A consortium agreement is a written agreement between two or more accredited institutions that recognize a student’s combined enrollment for the purpose of receiving Federal Student Aid (FSA) funds while studying at a institution other than the “home” (school you are seeking a degree with the intentions to graduate) school. To ensure the disbursement of the proper amount of financial aid, our office will only process the form if the student will receive financial aid. Also, Consortium hours will not count towards the required full-time enrollment if a student is receiving institutional aid.
UMSL will not send any payments to the other school. The student is responsible for paying any fees. When the financial aid is applied to the UMSL bill, any credit balance issued as a refund can be used to pay the bill at the “host” school.
The Following Steps are Required to Complete a Consortium Agreement
- Be a degree seeking student.
- Have a FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) on file with our office and awarded financial assistance.
- Enrolled in a minimum of 6 credit hours for undergraduate and 5 credit hours for graduate students.
- Make an appointment with their academic advisor to discuss the reason(s) for requesting an agreement and if applicable, a Consortium Agreement Form will be given in the meeting.
- The student will complete the form and obtain a signature from the academic advisor.
- Once all appropriate signatures and documents are obtained the form should be submitted to the Student Financial Services Office by emailing as an attachment to financialaid@umsl.edu or drop off in person at 327 MSC.
- If financial aid funds are received for approved classes by this agreement, at the end of the term, an official transcript must be sent to UMSL’s Admission Office. If transcript information is not sent, aid for the upcoming semester will be delayed.
- A consortium agreement must be completed each semester If taking classes at another school.
Note: UMSL does not process summer consortium agreements given the short length of the session but will process consortium agreements if UMSL is serving as the host institution.
An in-depth description of cohort default rates and how the rates are calculated is available on the U.S. Department of Education's Official Cohort Default Rates for Schools website.
- A Cohort Default Rate (CDR) is the percentage of a school's borrowers who enter repayment on certain Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program or William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program loans during a particular federal fiscal year (FY), October 1st to September 30th, and default or meet other specified conditions prior to the end of the second following fiscal year. If UMSL's CDR ever rises above the national average, this site will be updated to reflect such a change.