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Student Refunds

Credit Balance Refund

Excess Aid Refund

Drop / Withdrawal Refund

Federal Aid (Title IV) Refund

Special Circumstances Refund

Refund Processing

Reassessment Appeals

Credit Balance Refund

A credit balance is an overpayment on a student's account resulting from Financial Aid, loans received or an excess payment.  Credit balance refunds will be available when a credit actually exists on the students account.  Anticipated Financial Aid must be received and posted to the student's account in order for a credit to exist.

Credit balances resulting from the disbursement of Parent-Plus Loans will be refunded directly to the parent.  The refund check is mailed to the address on file for the parent unless written instruction is submitted by the parent to the Cashier’s Office authorizing the student to receive the funds.

Students may request to apply their credit balance to future semester charges by notifying the Cashier’s office.

Excess Aid Refund

Students who have accepted financial aid loan(s) and have returned or submitted their award letter to the financial aid office will receive a disclosure statement by mail (or online in MyView) informing them of when their funds will be disbursed to UMSL.

Once the students account has been reviewed, all paperwork completed, and it is verified by the financial aid office that the student is enrolled in sufficient class hours to receive the financial aid; the funds will then be released from the lender.  The timeframe for UMSL to receive funds from the lender is 3-5 business days. Because the aid is still classified as anticipated at this point, the student is not yet eligible for a refund.

When the financial aid funds are received by UMSL, the funds are then applied to the students account.  The financial aid funds will be applied to the students account no sooner than ten days prior to the start of classes.

If the student has a credit balance after the financial aid funds have paid the student’s account charges in full, the student is now eligible for a refund. 

As student accounts go into credit balance, the Cashier’s office processes refunds to students by checks through the mail and by electronic transfer to a personal checking or savings account.

Drop / Withdrawal Refund

Students who plan to drop from a particular class should do so immediately. A single day can make a big difference in the amount of refund.  Refunds are effective from the date a completed drop or withdrawal form is received in the Registrars Office, not from the last day of attendance.  Nonattendance does not constitute an official drop/withdrawal, and students will be responsible for unpaid fees.  Stop payment of a check also does not constitute an official drop/withdrawal from classes. For stop payments, a $20 returned check fee will apply and students will be responsible for unpaid fees.  Students who officially drop one or some of their classes may have fees reassessed and/or refunded based on the current terms fee reassessment schedule.

Fee reassessment schedules are made available by the Cashier’s office for students who wish to drop classes or withdraw from school.  Prior to each semester, a new schedule is posted in the Guide to Paying Fees brochure and on the Cashier’s website.  The schedule reflects dates throughout the semester and the percentages of fees refundable if class dropping or withdrawal takes place.  The dates are standard calendar dates that include Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.

 Note:  The following fees are reassessed due to a drop or withdrawal:  Educational Fee, Student Facility, Activity & Health Fee, Information Technology Fee, Special Course Fee (if applicable) and Parking Fee (if applicable).  These are the only fees that can be reassessed and refunded.

Charges that students accrue prior to a refund being issued will be deducted from the refund amount.  Charges that are accrued after a refund is issued will be billed to the student on the monthly billing statement.  The financial aid award, if any, is subject to revision. 

Student Add/Drop Fees (SWAP)
Students have 7 days from the semester start date to drop a class and replace that class with another class(s) of equal credit hours for an even swap without penalty.   An even class swap can be done if classes are dropped and added on the same date or on separate dates anytime during the 7 day period.

Withdrawal
To be eligible for a refund, students who withdraw during the semester must follow the withdrawal procedures established by the University.  Students are responsible for canceling their registration and verifying that all of their classes have been dropped.  When a student completely withdraws from a semester and was receiving federal financial aid, the University and/or the student may be required to return some of the financial aid, awarded to the student.

The Federal Aid (Title IV) Refund Policy assumes that a student earns his or her aid based on the period of time he or she is enrolled.  Students who attend past the 60 percent point in a semester are considered to have earned 100% of the Title IV aid awarded for the payment period.  A student who withdraws prior to the 60 percent point will earn the percentage of federal aid based on the number of days attended in the semester.  The Federal refund policy only applies if the student is withdrawing from all classes.

The Financial Aid Office will determine the amount of financial assistance, if any, that must be returned to the sources of aid.  Students who withdraw, drop out, are dismissed or take a leave of absence prior to completing at least 60% of a semester will have their federal aid recalculated.  The student will be responsible for payment of any other charges that remain (e.g. bookstore charge, parking ticket).  If a credit balance remains on the student’s account after the return of any required funds, the balance will be refunded to the student. Students considering withdrawing from all classes should consult with the Financial Aid office if they are concerned about the financial impact of withdrawing.

