Welcome! We want to take a few minutes to introduce ourselves in Student Financial Services and some of the services we offer.
Financing a college education has always been a challenging prospect for many students and their families. So we have put this page together to be a resource for you and your family. We want to help you understand some key concepts, some terminology that is specific to financial aid, and some important resources that will make your life as a new student that much easier. It will also help your parents and others to take care of some matters on their own so you can focus on being a college student!
So, bookmark this page. Send the link to your family members. And check back regularly as we add new resources.
UVAPay is the University's online payment processing system. Students automatically have a UVAPay account, and they access it through the Student Information System (SIS). But if you want your parents or others to be able to access your account, you'll need to set them up with an authorized user account in UVAPay.
We strongly encourage students both to grant this access and to do so over the summer before coming to UVA. Find complete instructions for the process here. Authorized users have their own login to UVAPay at https://virginia.myflywire.com/login.
Authorized users and students alike will have full access in UVAPay to
- student charges
- setting up a payment plan
- making one-time payments
- account records from all prior terms
International students can make international wire transfer payments within UVAPay, too! Making a wire payment through UVAPay is the fastest, most economical, and most secure method of making international payments, and you'll have visibility into the status of the payment all along the way.
Follow this link to get a high-level "tour" of how to most effectively interact with Student Financial Services during your time at UVA to keep yourself financially well.
The University offers students and their family the option of spreading out their payments each semester (fall or spring only, not summer or January term, yet) over 3, 4, or 5 months. The 5-month plan for fall starts in May and is available until June 5th. The 4-month plan is the available through July 5th. Don't worry if you did not know or sign up during this earlier time! You can still enroll in the 3-month plan through August 5th.
There is a $60 enrollment fee for each plan, and you sign up for each semester you want to use it. In May, you can even sign up now for a 5-month plan for next spring, if you wish. You won't be charged the enrollment fee until November, and your first payment for spring will be November 5th.
You can find complete and detailed information about the semester payment plan on the SFS website.
When you are here for Orientation, please plan to come see our presentation in Old Cabell Hall. We'll also have staff available at the Resource Fair and in our office in Carruthers Hall. Follow this link to preview the presentation.
You can also use our chatbot on the SFS website (look in the lower right corner!) to get most any basic factual question asked and answered.
The University does not send paper bills to students or parents. Instead, the statement of term charges is available online in UVAPay. This is another important reason for students to set up parents, guardians, and others as authorized users in the UVAPay system.
For the fall 2024 term, the statement of charges will be available on August 6th, and the bill is due by September 6th. Spring term charges are typically available in early December and the bill is due about a week before classes start in January. See our Due Dates page for the most up-to-date information for each term.
Pro tip: students should look at the Account Summary page in UVAPay rather than in SIS for the best view of their charges, pending financial aid, and any amount due. SIS will not readily show financial aid that is expected to help pay the charges.
Financial aid that you have been offered will remain in an "anticipated" status until about 10 days before the start of the term. This means that you'll see your charges hanging out on your account and wonder why your aid hasn't covered them. Don't worry if you see this! Again, this is where the Account Summary screen in UVAPay is your friend. For the fall 2024 term, most financial aid should actually credit your student account on or around August 19th. At that time, you should expect to see your amount due decrease.
If your financial aid doesn't disburse (i.e. credit your account) on August 19th, double check your To Do List in SIS to make sure you don't have anything related to your financial aid that needs to be done.
If your financial aid or your payments are greater than your charges, you will be due a refund from the University. The fastest and most secure way to receive your refund is by signing up for direct deposit. You'll indicate what bank account you want the money to come to, and then you'll get your money to pay for books and other costs during the first week of classes. We usually start to process refunds the first week of classes each term.
Did you know that as a UVA student, you have access to free personal financial counseling from a trained peer counselor? You do! Through the Peer Financial Counseling program, you can receive confidential assistance with creating and sticking to a budget for your time at UVA, managing personal credit, understanding student loans, and even the basics of investing.
You may not have heard of tuition insurance before, but it can be a useful option for students who might be concerned about their ability to complete a given term. UVA has partnered with GradGuardTM to offer this option to UVA students.
We have no financial interest in students purchasing tuition insurance, and we do not suggest that students purchase it. But we do want to make students and their family aware that it is available. More information about tuition insurance is available on our website.