Financial aid is offered for the academic year unless otherwise specified. Most offers are automatically applied to the payment of tuition, fees, room costs, and meal plans. Any remaining financial aid will be refunded to the student, although certain exceptions do apply.
Please note that federal financial aid will not pay any auxiliary charges on your account (e.g., bookstore, parking tickets, printing fees).
Also note that refunds may be delayed if you have a Student Finance Hold.
A refund is generated when the total amount of your financial aid exceeds your charges. For example: if your federal loans exceed your tuition and fee charges, you will likely receive a refund.
However, some types of offers do not produce refunds. For example: tuition-only items will not generate funds, as such offers only pay for tuition charges.
Refunds are processed within two weeks of the credit appearing on the account. If you do not have direct deposit, your refund will process as a check and be sent to your local mailing address as it appears in SIS. If you have signed up for direct deposit, you will receive an email notification approximately two business days before the refund is deposited into your account.
A stipend is different from a refund of excess financial aid. A stipend is offered directly to the student and is not applied toward any outstanding charges on a student’s account. Stipend disbursement dates can be viewed in your SIS account.
Federal regulations and University policies require Student Financial Services to consider all sources of assistance received by a student when determining eligibility for financial aid.
Outside educational resources include, but are not limited to, Social Security Educational Benefits, Veterans Benefits, Vocational Rehabilitation benefits, payments from Bureau of Indian Affairs, Americorps, Prepayment Tuition Plans, ROTC benefits, tuition benefits from employers, and any grants and scholarships from high school, private and civic organizations, foundations, businesses, or corporations.
It is the student's responsibility to notify Student Financial Services if they will receive any assistance not reflected on their offer letter. If the student will receive outside scholarships, they should complete the Outside Scholarships Self-Reporting Form, which is available on our Forms page under the link to the appropriate academic year.
Reductions that must be made are completed in the following order: any unmet need, need-based loans, work study and then need-based grants. Every effort will be made not to reduce University grants unless required by federal or state regulations and University policy. State grants are considered outside resources, and these will be used to reduce need-based grants before need-based loans or work study are reduced.
Please Note: For Title IV Federal financial aid programs and any need-based financial aid, the total financial aid package a student receives cannot exceed the University's estimated cost of attendance.
Pending Aid: Students who report non-university offers to Student Financial Services will receive financial aid pending annotated on their student billing accounts. Actual amounts will be credited to the student's account when the offer funds are received. At some point during the academic year, if it is deemed unlikely that unreceived non-university offers fund will be received, this pending aid may be removed from a student's account.
Certification of Enrollment: Sponsoring organizations often require verification of enrollment or academic record information before scholarship payments are made to the University. Students need to contact the Office of the University Registrar to request that this information be mailed if required by the sponsoring organization.
Third-party Billing: Sponsoring organizations may also require a billing statement from the University before scholarship payments are made to the University. Students need to submit a written request to the Scholarship and Fellowship Unit in Student Accounts for a billing statement to be mailed to the sponsoring organization.