<p>I just talked to my school's financial aid office and they have no idea when the Byrd Scholarship with be released in Texas. They said it's never been this late. I was counting on it but now I'm having to somehow scrape up enough to make my December installment. It's already cost me a late fee from waiting on it last month so I have to pay it this weekend or be charged a larger fee. I've called and left messages at the state education board for two months but they've not returned my calls. What's the deal? Does anyone know when they'll distribute the funds? Yes, I appreciate getting it but I really need to know something so I can budget for it if it's not ever going to be awarded or whatever is going on.</p>
<p>My daughter’s first semester payment just got made about a week or so ago, from New York. We, too, were grateful for it, but were upset it took this long. They promised me that it would not take this long for the second semester’s payment. I don’t know anything about Texas, but perhaps it’s delayed for the same reasons-- bad economy. I called many times, I did speak to live people, so that helped.</p>
<p>Here’s what we did: we were billed for the amount after the middle of October. I figured that even if a late fee accrued (which it did not), then it was worth it to wait and see if the state would pay the money. That made more sense to me and to the bursar at the school than paying it and dealing with the complications for it to get paid back. As long as you know it will eventually get paid, can you wait? For my daughter, it did not impact her ability to register for second semester (her last semester, thankfully), so I would be certain that it’s the same for you before waiting past the end of the current semester. Good luck! I share your frustrations!</p>
<p>Thanks for letting me know about NY. I had to pay out of pocket for my late bills or I wouldn’t be able to start next semester and they’d add more late fees Dec. 1. My financial aid office doesn’t know when it’ll be in but promised I’d be reimbursed for the base amount but not for any of the accrued fees. Granted the fees aren’t that much but a few dollars here and a few dollars there are starting to add up. Each department wants to be paid separately and each charges up to $8, so you can see where that’s going.</p>