General Eligibility Criteria

Generally, to qualify for federal, state, and institutional financial assistance, students must meet the following requirements:

Demonstrate financial need. For some sources of aid, this is not a requirement.
Be a U.S. citizen or eligible noncitizen
Have a valid Social Security number
Be enrolled or accepted for enrollment as a regular student in an eligible degree or certificate program
Be enrolled at least half-time in degree-applicable coursework to be eligible for Direct Loan Program funds
Maintain satisfactory academic progress toward a degree or certificate in an eligible program
Sign the certification statement on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) stating that
- you are not in default on a federal student loan and do not owe money on a federal student grant and
- you will use federal student aid only for educational purposes
Show you are qualified to obtain a college education by
- having a high school diploma or recognized equivalent such as a General Educational Development (GED) certificate
- completing a high school education in a homeschool setting approved under state law

Proof of Eligibility

Only U.S. citizens and eligible noncitizens may receive federal student aid. If your Student Aid Report (SAR) indicates that you are required to provide documentation to prove that you are a U.S. citizen, you must present original documentation that verifies you are a U.S. citizen to NSU. If your Student Aid Report (SAR) indicates that you are required to provide documentation to prove that you are an eligible noncitizen, then you must present original documentation that verifies you are an eligible noncitizen to NSU.

Signed (by issuing authority or student, as appropriate) originals or copies with a notarized affidavit of the following documents will be accepted as proof:

U.S. Citizens	Eligible Non-citizens
Certificate of Naturalization Certificate of U.S. Citizenship U.S. Passport Card U.S. Passport Letter U.S. Birth Certificate	I-551 I-94 or I-94A I-571 VTVPA –HHS certification or eligibility VAWA – I-360 with I-79 JAY TREATY documents

Students must present original citizenship documents in person or email their documents along with a notarized Affidavit form to finaiddocs@nova.edu .

OPTION 1: Present original documents in person

Any of the originals listed above may be presented at the following locations:

One-Stop Shop, Horvitz Administration Building, Fort Lauderdale/Davie Campus
One-Stop Shop, Terry Administration Building, Fort Lauderdale/Davie Campus
Financial Aid Offices at the Shepard Broad College of Law and the H. Wayne Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship (Fort Lauderdale/Davie Campus)
Your local NSU Campus

OPTION 2: Submit copies of your citizenship documents along with a notarized affidavit

Print the Affidavit form available under the Forms tab at our website, nova.edu/financialaid. Make copies of all of the appropriate documents, as indicated above. Fill in the academic year for which you are submitting these documents, your name (printed), and complete the list of documents with their expiration date and issuing authority. Bring all of your documents, as well as the Affidavit form, to a notary in your area. Once you have signed the form in the presence of the notary, and the notary has signed and/or stamped the Affidavit, you can submit everything to NSU by one of two methods:

Scan and email to finaiddocs@nova.edu
U.S mail to:

Nova Southeastern University
Office of Student Financial Assistance – EPS
3301 College Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33314-7796

Do not mail original documents to NSU.

For questions regarding this process, please call the Office of Student Financial Assistance at 800-806-3680.