Yes. Once you receive your finalized financial aid offer, you can contact your TRIO Advisor to schedule an appointment and go over your financial aid package individually.

You can also consult this page from the Financial Aid Office for information related to the different types of aid FAFSA offers, including Loans, Pell Grants, and Work-Study.

Yes. To receive assistance in completing your FAFSA, contact your TRIO Advisor to set up an appointment.

You can also contact the Financial Aid Education Office at 406-243-6016 or FinancialEducation@umontana.edu to schedule a private session to receive assistance with filing or re-filing your FAFSA. 

Students who receive federal financial aid are required to continue making Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) in order to continue receiving financial aid. To make SAP, students must:

• Maintain a cumulative GPA of 2.3 or higher; and,
• Pass 67% of cumulative attempted credits in order to continue qualifying for federal financial aid (this is called 'Pace').

If a student fails to meet either of these requirements, the Financial Aid Office will make a calculation to determine if the student can feasibly meet those requirements during the following semester. If the student can, they will receive a warning from the Financial Aid Office, and will still continue to receive aid for one more semester.

If the student cannot feasibly meet those requirements, or if the student fails to meet the SAP requirements the following semester, their financial aid will be suspended. It is important to note that this is a decision made by the federal government, not the Financial Aid Office, as it is the federal government who is issuing a student's federal financial aid.

If a student has their financial aid suspended, they will need to submit an appeal to reinstate their financial aid. The Financial Aid Office urges students to submit their appeals as soon as possible if their financial aid is suspended.

You can find more information about SAP, as well as further information about financial aid appeals, on the Financial Aid Office's SAP page.

Yes, your TRIO advisor can assist you with appealing to reinstate your financial aid.

You should contact your TRIO advisor immediately if your financial aid has been suspended. The appeal process takes some time. It involves filling out a written appeal and providing documentation for extenuating circumstances. Once completed, it will take additional time for the Financial Aid Office to review appeals. 

You can find more information about suspension appeals on Financial Aid's SAP page.

A good place to begin looking for additional scholarships is the UM Financial Aid Office's Scholarship Page.

Currently enrolled students can apply for internal scholarships through the UM Scholarship Portal. The  Portal's general application opens in November and closes March 15; however, some scholarships have their own individual deadlines. 

Many Academic Department scholarships are available on the Scholarship Portal, but some are listed on the Department's individual pages. You can check your department's scholarship listings here. 

The Davidson Honors College also has scholarship opportunities, both for current DHC students (available here), and for incoming college students (available here).

Reach Higher MT also has several scholarships available for Montana college students. The general application typically opens in early January and closes in early March.

You can also try searching for external scholarships through scholarship databases, such as through CollegeBoard, the Department of Labor, or Sallie Mae. 

When searching for scholarships, you should use specifics that apply to you. Many scholarships have niche or specific eligibility requirements, so start broad, and then narrow down. The following are a few examples:

• Scholarships for Montana students --> scholarships for rural students.
• Scholarships for parents --> scholarships for single parents or parents going back to school.
• Need-based scholarships --> scholarships for Pell Grant recipients.

Parts of a student's identity may also factor into eligibility requirements for some scholarships. For example, scholarships for rural LGBTQ+ students, scholarships for rural indigenous students, etc.

We strongly encourage that all students at UM submit at least a general scholarship application to the Scholarship Portal before the deadline. Many scholarships go un-awarded because students do not apply.