Understanding the Offer Letter

This page contains information for current graduate students who have received an Official Financial Aid Offer. Please follow this link for information about Preliminary Financial Aid Offers and follow this link for information about Undergraduate Financial Aid Offers.

The information on this page helps you understand your financial aid offer letter and what steps you need to take to have loans credited to your account. 

For additional help in understanding your financial aid offer, watch this video explaining the different components of financial aid.

Your Official Financial Aid Offer and What You Need to Do

View Your Financial Aid Offer

Log in to your SIS account to review your financial aid offer. After logging into your SIS account, click "Financials" in the left menu, then "Finance Center." Next choose "View Financial Aid," select the appropriate year, and then look for the "Award Letter" link to print a copy for your records or to save it as a .pdf to send on to someone else. Please note that financial aid offers are only shown online in SIS or in UVAPay, and you will not receive a paper letter. If your offer changes later for some reason, you'll be able to see the history of your offer letters for the year at any time.

Accept, Decline or Reduce Your Loans

Because they do not need to be repaid, we accept any grants on your behalf. You can accept all, accept part, or decline each loan award offered to you. After logging into your SIS account, click "Financials" in the left menu, then "Finance Center." Next choose "View Financial Aid," and then "Accept/Decline Awards." To accept the full amount of a loan or decline a loan, select the appropriate button and follow the prompts. To accept only part of a loan total, click the button to "Accept" the loan, then change the amount shown from the full amount to the amount you would like to accept for the year (half for each semester).

If you make a mistake or change your mind, most awards can be reinstated later. In general, you have until the last day of classes for term-specific loans and the end of the last day of the spring term for fall/spring loans to accept your loans and complete your master promissory note and entrance counseling.

Complete Entrance Counseling and Master Promissory Notes

If you have not previously had a Direct Loan as a graduate/professional student, you will need to complete entrance counseling and sign a Master Promissory Note before the disbursement of any loans at StudentAid.gov.

Report Outside Scholarships

If you have received any scholarships that are from outside UVA, or other resources such as military educational benefits or ROTC scholarships, please report these using our Outside Scholarship Self-Reporting Form. Go to the main forms page and choose the correct academic year to find the form. All outside scholarships and other resources must be reported to us and may result in an adjustment of your existing aid. In such cases, you will be notified by email of the change to your financial aid offer and the reason for the change. For more information on how scholarships and grants can impact your financial aid, visit our Scholarships and Grants web page.

Other Things to Consider

Receiving financial aid is dependent upon maintaining satisfactory academic progress.

You may request an increase to your budget for either the one-time computer expense or to cover the cost of health insurance. Forms to request both of these increases are available on our forms page under the link to the appropriate aid year. When the request has been processed, you should receive an email notification, usually within about one month from the time you submit the form.

If your financial aid offer is modified after the release of the official financial aid offer, you should receive an email notification about the revisions.

For more information about types of aid included in your financial aid offer, please click here. Students should review the sections that apply in their particular situation.

Please email all questions to [email protected] or call (434) 982-6000.