Banner Student Aid (BSA). It is the authoritative source for all financial aid and award data at McGill. BSA provides a comprehensive set of interfaces and functions to support staff and students in their financial aid/award related activities.

Learn more about BSA.

• The first letter is the award type. The values can be, for example, F = fellowship; A = athletics award; M = miscellaneous award; R = research award; S = scholarship.
• The next 6 digits are the FIS Fund number that is associated with the award.
• The 8th position is a letter representing the "Program Stage." The values are: E = one-year entrance; C = in-course; V = convocation; R = renewable entrance and W = renewable in-course.
• The last two digits represent a numbered change to the properties of the Aid Fund.

Several different awards can be linked to the same Finance Fund simply by creating individual AFCs for each award.

Aid Fund Codes are created only by GPS and SSAO.

Learn more about Creating Aid Fund Codes.

• Aid Type - the type of award. Values include: Scholarship, Fellowship, Stipend, etc.
• Fund Group - who is responsible for administering the award. Values include: UNIV (University, i.e. GPS or SSAO) ; FACU (Faculty); NADA (Non-Academic Department)
• Program Stage - the stage of studies for which the award is intended. Values include Entrance, In-Course, Convocation
• Processor - Central office that will complete the processing of the awards, either GPS or SSAO
• Administrator - Unit(s) which can submit an award for processing i.e. which Faculty/Dept/Unit
• Recipient – Faculty whose students qualify for the award

Code indicating the status of a particular award for a particular student.

Examples of aid fund status codes are "ACPT (Accepted)", "OFFR (Offered)", "DECL (declined)".

When an award is submitted via the Award Processing Form it is in an accepted status (ACFP or ACGP) with a description of "Approved." Once the central office has processed the award it is still in an "Accepted status (AC)" with a description of "Assigned."

Aid fund status codes can be changed when necessary. For example, an aid fund status of "AC (Accepted)" could be changed to "CANC (Cancelled)" by a central office. If a student declines an award in Minerva the (AC) status changes to "DECL (Declined)".

The aid fund status code description will appear within the BSA forms, on the web and in selected reports. Most descriptions are viewable on the web by students when they check the status of their financial aid awards on Minerva.

Learn more about Aid Fund Status Codes.

A grouping of financial aid terms that can identify particular parts of a year in which students may be enrolled.

Examples include: Fall/Winter, Spring/Summer, full year, summer only, etc.

At McGill we have decided to create only one aid period covering the entire Aid Year. This Aid period is being called “YEAR”.

A complete year for which the Student Aid is being tracked. McGill defines an aid year as September to August 31st of the following year. For example, aid year 1819 would run from September 1, 2018 to August 31, 2019.

For more information on Aid Year (and the Processing Calendar), click on the links: Undergraduate students; Graduate students.

Awards that have not been disbursed may be cancelled. Central Aid Offices revise the status to allow award processors the ability to process the cancellation in Minerva.

Learn more about Award Cancellation.

Schedule of award payments. An award may be paid all at once or in multiple, pre-established pay dates to student fees (Accounts Receivable) or to direct deposit or cheque (Accounts Payable).

A disbursement schedule is normally attached to an aid fund when it is created by a central office. This is called a default disbursement schedule. Default disbursement schedules may be changed or "customized" when submitting awards via the Award Processing Form (APF).

Learn more about Disbursement Schedules.