FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS FOR FINANCIAL AID

Disbursement of Financial Aid

1. How is my financial aid paid to me?
   With the exception of Federal Work Study and some student loans, your student aid is not paid to you directly at the beginning of the term. When a student is accepted for admission and registers for classes, an individual account is created for the student in the Cashier's Office. All charges for tuition, student fees, housing and meal fees, parking fees, etc. are applied to that account to determine the total amount the student owes to the College.
   When a student contacts the Cashier's Office to confirm his schedule and accept his fees, his aid is "authorized" to his account at that time. When aid is "authorized," the Cashier's Office can accept charges based on what the student's expected aid disbursement will be based on the student's total hours of enrollment. However, the financial aid awards are not yet disbursed to the student's account.
   After the term begins and the drop/add period has ended, which is usually at the end of the first week of class, the student's financial aid awards are actually disbursed to the student's account and his fees paid.
   With regard to federal student loans, most loan funds are now received by the College electronically and are received after the end of the drop/add period for the term. As with most other aid, loan funds are disbursed to the student's account and applied to any unpaid fees.
   With regard to Federal Work Study funds, those funds must be earned by the student. Therefore, those funds are paid to a student throughout the term as hours are worked and timesheets submitted. As long as timesheets are submitted on-time, students on the Federal Work Study program are paid every two weeks.

2. The total amount of my financial aid for a term is more than my charges. What happens to that excess aid?
   Any award balance remaining on a student's account after all fees have been paid will be paid to the student via an individual check and will be paid to the student at the end of the third week of class.