If you are anticipating a refund of financial aid in excess of your direct charges, we encourage you to sign up for direct deposit to receive your proceeds sooner and more securely. Until further notice, paper checks will be processed only on Fridays.
The University of Virginia complies with all applicable state and federal regulations governing the delivery of refunds on student accounts. The refund guidelines that follow are established to ensure the ethical, professional, and timely delivery of eligible credits on a student's account resulting from:
- A direct payment (see "Refunds from Direct Payments" below) by cash, check, wire transfer, or credit card which exceeds the total charges on that account;
- A federal financial aid disbursement that exceeds the allowable or authorized charges; or,
- An overpayment of charges by a third-party sponsor or scholarship donor.
A note on confidentiality: We cannot speak with anyone but the student about their UVA finances unless the student has established that person as an authorized user in UVAPay.
Do you have questions about refunds due to withdrawal from the University? Follow this link to go directly to the University's Tuition and Fees Adjustment Policy.
Eligible credits are processed as Refunds to the student in one of three ways:
Direct Deposit
- If you have previously signed up for direct deposit for your refunds, you should receive an email 1-2 business days after the refund date in the Student Information System (SIS) that confirms the amount. Generally, direct deposit funds should arrive in your designated bank account within 3-5 business days after the effective date posted in SIS.
- Direct deposit information for refunds is separate from the bank account information used in UVAPay. We do not store full payment account details in our student system, so you must set up direct deposit through SIS separately to receive refunds to your bank account.
- Please note: if a direct deposit fails for any reason, your refund will be issued as a paper check to the mailing address on record in SIS. Please allow at least 5-15 business days from the date of reissue for the check to arrive. Reasons for direct deposit failure include but are not limited to: “Bank Account Closed” or “No Bank Account/Cannot Locate” or “Insufficient Bank Details in SIS.” In these cases, we'll follow up with an email to you that the direct deposit failed.
Paper Checks
- If you have not signed up for direct deposit, a paper check will be issued to the current mailing address that you have on file in SIS. Please allow at least 5-15 business days for the check to be received at your Mailing Address.
- You should receive an email communication when the refund has been processed.
- Requests for replacement refund checks will not be approved until 30 calendar days after the date the check was issued.
- Parent PLUS Loan credits are refunded per instructions on the Parent PLUS loan application. This means excess credits from the Parent PLUS loan may be refunded to the parent or the student depending on instructions the parent provided on the application. All Parent PLUS refunds issued to the parent are issued as a paper check. We are unable to process refunds to parents as direct deposit.
Credit Card Returns
- If the refundable credit derives from a credit card payment, UVA will first attempt to process the return authorization using the same account that was used for the original payment transaction in accordance with the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council’s best practices.
- If the return authorization request is declined, the original payment was submitted greater than 6 months ago, or there are other non-credit card payment sources on the account, UVA may refund the eligible credit as a direct deposit or paper check as outlined above.
- You should receive an email communication when the refund has been processed.
Refunds may be delayed if the student has a Student Account Hold.
Refunds from Direct Payments (non-Title IV funds)
Refundable credits occur when aid disburses or a payment is received in excess of the account balance, or when charges that were previously paid are adjusted. A credit balance resulting from a direct payment on a University account that exceeds the total of charges on that account will be refunded to the account holder. If a credit balance on a University account is the result of an overpayment by electronic means or by check, the refund will be processed after sufficient time has elapsed to allow for the funds to clear the bank (generally at least 10 business days).
Overpayment & Fraud Prevention Policy: In order to reduce risk to the University associated with possible fund source concealment (i.e., money laundering), the University will not accept direct payments in excess of $5,000 of the student account balance. Amounts received that exceed this threshold will be retained and applied to future charges or returned to the original fund source (e.g., standard wire transfer or mailed check payments). Personal direct payments intended for living or other personal expenses should be routed through non-University accounts. Any special circumstances must be coordinated with prior approval from Student Financial Services.
Refunds from Financial Aid (Federal Title IV funds)
A financial aid refund is defined as financial aid/loan credits greater than charges owed to the University. Please note that federal fund sources (such as Direct Loans) generally can only pay tuition and fees charges.
