Banner Web – Financial Aid
This is the MSU Great Falls homepage. It is located at www.msugf.edu *Note that the Campus Announcements and News Releases in the center of the page will always be changing. Under Popular Links on the right hand side of the webpage you will see the link for Banner Web – My Info (it is circled in the picture for your reference)
Banner Web is where you look at the class schedule, register for classes, get a copy of your transcript, access your
financial aid, pay your bill to the college and many other things. We will explore these further.
Click your left mouse button on Banner Web a new window will open. You will do many things in Banner Web. We will be concentrating on Financial Aid.
The Financial Aid link will take you to the Financial Aid page of MSU Great Fall’s webpage. We will go back to this page later.
From the Banner Web homepage click on Enter Secure Area. This is circled in the picture below for your reference
To enter the secure area you will need your Student ID number (or social security number) and PIN number.
• Your student ID number was listed on the acceptance letter that you received from the Admissions Office at MSU Great Falls. *Please note your ID number begins with a dash – and you must use the dash when typing in the ID number.
o If you do not have a student ID number yet, you can use your social security number with no dashes as your User ID
• Your PIN number is your six digit birthdate unless you have changed it to something else. For example if you were born on February 2nd, 1986 your PIN number would be 020286
Type these numbers in the appropriate boxes and click Login
Your PIN number may have expired, requiring you to choose a new PIN. Your new PIN must be 6 digits long. If you have to change your pin number the screen will look like this:
The very first time that you log in to Banner Web you will be asked to create a security question. This question will only be used if you say that you have forgotten your 6 digit PIN number. You can type in any question/answer you want.
Please be sure to type in a question that you will remember, it may be a couple of years before you forget your PIN number. For example, you may not want to put in the question “What is my boyfriend/girlfriends name?” because by the time that you forget your PIN number that person may have changed. A sample question is below
Next you will see the welcome screen
You can do many different things out here on Banner Web.
• The first link that you see is for Announcing MyMSU Portal. This is where you will go to get information to set up your student e‐mail account after you have registered for courses.
o After you register for courses you will be assigned a campus email account.
o As a student it is your responsibility to check this account 2 times per week when classes are in session.
o You can access your email account from the MSU Great Falls webpage under the icon for My MSU on the top right hand side of the page . *Please note you must first set up this account, and to do so you must click on the Announcing MyMSU Portal link
• Under Personal Information you will be able to view the address, phone number and email address that MSU Great Falls has on file for you. You can also change your six digit PIN number here
• Student Information. You can register for your classes, see your grades and view your transcripts here.
• Electronic Billing and Payment – this is where you will go to see your bill to the college or to pay it online.
• Financial Information. This is the link we will be concentrating on.
• WebCT.com if you are taking any online classes you can access your WebCT information here.
• Communications – you can see any communications that you may receive from the school.
Right now we will focus on the Financial Information tab. It is circled in the above picture for your reference. Please click on this tab. It will bring up the Financial Aid page.
First let’s check to see if there are any important messages from the Financial Aid office. Click on My Important Messages
Select the Aid Year that you are looking for information on from the drop down menu. Then click on submit.
*Please note: an Aid Year begins the fall semester and goes from fall to spring to summer. For example the 2007‐2008 aid year would cover Fall 2007, Spring 2008 and Summer 2008. Be sure that you are checking the correct aid year for what you are looking for.
If you have any messages from the financial aid office you will see them on the next screen, if you do not you will see the message that you do not have any messages.
After viewing your messages, click on Return to Menu. This is circled in the picture below for your reference.
This will bring back the Financial Aid page. Now we will view My Eligibility to see if there are any missing requirements that need to be turned into the Financial Aid Office. It is circled in the picture below for your reference.
From the Eligibility page, choose View Unsatisfied and Satisfied Requirements. It is circled in the picture below for your reference.
This will bring up your requirements for the Aid Year that we previously chose.
If you have Unsatisfied Requirements they will be listed. If one of the requirements is a form that you need to fill out, you can click on the name of the from and it will take you to the financial aid portion of the MSU Great Falls website to print out the forms that you need. Be sure that you write down the names of the forms that you need so that you can print them all at once. The form names are circled in the picture below for your reference.
When clicking on the link for the forms you will be taken directly to the new page. You can then choose the forms that you need. They will be listed down the left side of the page for a quick link to them, or down the middle of the page with descriptions. See the picture below for examples of both.
When you choose the form(s) that you need to fill out a new window with the form will open up. Be sure that you print out these forms, fill them out and return them to the financial aid office.
After you have printed your forms you will need to click on back or your back arrow to get back to Banner Web and your requirements.
You may have other requirements that you need to turn into the financial aid office that are not forms to fill out. These will not be clickable links for you. An example of this would be New Student Entrance Counseling or Student’s 2006 Federal Tax Form. These are circled in the picture below for your reference.
To learn more about the requirements that you need to provide to financial aid you can click on Requirement Messages.
This is circled in the picture below for your reference. This link will tell you important information about the things that you need to do for the financial aid office.
After you have viewed your Requirement Messages click on the back arrow or Return to menu to return to the
Requirement page. Your Satisfied Requirements (things that you have already turned in) are also listed on this page.
After all of your Requirements are satisfied the Financial Aid Office will determine what you are eligible for for financial aid.
*Please note: every student may have different requirements and the ones that are listed are only provided as an example.
After the financial aid office has determined what you are eligible to receive for financial aid you will have an Award Letter available. From the Financial Aid main page choose My Award Letter. It is circled in the picture below for your reference.
Please note – you will only be able to view your award letter one time in the format that will display. If you want to have a copy of the letter you must print out the next page.
Here is an example of an Award Letter –
After viewing your award letter chose CONTINUE to next page to accept/decline aid ‐ Remember to print this page if you want a copy of it!
Read though all of the information that is listed on the next page. You can print this out if you would like a copy for your records. You must agree to the Confidentiality Statement, Authorization Statement and Student Statement by clicking on the I Agree button at the bottom of the page.
Before clicking on the I Agree button at the bottom of the page, be sure you visit the Financial Aid Information Guide (also circled in the pi cture below) to access important information regarding your financial aid. *Please note you can also access this information at any time at http://www.msugf.edu/finaid/InfoGuide0708.htm
The next page will allow you to decide what you wish to accept for your financial aid offer. It is very important that you read all of the information that is listed on this screen.
If you wish to Accept the Full Amount of All Awards that you are offered click on this button.
If you would like to only accept part of the amount that you are offered Choose Accept in the Award Decision Column and then put the amount that you wish to accept in the Accept Partial Amount column. Then click on the Submit Decision button.
If you wish to decline part or all of the financial aid that you are offered choose Decline in the Award Decision column and choose Submit Decision
If you are unsure if you would like to Accept or Decline part or all of your financial aid you can choose the Decide Later option in the Award Decision column. Please remember that until you accept your financial aid it will not be able to pay to your student account.
After you have accepted or declined your financial aid awards you will see a new screen that will show your decision(s).
Notice the Status column
Please Note: If you wish to change an award that you have accepted or declined or are planning on changing your enrollment status (how many credit you are taking, which semesters you are planning on attending) you will want to contact the financial aid office immediately.
If you have any questions about anything on these instructions please contact the financial aid office at 406‐771‐4334 or 800‐446‐2698 or finaid@msugf.edu
