Financial Aid
Finanical Aid
Doctor of Pharmacy students are encouraged to contact cop-sfa@osu.edu with questions regarding their financial aid packages. Professional students’ aid packages are processed differently than undergraduate students, and as such, students should start with the College of Pharmacy Student Affairs office before going to the Student Services Center.
All eligible students are highly encouraged to complete the FAFSA process each year. Completing this enables a student to be eligible for various types of scholarships/grants in addition to student loans. Students’ parent information is not taken into consideration when determining Expected Family Contribution; however, it is utilized when determining eligibility for one of the possible loans. Students are encouraged to include this information if possible; however, it does not harm a student if he or she is not able to include parent information.
Currently PharmD students have access to a Health Professional Student Loan, Unsubsidized Student Loans, and the Grad PLUS Loan.
Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loans are available for professional students. This is a non-need based federal loan which currently can be awarded up to $33,000. To qualify for this loan students must complete a FAFSA, be a U.S. citizen or eligible non-citizen, and be enrolled at least part-time.
Unsubsidized Loan for Health Professions Students is a need-based loan that is typically issued at a lower interest rate than federal direct loans. For this loan only, student’s parents’ tax information is considered when determining eligibility.
Federal Direct PLUS Loan for Graduate/Professional Students is a federal loan that is made available to professional students that can be awarded up to the cost of attendance when combined with other aid. Students who wish to utilize this loan need to complete an application, pass a credit check, and must be enrolled at least part-time. Students are advised to direct questions to the College of Pharmacy Student Affairs Office if they would like to initiate the process for receiving this loan.
More information regarding these loans can be found on the Student Financial Aid website.
Financial Aid FAQs
Financial aid offers are communicated through the Award Summary section of your Student Center. To view your awards, follow the below navigation path:
- Visit buckeyelink.osu.edu and sign into your Student Center.
- Scroll down to the "Finances" section and click on "View Financial Aid."
- On the next page, select the upcoming aid year.
- Finally, select the "Award Summary" tab on the next page.
Visit studentaid.gov to submit an application for the Federal Graduate PLUS Loan. You will need your FSA ID in order to submit this application. Consider the length of each semester - how long does the refund have to last? Do you need to hold on to some of the funds from one semester to help fund living expenses for the following semester? Remember to budget monthly and allocate money appropriately.
If the loan application is approved, it can take 7-10 business days for your loans to be processed. In order to minimize the processing time, be sure to complete all necessary steps including signing your MPN and completing your entrance counseling.
We suggest reviewing your budget to determine how much aid you need to borrow. Once that is determined you can compare that number with the estimated cost of attendance. Students cannot be awarded over their cost of attendance, regardless of the type of financial aid.
You can sign up direct deposit via the Account Refund link on your My Buckeye Link home page. Direct deposit refunds take approximately 3-5 business days to appear in your bank account once the refund has posted to your Ohio State account statement. For detailed instructions on setting up direct deposit, please visit the My Buckeye Link Reference Guide.
You can email the COP-SFA@osu.edu inbox and request to increase or decrease your loan. From there you will be emailed a form to complete and email back.
In general, if a student has a residency application that is approved, the non-resident fee is removed from the account immediately. When this happens, a hold is automatically added to ensure there are no refunds released until we adjust the Cost of Attendance (COA) to reflect the residency changes. Once all adjustments are finalized, the hold will then be removed. This process can take up to approximately 10 business days.
Private loans can take quite some time to fully process through the university. It can take 1-2 weeks for the university to receive the loan and certify it. Once we have certified the loan, it will show on your award summary, however, the lender typically has a two week right to cancelation period. Overall, the whole process could take about a month from application to disbursement.