Frequently Asked Questions for U.S. Students

View our current tuition rates. Your tuition and expenses may be adjusted according to your financial need. For more information, please contact your counselor in the Office of Student Accounts.

FAFSA and Clark University Financial Aid Application

Nov. 15 – Early Action and Early Decision candidates

Jan. 15 – Regular Admission candidates

After each of the deadlines, Clark Financial Assistance staff will begin reviewing your forms. They will let you know if you need to submit additional forms and/or provide additional information and/or documentation before your award, if any, can be determined.

If you are admitted to Clark and accept the invitation to attend, your tax documentation is due in the Office of Financial Assistance by May 1.

No. Transfer students follow the same guidelines as all first-year U.S. candidates.

The FAFSA code is 002139 and the campus code is 00.

Because Clark and state funds are very limited, filing late may affect your eligibility for such assistance. However, you may still be eligible for federal funds.

Your application cannot be reviewed until all materials required and requested have been received.

If all of your requested documents have been received by our Office of Financial Assistance by the established deadlines, you should receive notice of financial aid eligibility shortly after your offer of admission.

Your Expected Family Contribution (EFC) is an estimate of how much of your educational expenses you and/or your family are expected to absorb. Your family contribution is not a prediction of how much cash you have on hand; neither is it a value judgment about how much your family ought to have available from their current income, or a measure of your liquidity. Rather, it is an estimate of your capacity over time to absorb some of the cost of education.

The EFC generally expects a strong financial commitment on your part proportional to your income. We estimate how much you can be expected to contribute (relative to other students), but we make no assumptions about how you will finance that contribution.

In fact, you have choices about how to do that, and Clark’s Office of Financial Assistance can assist you by suggesting a variety of payment plans and student loans.

After Clark has determined the amount of financial aid you will receive, the Office of Financial Assistance offers you this funding from a variety of sources. This combination of different sources is called a financial aid “package.”

Your financial aid package may include:

• Scholarships: Clark funding based on your academic record and achievement. There are scholarships for first-year and transfer students.
• Grants: State and/or federal funds offered to you without repayment obligation, much like scholarships.
• Loans: State and/or federal funds that will have to be repaid, usually after you graduate.
• Work-study: A federal program that provides an opportunity for you to work a part-time job on campus, earning funds for spending money or books.

For a further explanation of your financial aid package, please refer to the Award Guide sent with your award letter packet.

Your financial aid award will differ from college to college depending on the costs of each institution and the availability of funds.

Although the cost of the college is an important consideration, the amount your family will have to pay out of pocket after financial aid is subtracted is equally as important. You will not know the answer to this question until you apply for admission and financial aid and then receive your financial aid package from each college.

Because your eligibility for aid is the difference between the annual cost of attendance and your expected family contribution, you may have increased aid eligibility at higher-priced colleges and less at lower-priced institutions.

Each college or university has its own distinctive financial aid process that is dependent on the resources of the institution, the total cost of attendance, its admissions goals, its merit standards and other factors.

Clark uses an institutional methodology determined to best fit the university’s needs and ability to support students. If your family may be facing circumstances that our staff can take into account in the calculation of your need-based financial aid eligibility, please contact our office.

You can expect to receive approximately the same financial aid each year as long as:

• Your family’s financial situation does not change.
• The number of your siblings attending undergraduate college does not decrease.
• The number of family members living in your household does not decrease.
• You reapply each year by established deadlines.

Consumer debt, such as car loans and credit card bills and educational debt does not have any bearing on your financial aid award. 

Under both federal and institutional guidelines, parents in college are not counted as family members enrolled in college.

Dependent siblings under age 24 studying in an undergraduate degree-granting program at an accredited college or university will be counted as family members in college for both federal and institutional aid calculations.

There is no special discount for multiple siblings attending Clark University. All siblings enrolled in undergraduate programs at least half time are considered regardless of where they attend college.

Siblings enrolled in a graduate degree program at an accredited college or university — including Clark University — will be counted as family members in college for federal, but not institutional, aid calculations.

