Financial Aid and Tuition Information
Contact Information
Students seeking assistance about applying for financial aid may contact the financial aid staff.
Information pertaining to the student aid programs may be found on the financial aid website.
In order to qualify for financial assistance from the federal and state governments as set forth by The Higher Education Act of 1965, Thomas More University has developed standards of satisfactory academic progress prior to awarding any federal financial aid funds to students. These standards were established to encourage students to successfully complete courses for which federal financial aid is received, and to progress satisfactorily toward degree completion.
As a recipient of federal student aid, you have certain rights you should exercise and certain responsibilities that put you in a better position to make decisions about your educational goals and how you achieve them.
To view tuition, fee, and room and board charges, please visit the cost of attendance page.
The Net Price Calculator is designed to give first-time full-time first-year students an early estimate of how much and what type of financial aid they might qualify to receive.
Requirements for Withdrawal and Refund Policy
Students must notify the Office of the Registrar in writing when withdrawing from a course or the University. Failure to attend class(es) does not constitute official withdrawal or eligibility for a refund. The official date of withdrawal is based on the date of receipt of notification. Pro-rated credits and refunds are based on the refund schedule. In extraordinary circumstances, such as serious illness or injury, when a student is forced to withdraw from classes after the refund period has ended, a written appeal may be made. For more information or the refund schedule, please contact the Registrar’s Office at [email protected], phone 859-344-3380, or go to the Bursar’s webpage.
A federal or state drug conviction can disqualify a student for FSA funds. Convictions only count if they were for an offense that occurred during a period of enrollment for which the student was receiving Title IV aid—they do not count if the offense was not during such a period. The chart below illustrates the period of ineligibility for FSA funds, depending on whether the conviction was for sale or possession and whether the student had previous offenses. (A conviction for sale of drugs includes convictions for conspiring to sell drugs.)
| Possession of Illegal Drugs | Sale of Illegal Drugs | |
| 1st offense | 1 year from date of conviction | 2 years from date of conviction |
| 2nd offense | 2 years from date of conviction | Indefinite period |
| 3rd plus offense | Indefinite period |
If the student was convicted of both possessing and selling illegal drugs, and the periods of ineligibility are different, the student will be ineligible for the longer period.
To regain financial aid eligibility
A student regains eligibility the day after the period of ineligibility ends or when he successfully completes a qualified drug rehabilitation program or, effective beginning with the 2010–2011 award year, passes two unannounced drug tests given by such a program. Further drug convictions will make him ineligible again.
Students denied eligibility for an indefinite period can regain it after successfully completing a rehabilitation program, passing two unannounced drug tests from such a program, or if a conviction is reversed, set aside, or removed from the student’s record so that fewer than two convictions for sale or three convictions for possession remain on the record. In such cases, the nature and dates of the remaining convictions will determine when the student regains eligibility. It is the student’s responsibility to certify that they have successfully completed the rehabilitation program; as with the conviction question on the FAFSA.
All students who borrow Direct Student Loans are required to complete Loan Entrance Counseling. This is a federal requirement, and students cannot receive any Direct Loan funds until they have completed the counseling.
All students who have borrowed Direct Student Loans are required by the federal government to complete loan exit counseling upon graduation or upon dropping below half-time status. Exit counseling helps students plan for repayment of their Direct Student Loans. The counseling informs student borrowers about loan repayment terms and options, loan consolidation, and ways to avoid loan default.
Alternative loans are education loans that are available to students to assist them in their educational costs.
In accordance with the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) institutions of higher learning are to develop and comply with a code of conduct with regards to the administration of educational student loans. The purpose of this code is to prohibit conflict of interest between the makers of these loans and personnel of Thomas More University at the institution Thomas More’s primary commitment with respect to student loans is ensure that borrower benefits and services are in the best interest of the student and parent borrowers.
The Thomas More University Office of Financial Aid maintains a historical/comprehensive list of private student loan lenders. The Office lists all lenders who agree to be included from which Thomas More students have borrowed in the previous three years. The Office maintains the lender list with Great Lakes’ FastChoice.
When a student who has received federal financial aid funds (Title IV funds) withdraws from the University during a semester, federal regulations require the University to determine the amount of “unearned” funds that must be returned to the federal aid programs. This requirement is effective only if the student completely terminates enrollment (i.e. cancels his/her registration, withdraws or is dismissed) or stops attending classes before completing more than 60 percent of the semester. For more information, contact the Financial Aid office at 859-344-3319 or go to the Financial Aid webpage.
The National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) is the U.S. Department of Education’s (ED’s) central database for student aid. NSLDS receives data from schools, guaranty agencies, the Direct Loan program, the Pell Grant program, and other Department of ED programs. You can find a detailed history of your federal student loans on this site.
Thomas More University is required to inform student/parent borrowers that their loan information will be submitted to NSLDS and will be accessible by guaranty agencies, lenders, and institutions determined to be authorized users of the data system.
Student aid on the web is an informative website designed by the Department of Education to help students prepare for and explore funding education beyond high school. Included is information about federal aid programs, applying for school, applying for financial aid, repaying student loans, and other tools and resources to help in this process.
The United States Department of Education calculates each school’s cohort default rate based on repayment of federal loans made to students for attendance at the school. Thomas More University’s current Default Rate calculated for the 2019 cohort and published in September 2022 is 1.9%.