Financial Aid 101

Next Steps and What to Expect Going Forward

If you are accepted to DU and attend the University this fall, there are additional steps you'll need to take to secure your financial aid.

Accepting Your Aid and Completing Loan Requirements
With the exception of most DU scholarships and grants—which are usually accepted on your behalf—you must choose to accept or decline each award in your financial aid offer. To do this:

1. Log into PioneerWeb.
2. Go to the Student tab and click on the "Accept/Decline Financial "Aid" link in the Financial Aid Information box.
3. Select the 2022-2023 Aid Year from the drop-down menu.
4. Go to the Terms and Conditions tab and read through the terms of accepting financial aid at the University of Denver. Then, click on the "Accept" button at the bottom of the page.
5. Go to the Accept Award Offer tab. Next to each type of aid, select "Accept" or "Decline" in the drop-down menu. You can also accept a smaller portion of a loan by entering that amount in the "Accept Partial Amount" box.

If you have been offered work-study, be sure to accept it by the July 1st deadline, or it will be canceled and offered to someone on our waitlist.

Any federal student loan you accept will automatically be split evenly between fall, winter, and spring quarters. Be sure to keep that in mind if you only accept a partial amount of a loan, as that partial amount will be split evenly as well.

If you accept a Direct loan, you must complete additional requirements in order to receive your loan funds in the fall. We'll send additional information over the summer about these next steps.

Estimate Your Bill
If you'd like to determine your amount due in each quarter, use our Estimated Billing Worksheet. This worksheet will calculate what your expected balance will be after your financial aid has paid into your DU student account.

Receiving Your Aid
10 days prior to the start of the fall quarter, your financial aid will disburse to your DU student account, as long as you've completed all of your requirements. Learn more about billing, disbursement, and financial aid refunds on our website. 

Your PioneerWeb Account
You can always check the status of your aid by logging into PioneerWeb. In fact, we recommend that you visit it frequently, as it will have the most up-to-date information about your financial aid account.

In particular, you should regularly check the "Financial Aid Requirements" box on your Student tab. If you see an item with a red flag next to it, it almost always means we are missing something from you (and red flags may prevent you from receiving your financial aid on time). Click on each requirement to learn what you need to do. If there is a green checkmark next to a requirement, you're good to go.

Keep in contact with us!
Be sure to contact our office to let us know if you change your enrollment plans, received a private scholarship, or just have questions. We're always here to help.

That's it for the Financial Aid 101 email series. From all of us in Financial Aid, welcome to the DU community!

Want to review past Financial Aid 101 emails? Check out the archives!