Financial Aid

A1: Yes, the financial aid office is now open again for face-to-face services. CDC guidelines will still be maintained, however.

If you're unable to visit us in person, then please email FA@GulfCoast.edu from your official GCSC account. Otherwise, feel free to call us at (850) 872-3845 or any of the team member phone numbers detailed above.

A2: The U.S. Department of Education (ED) provided Gulf Coast with two rounds of COVID-19 emergency grant funding. The first round of funding (HEERF I) was exhausted in the spring and summer of 2020. The second round of funding (HEERF II) was exhausted in the spring of 2021.

Both rounds of assistance were designed to help students cover emergency expenses related to COVID-19 or for any component of the student’s cost of attendance, such as tuition, books, laptop, food, housing, health care, and childcare.

Funds from the second round (HEERF II) were awarded to eligible students enrolled in the spring semester of 2021 with no application necessary. Eligibility criteria include:

• Enrolled in at least 5.0 credit hours in the spring semester
• US Citizen or eligible non-citizen
• Have declared a program of study
• Priority given to student with exceptional need, as determined by the FAFSA

Funds were sent to students via direct deposit through BankMobile (https://www.gulfcoast.edu/tuition-aid/bankmobile-disbursements.html). Students were encouraged to set up a deposit preference, if they hadn’t already, by logging into myGCSC and clicking the BankMobile app/tile/link.

Visit https://www.gulfcoast.edu/tuition-aid/financial-aid/documents-forms/1920/heerf-student-faqs.pdf to view ED's "Frequently Asked Questions from Students about the Higher Education Emergency Relief Student Grants"

A3: Incomplete grades may impact your financial aid, so please email FA@GulfCoast.edu from your GCSC account if you have a question about your situation.

A4: Our faculty will be as flexible and accommodating as possible. We encourage you to contact your instructors, as they may be able to provide you options. If you are receiving federal financial aid (Pell Grant, Direct Loans, etc.) and are unable to complete a semester, current law requires the college to perform a calculation that may result in money being returned to them. For this and other reasons, we encourage you to work with your instructors and do your best to complete as much as possible.

A5: Per the U.S. Department of Education, GCSC paid FWS students who weren't working during the spring of 2021 due to COVID-19 for payroll #4 (ending 04/20/2020). The amount that FWS students received was based upon an average of the last three paychecks they'd individually received, minus hours that weren't worked during GCSC's originally planned spring break week.

A6: You can visit:

https://www.gulfcoast.edu/covid-19-coronavirus.html

https://studentaid.gov/announcements-events/coronavirus

https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/economic-impact-payments

A7: HEERF reports that are required by the U.S. Department of Education (https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/heerfreporting.html) can be found online as follows –

Per section 18004(e) of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”), Pub. L. No. 116-136, 134 Stat. 281, GCSC's "Student Portion Public Reporting" can be found online at:

• HEERF I (CARES Act) 30-Day Fund Report = https://www.gulfcoast.edu/tuition-aid/financial-aid/documents-forms/1920/ed-30-day-fund-report-as-of-may-07-2020.pdf
• HEERF I (CARES Act) 2020 Quarter 3 Report = https://www.gulfcoast.edu/tuition-aid/financial-aid/documents-forms/2021/heerf-i-2020-quarter-3-report-final.pdf
• HEERF I (CARES Act) Subsequent Quarterly Reports = No further "Student Portion Public Reporting" is necessary because the 2020 Quarter 3 report detailed the finalized expenditure of our HEERF I student funding.
• HEERF II (CRRSA Act) 2021 Quarter 1 Report = https://www.gulfcoast.edu/tuition-aid/financial-aid/documents-forms/2021/heerf-ii-2021-quarter-1-report.pdf
• HEERF II (CRRSA Act) 2021 Quarter 2 Report = https://www.gulfcoast.edu/tuition-aid/financial-aid/documents-forms/2021/heerf-ii-2021-quarter-2-report.pdf
• HEERF II (CRRSA Act) Subsequent Quarterly Reports = No further "Student Portion Public Reporting" is necessary because the 2021 Quarter 2 report detailed the finalized expenditure of our HEERF II student funding.
• HEERF III (ARP) 2021 Quarter 2 Report = A report will not be published because no HEERF III student aid portion funds have been disbursed as of June 30th, 2021.
• HEERF III (ARP) 2021 Quarter 3 Report = https://www.gulfcoast.edu/tuition-aid/financial-aid/documents-forms/2021/heerf-iii-2021-quarter-3-report.pdf
• HEERF III (ARP) 2021 Quarter 4 Report = https://www.gulfcoast.edu/tuition-aid/financial-aid/documents-forms/2122/heerf-iii-2021-quarter-4-report.pdf
• HEERF III (ARP) Subsequent Quarterly Reports = No further "Student Portion Public Reporting" is necessary because the 2021 Quarter 4 report will detail the finalized expenditure of our HEERF III student funding.