Skip to Local Navigation
Skip to Content
California State University, Long Beach
Skip links

Accepting Your Awards

Accept Your Awards

After you have been notified by email that you have a financial aid award offer, and have reviewed your offer at MyCSULB, you will need to accept or decline your financial aid awards. Awards need to be accepted before they can be credited towards your university-related charges and refunded to you for your living expenses.

If you are not sure if you want to accept a particular award, you may delay that decision until later.

PLEASE NOTE: Some award types have limited funds so delaying your decision may subject the award to cancellation should funds be depleted.

If you have been offered a Direct Stafford Loan as part of your award package, you are not required to accept the maximum loan amount offered to you. You may choose to either accept the full amount, accept a lesser amount, or decline the loan. Details on accepting a lesser amount are included in the steps below.

Steps to Accept and/or Decline Financial Aid Awards

  • Sign in to MyCSULB.
  • Click on the “Student Center” hyperlink located in the “My Menu” section.
  • Select “Accept/Decline Awards” from the “Finances” Section of the Student Center.
  • Select the Aid Year you wish to view.
  • Select “Accept/Decline Awards.”
  • Review each award displayed. Be sure to view important information about awards by clicking on the award name.
  • Accept/Decline Awards: Place a checkmark in either the Accept or Decline column for each award.
  • Direct Stafford Loan: You can choose to accept a loan amount lower than the amount offered.
    • Once a checkmark has been placed in the Stafford Loan Accept column, the amount field in the Accepted column will become available.
    • Change the amount if you wish to decrease the accepted loan amount (you can only decrease the loan amount – you cannot increase the amount above what has been offered). Once you’ve made your desired changes click the “update totals” box.
  • Once you’ve responded to each award (checked either Accept or Decline), and updated any loan amounts, review the information for accuracy as you won’t be able to make any changes online once you’ve clicked “submit.” If you decline an award, even in error, we may not be able to restore it due to fund availability.
  • Click the “Submit” button.
  • A “Submit Confirmation” page will appear, confirming that your submission was successful. Click “OK.”
  • A list of Action Items may appear with instructions on what you need to do next.
    • Click the GO button on each required item and complete as necessary.
    • When you are finished with your action items, click on the Return to Accept/Decline Awards link to return to the awards screen. Review the screen for any messages.

Detailed instructions on Accepting/Declining your Financial Aid Awards, including screenshots, can be found in the Using MyCSULB Guide – under the section “View Financial Aid & Scholarships.”

PLEASE NOTE: Financial Aid Offers are based on FULL-TIME enrollment . The amount of aid that is disbursed will be based on your need AND enrollment. If you are not enrolled full-time, or drop below full-time, some of your financial aid awards may be prorated based on the number of units in which you are enrolled.

Financial Aid and Postponing Payment of Tuition and Fees

A Financial Aid Fee Deferment permits students receiving Federal & State Grants and/or Federal Loans to postpone payment of class registration fees. Deferments are issued based on the expectation that tuition and fees will be paid by financial aid. The deferment protects your classes from enrollment cancellation and defers the required payment of tuition and mandatory fees until your financial aid disbursement is received at CSULB (usually 10 days prior to the start of classes).

For “newly admitted” CSULB students, your accepted award offer serves as your fee deferment. In subsequent years, financial aid recipients who follow the university’s published deadlines for submitting a FAFSA, and meet the financial aid fee deferment guidelines, will be issued a “Fee Deferment” to postpone payment of the upcoming fall semester’s tuition and mandatory fees.

Additional Reading