Using Aid for Transient Courses

You are considered a “transient” student if EFSC is your home institution and you are taking one or more courses at another institution, which is referred to as your host institution.

All potential and current transient students are strongly encouraged to read ALL the information below about using your approved financial aid for a transient course.

Transient Course Aid Guidelines

  • To receive financial aid as a transient student, you must be enrolled at an approved university or college. Your EFSC and transient credit hours are combined to determine your overall enrollment status.
  • Students are responsible for meeting all deadlines and submitting required documentation.
  • Approved transient courses and course numbers must match your actual enrollment to be eligible for financial aid. If you enroll in a different course than what was approved, you must complete a new transient application listing the correct course to be reviewed for financial aid. Each student is responsible for ensuring that they register for the correct, approved course(s).
  • If you are a non-EFSC student taking a course here, be sure to check with your institution's financial aid office for details on how they handle transient course aid requests and approvals.
  • Please note: You are responsible for meeting registration and fee payment deadlines at your host institution. The host institution is not required to offer you the option of deferred payment even if you have financial aid.

Please contact the Financial Aid Office if you have questions about your status.

Transient Process for Florida Public Institutions

If you want to take a course at a Florida public institution other than EFSC, you must complete the Transient Student Admission Application on the Florida Shines website. You can find detailed information about using that system in the EFSC Registrar's transient student web section.

To trigger a request to use your approved financial aid for the course, you must answer “Yes” to the following questions when completing the FloridaShines application for it to be sent to the EFSC Financial Aid Office. If you answer “No,” then your application cannot be approved for any financial aid, including Bright Futures Scholarships.

  1. Have you been approved to receive financial aid, and do you intend to use it for the requested course(s)?
  2. Do you want to proceed with the Transient Student Admission Application if you or any of the requested courses are not approved for financial aid?

If you realize that you answered “No” in error on the FloridaShines site, then you simply need to complete a new FloridaShines Transient Student Admission Application and answer “Yes” to the financial aid questions.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

  • Your academic advisor and the Registrar must approve the online FloridaShines application before it is sent to our office electronically to review your request to use financial aid. You will receive email notifications at each step of the online review process. You are responsible for following up with the relevant offices as appropriate to ensure that your application is processed in time to meet all deadlines.
  • Per federal regulations, financial aid can only be used for coursework that is required for your degree program. Your academic advisor must determine whether your desired transient coursework is required and that decision will be noted in your FloridaShines application, which you can log in and review.

Verifying Transient Course Enrollment

In general, your transient enrollment information will be transmitted to us electronically by the host institution after the semester has begun. We calculate and disburse financial aid based on the enrollment information provided by the host institution.

If electronic enrollment information is not received and/or is incorrect, you must provide the following documents to the EFSC Financial Aid Office:

  1. An official certification of enrollment from your host institution’s Registrar OR a copy of your tuition statement.
  2. A copy of your class schedule, which must include the course number, number of credits per course, and course start/end dates. A screenshot of your student portal is acceptable.

All forms and documents must be dated after the add/drop period of your host institution.

Financial Aid Disbursement for Transient Courses

You must meet all standard financial aid eligibility requirements for financial aid to be disbursed. You are strongly encouraged to check in the myEFSC Portal regularly to ensure that all requirements are met.

After all transient documentation has been received and processed, your financial aid will be awarded and then disbursed to you according to the Fund Disbursement dates on our calendar page. You are responsible for ensuring that all charges are paid at your host institution. EFSC cannot disburse aid to another institution.

For questions related to using Florida Prepaid for transient course(s), you should contact your host institution’s bursar or financial services office.