Campus Pipeline
Dependent versus Independent
Financial Need
Freeze Date
General Eligibility Requirements
Health Insurance
MASSPIRG
PIN
Remaining Aid
Renewal FAFSA
Student Aid Report (SAR)
Verification
Campus Pipeline is the College's name for its online campus portal. It provides students with online access to services such as financial aid, registration, course schedules, email, and unofficial transcripts.
Please follow this link to find information on dependent vs independent status.
Your Financial Need is determined by your financial aid counselor based on two factors:
To calculate your Financial Need, your financial aid counselor subtracts your Expected Family Contribution from the Cost of Attendance. If there is anything left over, you're considered to have financial need.
The freeze date is the date when your credits are "frozen" in order to determine your financial aid. The freeze date occurs one week after the beginning of each term or at the end of the official "Add-Drop" period.
Example - Here's an example of how the freeze date affects the amount of financial aid you receive:
Bill Smith started attending classes at NSCC on September 5. The financial aid freeze date occurs one week later on September 12. Here is a list of the number of enrolled credits and when he enrolled in them:
| No. of Credits | Date When Bill Enrolled or Added Credits |
| 6 | August 28 |
| 3 | September 8 |
| 3 | October 2 (for a late-starting class) |
| 12 | Total credits Bill is taking in the Fall |
Students must satisfy the following general requirements to be eligible for financial aid:
The Massachusetts Universal Health Insurance Law requires that every matriculated student carrying (9) credits or more participate in the student health program or in a health insurance program with comparable coverage.
If you have comparable health insurance coverage, you must waive the health insurance charge through your Pipeline account. This must be waived at the beginning of each semester. To waive the charge, log in to Pipeline and make the following clicks:
Important: Free Care is not accepted as adequate health coverage.
MASSPIRG is a statewide, student directed and funded, non-partisan organization that conducts research, advocacy, and public education on such areas as environmental protection, higher education, hunger and homelessness, consumer protection and good government. MASSPIRG is funded by a fee of $9.00 (nine dollars) per student per semester. Any student choosing not to support MASSPIRG may waive the fee.
Your PIN is an electronic access code number. If you are a dependent student for financial aid purposes, your parent should also have a PIN.
Your PIN helps you to:
Your authorized financial aid first pays for your tuition, fees and other school charges on your account. If you have remaining aid you may be eligible for book credit.
Example 1 - Here is an example of a student who is eligible for bookstore credit:
$1,500 - student's authorized financial aid
$1,200 - student's total school charges
$ 300 - remaining financial aid
In this case, this student may be eligible to receive up to $300 credit at the bookstore.
If you completed a FAFSA last year, you have the option of completing a Renewal FAFSA this year. You access the Renewal FAFSA using your PIN.
It's easier than completing a whole new FAFSA all over again. Why? Most of the information you filed the year before will already by filled in on the Renewal form. You need to review each item, correct those that have changed, and provide new information where required.
Your SAR contains the following:
Your financial aid counselor reviews your SAR and determines your eligibility from this document.
Important: If you did not list North Shore Community College on the FAFSA, you may add it in one of two ways:
Each year, the federal government selects a group of financial aid applications for verification. Some are chosen at random. Others are selected because the FAFSA data are inconsistent. The school may also select certain applications to verify due to conflicting or missing information on the FAFSA.
If your SAR is selected for verification, you will be required to submit appropriate documents to Student Financial Services for review. Documentation that may be required includes, but not restricted to, the following:
North Shore Community College