Academics do not play a part in determining your eligibility for need-based assistance. However, at Clark we do offer merit-based scholarships for first-year and transfer students that are based entirely on your academic background.

Eligible students can receive Clark scholarships of up to $20,000 per year, renewable for up to four years, as long as you maintain certain academic standards.

If you receive a merit-based scholarship, you still may be eligible for additional need-based assistance.

To be considered independent for purposes of financial aid, the Department of Education provides guidance on what criteria needs to be met to make a student independent. You can review here.

On a case-by-case basis and under severe circumstances, federal guidelines allow a financial aid administrator to override your status as a dependent student, making you independent for financial aid purposes. 

Please note that severe circumstances  do not  include: 

• Your parent’s unwillingness to provide financial information needed to complete the  FAFSA.
• Your parent’s refusal to contribute toward college expenses. 
• Your ability to demonstrate that you financially support yourself. 

For more information, contact our  Office of Financial Assistance. 

Yes, all students are eligible to work on campus. Available jobs are listed on Handshake, Clark’s online job posting board. Over the summer, incoming students will receive information regarding the student employment process and how to access Handshake.

An award of federal work-study does not require you to work nor is it a guarantee of employment. The award is a limit of your potential earnings.  Earnings are not deducted from the bill, student employee’s are paid their earnings via direct deposit every two weeks.

Any student employee needs to meet the federal I-9 requirements for employment. Original documents, not copies, need to be presented with the completed employment packet for certification.  Please review the I-9 requirements and bring the original documentation with you to campus so we can complete the federal certification requirement.

You can visit Student Employment Frequently Asked Questions page for more information on student employment.

If you are having difficulty finding employment on campus, you should visit the office of Financial Assistance for guidance.

Unless you notify us otherwise, your financial aid award at Clark is based on the assumption that you will not receive aid from non-Clark sources. If you do receive such assistance, we may revise our offer of financial aid.

Clark University’s policy for these adjustments is as follows:

• Your financial aid award at Clark is based on the assumption that you will not receive aid from non-Clark sources, unless otherwise reported. If you do receive outside scholarships from outside resources, we may revise our offer of financial aid.  Clark University’s policy for these adjustments is as follows: for scholarships based on the student’s merit, outside funds may first fill unmet need as calculated by Clark University. Any remaining outside funds will go first to reduce the student’s self-help aid -work-study then loans-; any remaining outside funds will then reduce Clark grant dollar-for-dollar. Scholarships that are not meritorious like federal or state grants will reduce the Clark University Grant dollar-for-dollar. Tuition subsidies based on parent’s employment, reduce Clark University Grant $.50 per dollar after the first five thousand dollars. Copies of all Scholarship awards need to be provided to both the Financial Assistance and Student Accounts Office as soon as you are notified of the award, to provide you the best possible information  about how these awards can impact your financial aid award and bill. Clark reserves the right to make adjustments at any point during the semester.

If you take part in a Clark study abroad program, you will receive your usual aid package, with the exception of federal work-study. If you study in a non-Clark program you will receive only your federal Stafford Loan and federal Pell Grant, if applicable.

Unless you have indicated that you are living at home with your parents and commuting to Clark, your financial aid award is based upon the premise that you are incurring living expenses such as room and board on campus or rent and groceries off campus.

Therefore, whether you are living in an on-campus residence hall or an off-campus apartment and you are or are not participating in the meal plan, your aid will remain the same.

Students are limited to eight semesters of Clark-sponsored, need-based financial aid and merit scholarship awards.

If you take more than eight semesters to complete your undergraduate degree, you may be eligible for federal aid in the form of student loans beginning the ninth semester.

Clark offers a monthly payment plan through Tuition Management Systems. An alternative to large payments each semester, this plan allows families to make 10 equal payments beginning June 1. There is no interest charged for this service — only a modest enrollment fee of approximately $60.

Clark offers families the option of fixing the tuition rate for four years at the first-year level. To do this, families pay four years of tuition the first year, thereby “locking” into the first year’s tuition rate. Arrangements can be made by contacting the Director of Student Accounts at 1-508-421-3801.