Disbursement of Funds
The process of disbursing financial aid for the semester has begun.
What does this mean for you? The date of August 13, 2010 was the earliest date that Student Financial Aid could begin moving aid funds from our office to pay your student account in the Cashier’s Office. Federal regulations allow schools to begin the process 10 calendar days before the beginning of the term (August 23rd, 2010), but your aid will not pay if you have not responded to our requests for additional documents or information. Therefore, it is extremely important that you regularly check your UMSL e-mail address and your “Things to Do” list in your MyView account. Once you have submitted all of your required documents and completed all of the required steps, you should allow up to 10 business days before you will see your aid applied to your student account. After the financial aid funds are applied to your student account, the Cashier’s Office will begin the refund process. You will only receive a refund if your financial aid payments exceed the total charges on your student account. In general, the processing of a refund takes an additional 3-5 business days for direct deposit and 7-10 business days for a paper check to arrive to a student. Students that owe a past term balance will have their refund sent to the Cashier’s Office for pick up. Once you see your MyView account at a zero balance the refund generation can begin.
Payment of financial aid into your student account will occur at the beginning of each semester provided you have registered for sufficient credits. First payments of financial aid into student accounts generally occur the week before classes begin. Then, at the end of add/drop period (generally the first two weeks of the term), we will verify enrollment for the second and last time for the semester. All adjustments to the semester’s aid will be made at that time. Additional aid may pay if your credit loan increased or aid will be reversed from your student account if you reduced credits since early disbursement.
If you receive any scholarship or loan checks directly from a third party, such as a donor or lender, you must submit these checks for processing to the Office of Student Financial Aid, 327 Millennium Student Center. We will deposit the funds to your University student account and credit balance funds will be sent to you via mail or direct deposit.
At the time your aid is disbursed, any on-campus charges on your student account will be automatically paid. Typically, the amounts due are fees, housing and other University Charges, including any previously unpaid balances. Some charges, such as any balance from a previous term, must be paid in full.
If the balance available in your account is not sufficient to pay all the charges, you will be sent a bill. Do not ignore these bills. To find out more about the university’s electronic billing and payment system. Your online student account, available for viewing on the web, will show up-to-date balances and itemized charges and credits.
You are responsible for making your account payments on time. Your billing statement will list both a new balance (if any unpaid amount remains) and the minimum payment due and a due date. It the total balance due on any statement is paid in full by the due date, you avoid additional late fee charges.
Requesting corrections or clarifications
To request a correction or clarification on a billing item, please contact the department that placed the charge as soon as you receive your statement. For example, if you feel that you have been charged incorrectly for your on-campus housing, contact Residential Life. Student accounts receivable, the office that generates your billing statement, cannot alter or change charges that have been placed on your account by another department. Contact them if you need assistance determining what department is responsible for a charge to your student account.
Clicking on the title of this paragraph, “Payments” will take you to information on when, where and how to make payments on a balance due in your student account. If you are unable to pay the balance due, you may pay at least the minimum payment amount by the due date that automatically places the account on the installment plan during the fall or spring semester. In most cases, billing statements for fall semester are generated in July, and you will have the option of making installment payments in August, September and October. Billing statements for spring semester are generated in early December and you will have the option of making installment payments in January, February and March.