Mission

The Palmetto College Central Financial Aid Office is to provide administrative support to the Financial Aid Offices located on the University of South Carolina Palmetto College campuses.

Functions

The Palmetto College Central Financial Aid Office performs the following functions to fulfill its mission:

• Secure the application of all federal Title IV aid, state scholarships and grants, and allocate these funds to the individual Palmetto College campuses.
• Establish policies and procedures to ensure appropriate compliance with federal, state, and University regulations.
• Design policies wherein individual campuses' structure and needs are addressed by encouraging input from the financial aid directors.
• Account for the entire Palmetto College campuses' system and applicable fiscal reporting.
• Maintain an ongoing training program for the Palmetto College campuses' Financial Aid Directors and their respective staffs.
• Program development of the computerized record keeping to provide more efficient and effective service to the Palmetto College campuses' students.

Code of Conduct

The University of South Carolina Palmetto College Financial Aid Offices (PCFAO) consider every aspect of the administration of student financial aid to be a vital part of either its compliant administrative responsibilities or service to students and their families, if not both. In conducting the responsibilities mandated by statute, regulation, and/or other directive as well as those associated with quality service delivery, the PCFAO adheres to the following guiding principles:

1. No action will be taken by financial aid staff that is for their personal benefit or could be perceived to be a conflict of interest.
   1. Employees within the financial aid office will not offer aid to themselves or their immediate family members. Staff will reserve this task to an institutionally designated person, to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.
   2. Beginning with the 2010-11 academic year, all Subsidized and Unsubsidized Stafford Loans as well as all Parent Loans are being made through the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program. As a result of this requirement, all relationships and related potential issues with lenders that could be related to the administration of these programs under the Federal Family Educational Loan (FFEL) Program have ceased.
   3. The PCFAO will continue to process private educational loans through any lender requested by the borrower without any prejudice. When appropriate, and in what is believed to be the borrower's best interest, timely communication will be initiated to help ensure that the borrower is aware of any perceived, potential issues that might arise from his or her lender selection; however, the borrower's lender choice will always be honored.
   4. No amount of cash, gift, or benefit in excess of a de minims amount shall be accepted by a financial aid staff member from any financial aid applicant (or his/her family), or from any entity doing business with or seeking to do business with the institution (including service on advisory committees or boards beyond reimbursement for reasonable expenses directly associated with such service).

2. Information provided by the financial aid office is accurate, unbiased, and does not reflect preference arising from actual or potential personal gain.
3. Institutional financial aid notifications and supporting documents will provide clear and thorough disclosures of all information pertinent to the recipient’s understanding of the factors related to his or her annual financial aid.
4. The PCFAO will ensure or encourage that all required consumer information is displayed in an easily accessible location on the institutions website(s) and that any printed materials are identifiable and distributed as appropriate.
5. Financial aid professionals will disclose to their institution any involvement, interest in, or potential conflict of interest with any entity with which the institution has a business relationship.