There are times a student may need to take courses at a school other than KU Medical Center. If those courses fit the KU Medical Center curriculum and will apply toward the student's degree at KU Medical Center, the student may be eligible to receive financial aid to cover the cost of those courses.

To be eligible for a consortium agreement, a student must be enrolled in approximately 6 hours or be half-time status at KU Medical Center. Exceptions are considered on a case-by-case basis.

If a student is required to take courses at another institution while in pursuit of a degree at KU Medical Center, and the student wants financial aid to cover these expenses, the student will need to contact Student Financial Aid before coursework begins.

After meeting with a financial aid counselor to discuss enrollment, the Student Financial Aid office will require the student and the student's academic advisor to complete and sign an Advisor Certification Form. Once that has been submitted, the KU Medical Center Office of Student Financial Aid will enter into a consortium agreement with the other institution at which the student is enrolling.

This consortium agreement is a written document between the two institutions confirming that KU Medical Center, as the home institution, agrees to award financial aid for the coursework at the host institution and that the host institution will not be providing aid to the student for this time period.

These are the instances in which aid can be awarded to the student while the student is attending another institution:

• The course is required for the student's degree at KU Medical Center, is part of the KU Medical Center curriculum, and not offered at KU Medical Center for that specific term.
• The course is required for the student's degree at KU Medical Center, is part of the KU Medical Center curriculum, and the course is full.
• The student's advisor recommends that the student take the course at another institution because the course will enhance the student's degree and provide valuable preparation for the student's chosen profession.
• Other instances depend on the situation. Each is handled on a case-by-case basis.

The student is responsible for:

• Completing all necessary paperwork prior to the start of the course.
• Paying tuition, fees and other expenses assessed by the host school.
• Notifying KU Medical Center Student Financial Aid and the host institution of any changes to enrollment once the student has submitted the paperwork.
• Maintaining Satisfactory Academic Progress and degree-seeking status at KU Medical Center.
• Requesting academic transcripts be sent to KU Medical Center from the host school at the end of the semester, once grades are posted and official transcripts are available.

KU Medical CenterStudent Financial Aid is responsible for:

• Maintaining a record of the consortium agreement and other applicable documents.
• Certifying degree seeking status and monitoring Satisfactory Academic Progress.
• Providing student consumer information.
• Processing the student's financial aid application and awarding funds based on the student's individual eligibility.
• Providing a copy of the consortium agreement to the KU Medical Center Registrar for enrollment certification purposes.
• Calculating Return of Title IV Aid when applicable.

The host institution is responsible for:

• Providing documentation of student's enrollment at the host institution and cost of attendance for the term specified on the consortium agreement.
• Providing student consumer information.
• Notifying KU Medical Center if the student fails to enroll in the approved courses, or drops, withdraws or substitutes coursework.

University of Kansas, Lawrence campus

Students who take courses at the University of Kansas Lawrence campus do not need to complete a consortium agreement. While each campus processes financial aid at the respective campuses, both campuses process financial aid under the same school code, and the financial aid system will only allow a student to receive financial aid from one campus. Therefore, there is no risk of a student receiving financial aid from both the KU Medical Center and KU financial aid offices.

University of Kansas Continuing Education Courses

If the student is enrolling in an eligible Continuing Education course for the fall or spring that has been approved by the student's advisor, is part of the student's KU Medical Center curriculum, and is necessary for the student's degree at KU Medical Center, the student and the student's KU Medical Center academic advisor are required to complete the Advisor Certification Form.

Any Continuing Education course taken must be completed within the standard enrollment dates of the semester for which the student is receiving financial aid for the course. For example, if the student is taking the Continuing Education course and receiving aid for the fall semester, the student must begin and end the course within the stated dates of the fall semester.

Please contact the Student Financial Aid office for additional paperwork required for students approved to take courses through Continuing Education to ensure timely disbursement of funds. Continuing Education courses will not be funded for summer semesters.

Great Plains IDEA program

The Great Plains IDEA program is a consortium of eight universities and provides an online 36-credit hour Master of Science in Dietetics and Nutrition degree.

• Students participating in the Great Plains IDEA program are eligible to receive financial aid for the courses taken at any of the eight participating universities.
• KU Medical Center students participating in the Great Plains IDEA will be enrolled in KU Medical Center courses at KU Medical Center, although the online instruction can come from faculty at any of the universities in this agreement.
• Students will not be enrolling in any campus other than their home campus.
• KU Medical Center students participating in the Great Plains IDEA will pay tuition and fees directly to KU Medical Center.

Since all students in this program will be enrolled in KU Medical Center courses and pay KU Medical Center tuition and fees, no additional consortium agreement is necessary for these students unless the courses they take or the location of the courses are not part of the Great Plains IDEA.

NEXus

NEXus is a consortium of universities providing instruction to online students in the School of Nursing.

• Students participating in the NEXus program are eligible to receive financial aid for the courses taken at any of the participating universities.
• KU Medical Center students participating in the NEXus program will enroll in courses at the campus the course will be taught. If the student is taking a class at another location, the host school will manage the enrollment for that course.
• The Registrar's Office will not enroll students in any course that is being taken at a host school while the student is taking the course.
• Once courses are completed at the host school, the course will transfer in to KU Medical Center, where it will be added to their transcript.
• KU Medical Center students participating in the NEXus program will pay tuition and fees to the host school.
• Graduate-level nursing students will be allowed funding for a graduate-level statistics course if one is not completed prior to enrollment at KU Medical Center.

Since students in this program may be enrolled at any of the participating campuses, a consortium agreement is required for all courses taken at other NEXus locations.

The School of Nursing will notify the Student Financial Aid Office when a student is scheduled to be enrolled at different locations. Since no enrollment will show up for these courses until the course is completed, if the student or School of Nursing fails to notify the Student Financial Aid office of the student's participation in these courses, the student's financial aid will only be processed for those courses taken at KU Medical Center.