Would any of us please help on giving me an idea as to how financial aid refunding works, exactly?
If I were to fully pay for my tuition before accepting or declining any aid, would I be eligible to receive some sort of refund?
Yes you should get back the financial aid that you accepted.
Why would you need to fully pay the tuition? Usually if you have the aid credited to your account you don’t need to pay in full. But if you do, yes excess funds are returned to you. It could take a couple of weeks though. Usually the Bursar’s office has procedures, often you can set up a direct deposit to your bank or opt for a check.
if you accept enough aid to get a refund…after all billable costs are paid to the school, yes, you will get the refund.
For example…if you are entitled to receive the Pell Grant or TAP awards (both are entitlements), you will get these monies even if you pay up front first.
Don’t pay anything until you talk to your financial aid office and find out exactly how much your anticipated credits are. If you are paying this money upfront, especially with a 0 EFC, you are going to set off all kinds of flags. The school will have the right to ask you about and provide documentation of the source of the monies (bank statements, cancelled checks, etc). Even if you get the monies from other family members, remember it will have to be reported on the FAFSA next year and you risk having your FA reduced.