Federal Aid (Title IV) Refund

Title IV federal aid will automatically apply toward current fees and housing charges.  Students receiving this aid will have the option to have any excess aid applied toward other charges (such as bookstore charges, prior term charges, etc.) or to have any excess aid refunded to them.  This option will be presented online or by mail depending on how the student applied for the aid.  If an option is not chosen within the specified time frame, it will be assumed that the student wants to have any excess aid to be refunded.  The timeframe for refunding could be up to three weeks.

Special Circumstances Refunds

Refunds of educational and mandatory fees may be given to:

• Students who have passed away before completing the current academic semester.  There may be required adjustments to scholarships, grants or loans applied by the Office of Financial Aid.  Any refund will be made payable to the administrator or executor of the estate of the deceased student.  If, after all adjustments have been made, there still remains a debt, generally the University would not attempt to recover the debt from the estate of the deceased student.

• Military reservists and State National Guard members who receive emergency orders to active duty after having enrolled at the University and paid fees.

• Active duty military personnel who receive an emergency reassignment after having enrolled at the University and paid fees.

• Students with an approved medical withdrawal. When health reasons force a withdrawal from the University before the end of the term, the effected student may request a medical withdrawal.  The student must provide written documentation of an illness, accident, injury or situation that could not be influenced, planned for, or prevented by the student or the institution and which subsequently caused a change in the students enrollment.

• Students called to Jury Duty prior to the completion of the semester.

The University reserves the right to cancel any program.  In the event of cancellation, students will be notified immediately, and all program fees will be refunded or applied to a future program at your request.

Refund Processing

The University of Missouri - St. Louis has two methods for issuing refunds:  direct deposit and mailed checks. 

Direct Deposit
Refunds will be deposited directly into the bank account provided by the student if the student has enrolled in Direct Deposit.  To enroll, students should sign onto self-service in the MyView student system, click the ‘direct deposit’ link and fill in the required information.  Once the student’s direct deposit information has been received processed by the Cashier's Office, all future refunds will be issued as electronic transfers to the bank account on that form.  Receiving a refund can take from three to five business days from the day the students account goes into credit balance. 

To change or cancel a bank account for direct deposit, a student should complete and submit a new authorization form and check the change or cancel box.  It is important that a student notify the Cashier's Office immediately when the bank account that was chosen for direct deposit has been closed. If a refund is electronically transferred to a closed bank account, the refund cannot be reissued to the student until an official return notification has been received by the bank.

Mailed checks
If the student has not provided bank account information to the Cashier’s office, all refunds will be mailed to the student’s local address listed on the student’s account at the time the refund is processed.  Students should allow seven to ten business days processing and delivery time from the day that the students account goes into credit balance. 

To prevent delays in receiving a refund check by mail, it is imperative that students keep their address up-to-date with the Registrar’s Office.  Students placing address forwarding requests with the post office should be aware that a mailed refund check will not be forwarded, but returned as undeliverable to the University.  If a refund check is returned from the Post Office and the University does not have an updated address on file, the refund check will be voided, and the funds reapplied to the student’s account.  A refund hold will also be applied to prevent future refunds from being generated.  Once a refund hold has been set, the student will need to first update their address information with the Registrar's Office, and then contact the Cashier's Office to request that the refund be reissued.

Other Processing
Refund checks are not issued at the Cashier’s Office Customer Service windows.

The refund process requires two to four weeks processing time after withdrawal or dropped classes.

Refunds that total less than $25.00 will only be issued upon request.

Credit card payments will be refunded back to the credit card before a refund is issued by check or direct deposit.  If a student has a credit balance and has made a credit card payment within 60 days, credit will be returned up to the amount of the credit card payment before any refund is issued by check or direct deposit.

Students dismissed for reasons of improper conduct are not eligible for a refund.

Reassessment Appeals

Only certain fees are refundable or adjustable.  In the event that a student is dissatisfied with the outcome of a refund, a written appeal can be made.  The student may fill out a Refund Appeal Form in the Office of the Registrar, 351 Millennium Student Center. The form is also available on-line at:  http://www.umsl.edu/~registration/forms/retrowithdrawal32305.pdf

All appeal forms must be submitted within 90 days of the close of a Spring or Fall semester and within 30 days of the close of the Summer Sessions.

A final appeal may be made to the Associate Vice-Provost for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management, J. Greg McCalley (351 Millennium Student Center) within 10 days of the receipt of the Appeals Committee decision.