How Can I Receive Financial Aid For Courses I Take At Another School?
If you need to take a course for your degree or certificate program through another college or university, you may receive financial aid through a "visiting student agreement" (also known as a "consortium agreement.") A visiting student agreement is an agreement between Metropolitan State University and the school from which you will be taking courses that allows you to receive credit for the course as if you had taken the course here at Metropolitan State.
Through the visiting student agreement, Metropolitan State will serve as the "home" school and the other college agrees to serve as the "host" school. The home school agrees to accept the credits taken at the host school on the same basis as courses offered by the home school. The course or courses taken at the host school will appear on the home school's transcript, and the course credits will be counted toward your enrollment level for the purpose of calculating your financial aid eligibility.
How Do I Complete A Visiting Student Agreement?
In order to receive financial aid for a course or courses at another college or university, you must complete the following steps:
- Obtain a Visiting Student Agreement form (also known as a consortium agreement) from the Office of Student Financial Aid. You may download one from the Forms section of the Office of Student Financial Aid web site.
- Register for courses at the host school.
- Fill out the Student Section completely, including signature and date. Be sure to include the name and contact information for each course instructor. Your agreement will be delayed or denied if there is no course instructor contact information.
- Take the form to your academic advisor for approval. Your academic advisor must certify that the courses for which you have registered will apply to the requirements of your degree plan.
- Take the form to the host school financial aid office, and have an appropriate official complete the host school section.
- Bring the form to the Metropolitan State University Office of Student Financial Aid for approval.
- The Metropolitan State University Office of Financial Aid will forward your agreement to the Registrar's Office to record your registration.
- At the end of the semester, you must provide the registrar a copy of an official transcript showing your grade in the course. If you will not complete the course by the end of the term due to accepting an incomplete, or if you drop or withdraw from the course you must notify the Office of Student Financial Aid immediately.
How Do I Pay For Courses As A Visiting Student?
Visiting students must make payment arrangements for courses as required by the host school. Tuition and fee charges at the host school will not be paid by the home school! As the home school, we will credit all financial aid for which you are eligible to your Metropolitan State University student account after the 16th day of the semester. Any financial aid that exceeds the charges on your account are available for you to pay for other educational expenses, including tuition and fees for courses taken at another institution. It is your responsibility to clear any charges on your student account with the host institution, to ensure that you meet the conditions of the Visiting Student Agreement by maintaining registration at the host school and by obtaining an official transcript at the end of the semester.
Confirming Attendance For Visiting Students
If you do not successfully complete the course for which you received financial aid as a visiting student (by withdrawing, or receiving an unsatisfactory grade in the course) Metropolitan State University will check with your course instructor to determine that you attended the course at least one time. If we cannot confirm that you attended the course at least one time, your disbursed financial aid will be recalculated without that course counting toward your enrollment level. This may result in a reduction of your financial aid award for the semester, and may leave you with an outstanding balance on your account. You must repay any outstanding student account balances to Metropolitan State University before you will be allowed to register for a future term.