you with a few reminders in this binder, but we hope the information we’ve already given you will be what you need to get you through the process.
Throughout your time with us on “The Hill”, please feel free to contact our offices at any time for assistance. The Financial Aid Office can be reached toll-free at 877-235-8386, and the Student Accounting Office can be reached toll-free at 866-640-4702. We look forward to greeting you in person on September 5th!
Sincerely,
Kathy Ruby
Assistant Vice President of Enrollment
and Dean of Student Financial Aid
Erin Nesseth
Manager, Student Accounts