All refunds are issued to the student, with the exception of credits resulting from Direct PLUS (Parent PLUS) loans. Unless the parent indicates otherwise on the application, credits resulting from PLUS proceeds will be refunded directly to the parent.
Timely refunds are dependent upon the receipt and processing of all documents required and upon enrollment in direct deposit. Please allow 5 business days for newly established direct deposit agreements to take effect. Any refunds authorized before the direct deposit agreement takes effect will be sent as paper checks. If you have not provided us your bank information, your refund check will be mailed to the mailing address on record in SIS at the time the refund is processed. Students are notified by email after a refund has been initiated in SIS. If you established direct deposit, you should receive an email confirmation of direct deposit amount from Accounts Payable at the University.
Refunds from Payment Plan Credits
Is the amount of your term payment plan more than your expected charges? If a credit results from a payment plan overpayment, the refund will be processed soon after the plan ends. With automatic rebalancing of payment plans, however, such over payments should be rare.
You can see the status of a pending refund or details about past refunds from your SIS account. Log in to SIS at https://www.virginia.edu/sis. Then click on "Financials" in the left menu, then "View Refunds".
If you have a refund in process or have had a refund in the past, you'll see a page that looks like the below screenshot.
Click "Refund Details" to see a refund's status, how it was completed (e.g., paper check or direct deposit), the amount, and the date.
Once you see the "Complete" status on the refund details, you'll know that your funds are on the way!
FAQ
If you believe you’re due a refund but have not received it, please log in to UVAPay from the dashboard of your SIS account to review current account details to confirm a refund was issued. If a refund was processed, please be sure to verify your mailing address and/or direct deposit details. Alternatively, please contact us at [email protected] to review your account.
If a paper check was issued and you did not receive it, please note requests for replacement refund checks will not be accepted until 30 calendar days after the date the original check was issued. Prior to placing your request, please enroll for direct deposit and/or update your mailing information in SIS. Once your information is updated and 30 calendar days have passed, please contact our office to request a stop payment and reissue.
If a direct deposit refund was issued and you did not receive it, please note requests for replacement refund will not be accepted until 30 calendar days after the date the original direct deposit was issued. If the direct deposit file failed, our Accounts Payable team will reissue the refund as a paper check to the Mailing Address on file in SIS. To avoid future delays, please update your direct deposit information.
If you have previously signed up for direct deposit for your refunds, the funds should arrive in your designated bank account within 2-5 business days after the SIS effective date. For direct deposit, you should receive an email confirmation of direct deposit amount from Accounts Payable at the University.
If you have not signed up for direct deposit, a paper check will be issued to the current Mailing Address that you have on file in the Student Information System. Please allow at least 5-15 business days for the check to be received at your Mailing Address.
Direct deposit information will be active 24-48 hours from activation. Refunds issued thereafter should be direct-deposited.
If money has been directly deposited to a closed bank account we recommend the student contact the bank themselves to see if the account can be reopened. This will be the quickest way for you to receive your refund. Otherwise we must wait for the receiving bank to return the funds to UVA. Once the funds are returned to UVA, our office will contact you to update your bank details or clear the data to issue a paper check to your Mailing address on record.
Direct deposit of refunds are transmitted to the bank daily. Notification of the refund deposit will be sent to you via email from our Accounts Payable team.
You may make any changes to your direct deposit information through the online enrollment system within the SIS Finance Center. Changes will become effective 24-48 hours from the date of the changes.
With direct deposit, the entire amount of your refund must be deposited to your designated bank account.
UVA is required to comply with U.S. Federal Tax and Immigration Law when making payments to or on behalf of noncitizens of the United States. For international, non-U.S. Citizen, and/or non-U.S. Resident students who receive fellowship payments (sometimes referred to as stipends) or refunds, you may have 14% deducted for taxes prior to refund generation (unless your situation is eligible to claim Treaty Benefits). For more information about the foreign national tax, please visit UVA’s international taxation services webpage.
We do not mail checks to international addresses. If we issued a stipend/refund and you do not have a valid US Bank account for direct deposit or a local US mailing address, we will contact you to confirm how to proceed with your refund. E.g., we can hold your check at Carruthers, reissue as direct deposit once you update your bank information, or mail to a local mailing address you provide us.