<p>Every year I've been at this school the disbursement of financial aid has been "around" 14 days after the start of classes. Typically they apply aid to your bill on the 14th day, then it takes about two days for refunds to be disbursed. This semester they had told everyone the same time frame, but it is now 19 days since classes started with no disbursement. I can tell that Financial Aid has been applied to my bill, but it was applied incorrectly and still shows I owe money, which I don't. I called and was told that the university had received the financial aid money and had started applying it to accounts on 8/28, but that they weren't finished which is why my account wasn't updated correctly. She said they "are hoping" they will be finished by the end of this week and will then send out refunds, which will then take the normal two day processing time. This means the whole process has been pushed back by at least a week, longer if they don't make the date they "are hoping" for. Aren't there some guidelines that they have to follow as far as how quickly they apply aid and send refunds? Does it make any difference that my disclosure statement says it will be disbursed on 8/28, or is that irrelevant?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>What financial aid does is apply the anticipated credits (money that they know that they will be receiving from the state, federal government or approved loan) to your bill so that when you pull up your bill . Then when funds are released and sent to the school, they apply the actual monies to your account. After the monies have been applied they begin processing refunds.</p>
<p>There are no “guidelines” as to how fast the money has to be released as the dates are not set in stone. The process has to be done by people, who not only have to ensure that they are crediting your account correctly, but also have to make sure that they are in compliance witht he audit process at their school and with the the state and government regs. Wouldn’t you rather wait a few days and know that your stuff is correct vs. have it disbursed only to find out something was wrong and have them recover the money back from your next semester’s financial aid or send you a bill.</p>
<p>My school doesn’t apply anything to my bill until they have received the money, no anticipated credits are ever applied. I do want them do it correctly the first time, but I think notifying students of any delay is also appropriate and warranted, especially if it means the disbursement time will differ significantly from what was stated and/or what was done for past semesters. It is more frustrating this semester because we can see the money is here, they’ve applied some of it to student accounts but have not zeroed out accounts, and that raises all kinds of questions. I think it would be easier for everyone if the business office would post a note on the website or send a mass email to explain why accounts have been credited incorrectly or partially, instead of fielding hundreds of phone calls. It is also frustrating because this process is done every semester, which makes it hard to understand unexplained and unexpected delays when they should be fairly competent at getting it done each time; it is not a new process. If there are changes or new programs being implemented that create a delay, then why not let all students know ahead of time that there may be a delay? Communication is a great tool.</p>
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<p>I’ve been told that SOME schools don’t give refunds at ALL until well into the term or at term’s end…for obvious reasons…they want to be sure that the student is actually going to complete the courses.</p>
<p>Each school sets their own policies. My daughter’s school used to disburse after the add/drop period, which was 2 weeks, so in the 3rd week. Last semester they changed the add/drop policy (very quietly and without much fanfare - to 100% tuition refund after one week and only 50% till the end of the 2nd), and no do the refunds after the end of the 1st week. B</p>
<p>My son’s school did not usually do their refunds until around the 6th-7th week. His last semester they had not processed his loans by three weeks before the end of the semester. </p>
<p>So really all you can do is be patient. The school sets the policies.</p>
<p>Sheri, I feel your frustration but agree with the others that there really is nothing you can do except perhaps suggest that they should make more of an effort to update students when widespread changes occur. My D was required to spend half the summer at school to take one class and requested a Stafford loan in April in order to help pay her living expenses. That loan wasn’t refunded to her until mid-August this year, a full month after she had finished her class and returned home, as the school changed their policies as well as implemented a new FA/billing system that had numerous problems. Checking on the status every few weeks seemed to have no effect and we had to cover May-August rent in the meantime. I try to make sure she has a $1-2K cushion at all times just for these situations.</p>
<p>^^Summer aid can be a whole more complicated. You have to be enrolled at least half time to be eligible for Stafford loans. And if the classes are spread out over different summer sessions, the school may not pay out any funds until you are in the session where you hit the amount of hour your aid is based on. At our school for instance, if you are signed up for 12 hours with 3 in session one, 3 in session 2, and 6 in session 3 - no aid is paid out at all in session 1 because that is (cumulatively) less than half time, some aid is paid out in session 2 because you have cumulatively reached 1/2 time, the balance is paid out part way through session three. And they do this whole weird thing of charging you interest because you did not pay the bill on time, then backing it our once the FA is released.</p>
<p>But not paying it out until classes are over seems particularly bad!</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses. As long as I’ve been attending here, they have always applied financial aid and issued refunds on the 14th day of classes, because that is the last day you can drop a get a refund (for fall and spring). My frustration is not really with when they do it, but that they do not notify anyone of a delay. It has been done exactly the same way for several years, I’ve heard from other students/parents that have been attending longer than me and they verified that, so to have a delay now with no warning is frustrating. I think everyone, parents and students, would just like some notice or explanation. It is impossible to get through to the Business Office on the phone because of all the calls they’re getting, they don’t respond to emails, and they don’t update the website, and they shut down the student website, so we can’t even check our accounts. Basically no communication at all, and that is aggravating. </p>
<p>Thanks again.</p>
<p>Yes, swimcatsmom, this was her 3rd time with summer classes but the first time that her school had all these problems with summer aid (her only class was the first session, more than half-time, and everyone in her major/cohort is required to take it at the same time). In our case, the policy change and new system has affected fall aid too - instead of disbursing a few days before classes start as usual, they now say it may be mid-October and multiple disbursements although they have shortened the drop-add period considerably. I’m sorry that she moved off campus and signed a lease in April…it wouldn’t be such a big concern if it were just sitting on her bill until they get around to processing and crediting her account, you know? The not knowing when refunds are going to be issued is a pain because we also don’t know if there’s a problem until she hears that everyone else got awards/refunds and she didn’t, which is what happened recently. Ugh…I advised her to take full Stafford loans this fall so that she would have an ample reserve for this spring/summer, in anticipation of delays then too!</p>
<p>Hang in there Sheri and good luck!</p>