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Pepperdine | School of Public Policy

Financial Aid Procedures

Financial aid may take several weeks to process; therefore, students are encouraged to apply for financial aid at least 8 weeks prior to the start of their studies for the academic year. Students must reapply for financial aid each academic year.

To be eligible for financial aid an applicant must:

  • be a US citizen or Resident Alien
  • not be in student loan default
  • be enrolled at least half-time to borrow federal loans
  • be enrolled full-time in coursework to receive Pepperdine grants and scholarships

To apply for financial aid, please follow the steps below:

Step 1: Complete the Online FAFSA form
Approximately four weeks after submission of the FAFSA you will receive your Student Aid Report via email. Please review your Student Aid Report carefully.  Pepperdine will receive your Student Aid Report electronically.

In some cases, we may require additional information for your financial aid application.  If so, the School of Public Policy Financial Aid Office will notify you via email.  You should also check your "To Do" list in your Student Center (WaveNet) to find out if additional information is required. (To access your Student Center, log in to Wavenet at https://wavenet.pepperdine.edu and click on the "Student Services" tab in the upper right of the Wavenet homepage).

If your file is selected for verification, you will be required to submit:

1) 2019 IRS Tax Return Transcript (and your spouse's, if married). To request an IRS Transcript go to http://www.irs.gov/transcript or call at 1-800-829-1040.

2) 2021-2022 Verification Worksheet.

We recommend that you complete your 2019 Federal Income Tax Return (if applicable) prior to filing the FAFSA or FAFSA Renewal Form.

Step 2: View and Accept/Decline Your Financial Aid Amounts in Wavenet (Student Portal)

You will receive an email notification in the summer preceding the fall term to your Pepperdine email address when your financial aid has been processed in Wavenet at http://wavenet.pepperdine.edu to complete the following:

Accept, reduce or decline your financial aid amounts

Read and accept the Financial Aid Terms and Conditions

Step 3: Complete Online Loan Counseling (NEW STUDENTS ONLY)

First-year students and/or first-time borrowers with the School of Public Policy must complete the mandatory Federal Direct loan entrance counseling for both the Federal Stafford and Federal Graduate PLUS loans before the Financial Aid Office can process your loan(s). The purpose of loan entrance counseling is to inform you of your rights and responsibilities when borrowing a student loan. (if you are a second year student you do not have to complete it again).  Student Loan Entrance Counseling  

Before you graduate (or if/when you drop below half-time enrollment status) you will be required to complete Student Loan Exit Counseling. If you cannot complete Loan Counseling online, you may request to meet with the Financial Aid office in person by calling 310.506.7493.


Step 4: Federal Direct Graduate PLUS Loan Credit Check

If you also plan on borrowing the Federal Direct Graduate PLUS Loan go back to the home page and then click on the “Start PLUS Application Process” link. Select “Graduate PLUS loan” and then go through the process to have your credit history checked.

a. If your Direct Graduate PLUS loan is credit denied you will be given the option to add a credit-worthy Endorser (co-signer) to the loan and also the option to appeal your credit decision. If you will not be adding an Endorser or appealing your credit decision please either log into WaveNet and “decline” the loan in your Accept/Decline Financial Aid Award page or fax your credit decision to the Office of Financial Assistance at 310.506.7494 so that we can remove the loan from your award.

b. If your loan is credit approved you will then be prompted to complete the Direct Graduate PLUS Loan Master Promissory Note.

Step 5: E-Sign Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford & Graduate PLUS Loan Master Promissory Note (MPN)

You will need the following before you start:

FSA ID - if you do not know your FSA ID go to fsaid.ed.gov and “Create or Edit your FSA ID”.

Name and address of two references. Your first reference can be your parent. The second reference needs to be at a different address than your first reference.

1. Go to www.studentaid.gov

2. Click on the green “Sign In” button. If you do not see the green “Sign In” button you are using a browser that is not supported. See the FAQ, Master Promissory Note section for supported browsers.

3. Input your social security number, first two characters of your last name, date of birth, and your FAFSA PIN #. Then click on the “Sign In” button. The ss#, last name and date of birth need to match what you listed when you completed the FAFSA form.

4. Verify your personal information, then click on the “Complete Master Promissory Note” link.

5. Select Subsidized/Unsubsidized.

6. Select “Pepperdine University” as the school. Do Not Select Pepperdine School of Public Policy or Pepperdine Law School.

7. Complete the Personal Information and Personal References sections. If you see a red “X” next to a field it means that the information you input is either invalid or was not input in the correct format.

8. Terms & Conditions – You must open each section (C, D, E & G) in order to proceed. Check the box at the bottom of the page and click on "Continue".

9. Review your Personal Information, School Information and Personal References.

10. If the data is correct then click on the “Sign” button.

11. You will need to click on the HTML Version link in order to Review your Master Promissory Note, once you have reviewed the note click on the “Continue” button.

12. The next page should then say “Thank you for submitting the MPN . . . “

13. If you want to download the PDF version of the promissory note you can now do so. You can also log back into https://studentaid.gov/ at any time and view or print your promissory note.

If you have any problems or questions during the online MPN process please contact the Department of Education directly by using the “Contact Us” section on the https://studentaid.gov/ website.