Anticipated/Pending Financial Aid and Your University Account

Your University Student Account is maintained by the Bursar/Student Accounts Office. The Office of the Bursar handles all payments made to the University, disburses refund checks, and issues traffic permits. The Student Accounts Office, otherwise known as Student Billing and Collections, provides assistance concerning student billing and account questions. Student Accounts offers the Time Option Payment Plan (TOPP) to assist with educational expenses. TOPP allows you and your parents to make equal and consecutive payments throughout the term, rather than paying the total balance of the bill. To learn more about TOPP visit http://stonybrook.edu/bursar/topp.shtml.

Most financial aid awards (scholarships, grants, and loans) are applied directly to the charges listed on your University account. When payment of financial aid funds are applied to your account, the award is said to have been 'disbursed' in Financial Aid. Because disbursement of aid does not begin until the first week of the term, awards may appear as 'anticipated/pending financial aid' on your University Account. anticipated/pending financial aid can be viewed on the SOLAR System using the "Account Summary/What Do I Owe?" link located on the left hand side of the SOLAR home page under the Student Financial Services section.


Understanding anticipated/pending financial aid

Once you have accepted your offered financial aid awards, your accepted financial aid will appear as anticipated/pending financial aid on your University account.

Q & A's:

Q: WHAT IS ANTICIPATED/PENDING FINANCIAL AID ?

A: Anticipated/pending financial aid is recognized as “expected” aid against University charges, thus temporarily reducing the amount that the student needs to pay.

Q: IS ALL FINANCIAL AID CONSIDERED ANTICIPATED/PENDING FINANCIAL AID?

A: No. Award estimates, stipends, Federal Work Study and student reported awards are not considered anticipated/pending financial aid.

Q: WHAT DOES THE TERM “EXPIRED ANTICIPATED/PENDING FINANCIAL AID” MEAN?

A: Financial aid is only anticipated for a finite period of time. This finite period of time is specific for each financial aid award and is determined by the maximum reasonable amount of time it should take for this aid to disburse. Expired anticipated aid is no longer recognized as “expected” aid against University charges. This expiration of anticipated/pending financial aid results in the student being responsible to pay his or her balance in full. To prevent this, it is important that you respond promptly to requests for information from the Office of Student Financial Aid Services.

Q: WILL MY EXPIRED AID SHOW UP AS ANTICIPATED/PENDING FINANCIAL AID AGAIN?

A: No. Generally, once your anticipated aid award has expired, it will NOT appear again as anticipated/pending financial aid against your University account for that term.

Q: IF MY anticipated/pending financial aid/PENDING FINANCIAL AID AWARD HAS EXPIRED, DOES THIS MEAN MY AWARD HAS BEEN CANCELLED?

A: No. Your award(s) will continue to appear when clicking on 'My Financial Aid Awards' under the Student Financial Services section of the SOLAR System.

Q: WHEN WILL MY EXPIRED ANTICIPATED/PENDING FINANCIAL AID BE APPLIED TO MY UNIVERSITY ACCOUNT?

A: Once all requested information has been received and processed by Financial Aid and you still qualify for the award, it will then be disbursed and credited to your University account. Disbursement of loans will take a longer period of time as the actual disbursements cannot occur until the funds have been sent to the University by the lender.

Q: WILL I INCUR LATE FEES DUE TO THE EXPIRED ANTICIPATED/PENDING FINANCIAL AID?

A: Yes, you could if you have an outstanding account balance.

Q: IF I PAY MY OUTSTANDING BALANCE NOW, WHAT HAPPENS WHEN MY FINANCIAL AID AWARD IS DISBURSED?

A: Once your award is disbursed, any excess credit resulting after all obligations due the University and its related divisions will be refunded to you (or sent to your parent, if it’s a PLUS loan refund) within 14 days.