Financial Aid Fund Disbursements

Disbursement of Aid

Financial aid funds must be used first to pay college tuition and fees and then other institutional educational expenses (books, etc.). Once you have registered, your college Statement of Account will be available. Your online statement will show tuition, general fees and other appropriate charges. Financial aid awards will appear as credits. All fees, including penalties, must be paid according to the deadline indicated on your Statement of Account. Funds must have been received by the college, including outside scholarships or loans before a disbursement is made. Federal funds pay for attended courses only. Funds for part-of-term classes pay after the class(es) starts.

Conditions for Aid to Disburse:

• Your application for financial aid must be complete. View any missing requirements in the "My Requirements and Eligibility" section of Financial Aid on your Banner Student Web.

• You must meet all Satisfactory Academic Progress requirements. You may check your financial aid Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) on your Banner Student Web in the "My Requirements and Eligibility" section of Financial Aid.

• Funds must have been received by the college, including outside scholarships or loans.

• Timing - Funds will not appear on your account before the beginning of the semester. The disbursement process will continue daily throughout the registration period.

Financial Aid Eligibility Checks

Please be aware that you must fulfill certain criteria of enrollment status and eligibility to receive your financial aid funds. Your eligibility is initially checked when aid is posted to your Statement of Account for the term and is monitored on an ongoing basis. Aid which was initially credited to your Statement of Account for which you cease to be eligible will be withdrawn. Eligibility checks include incomplete verification, class attendance, enrollment hours, SAP status, and being in default or owing a refund to a federal and/or state educational aid program. If you are ineligible for any of the aid originally credited to your account, you will be responsible to pay, by the deadline date, those charges which were covered by that aid on your original Statement of Account.

Payment Process

If your financial aid award appears on your Statement of Account and all else remains the same, it will credit toward your charges and any overage, a credit balance, will be directed to you for other educational expenses including personal transportation cost, housing, school supplies, etc. Credit balances (the credits exceed the charges on your account) can be made available to you on your refund debit card. Administrative Services is responsible for the disbursement of credit balances. Federal law request that the Financial Aid Office does not handle student refunds (in any form). The first group of refunds are sent the 28th day of the semester and weekly thereafter.

Reductions in Disbursed Aid

If the Financial Aid Office determines that you are no longer eligible to receive aid that has already been disbursed to you, you may be asked to repay it. This is a result of the continuous, ongoing eligibility and reconciliation checks that the Financial Aid Office performs for all aid programs to ensure that funds are going only to students eligible to receive them. If necessary, a recovery of disbursed funds from you will take one of the following forms:

1. The Financial Aid Office may reduce your aid for the current semester to make your award consistent with your eligibility status. This reduction would take the form of a reduced credit placed on your account that may increase your personal financial obligation for college charges. (In rare circumstances, a recovery of prior semester aid is necessary. In this case the reduction would take the form of a charge placed on your current term account that may increase your personal financial obligation for college charges.)

2. The Financial Aid Office may reduce future disbursements of aid to make your award consistent with your eligibility status. This reduction might result in an increase of your personal financial obligation for college charges for those semesters.

3. The Financial Aid Office may initiate a charge to be applied to your account. An increase in your personal financial obligation will increase the amount you owe for college charges (or reduce your credit balance). If you have insufficient credits to cover your charges, you will receive a bill from Administrative Services for the balance due.

If you have questions about your financial aid disbursement to your student account, please contact our office. If you have questions about a refund check, please contact Administrative Services.

All refunds are disbursed through Bank Mobile. Students are given three choices on how to elect to receive a refund. The choices are direct deposit to personal checking/savings account, paper check, or a debit card provided by Bank Mobile.

Withdrawal and Financial Aid Funds

Withdrawal Refund Policy - Tuition & Fees

If a student officially withdraws from the College during or before the first 3 days of the semester, the total amount paid may be refunded. After the first 3 days of the semester no refunds will be made. This schedule begins with the first day of scheduled classes regardless of the actual day of enrollment.

Financial Aid will be adjusted in accordance with federal and state regulations.

If a student departs from the College without following official Withdrawal procedures, he/she may be subject to payment of 100 percent of the semester charges.

Treatment of Title IV funds when a student withdraws

Financial aid is awarded to a student under the assumption the student will complete the entire period for which the aid was awarded. If a student withdraws before the 60% (as measured in calendar days) of the semester, the student may no longer be eligible for the full disbursement of Title IV aid and other financial aid awarded. If you make all F’s for a semester and it is determined that you received F’s because of non-attendance you will owe back federal funds the same as if you had withdrawn from school.

A student should report to the Financial Aid Office to review the calculations of the student's unearned aid due by the school and the unearned aid due by the student to the Department of Education or other agencies. Albany Technical College will attempt to notify the student no later than 30 days from the official withdrawal date to return its share of the student's unearned aid and the student has 45 days from the notification date to return that portion.

A student that has not completed the verification process as of the withdrawal date, will be ineligible to receive any financial aid credit to their account. Additional Title IV funds will end if the student fails to repay his portion of unearned Title IV funds within the proper time frame.