Aid and Your Bill

Your University Account

Your University Student Account is maintained by Student Financial Services. They provide assistance concerning student billing, account questions, and questions regarding administrative/late fees. They also handle all payments made to the University, disburse refund checks, and issue parking permits.

Student Financial Services offers the Time Option Payment Plan (TOPP) which allows you and/or your family members to make equal and consecutive payments throughout the term, rather than paying the total balance of the bill.

Financial Aid
Financial aid that is either anticipated (expected) or already paid (disbursed) to your University account appears on your student billing account and is applied against your charges. Since you are responsible for ensuring that your University bill is paid on time each term (semester), you should monitor your student account, check your balance frequently, and become familiar with the way your financial aid appears on your account.

If you need help regarding options for covering a remaining balance, visit our "Filling the Gap" page.

Because student bills are generated before financial aid disburses, anticipated aid is included to show you how much aid is expected and how much you will need to pay on your account balance after the anticipated aid is applied.

In general, anticipated aid is an award that you’ve accepted as part of your financial aid package.  There are some awards that will not show as anticipated aid because they either do not disburse to your student account or do not impact your balance owed.  Examples include:

  • Award estimates – these will display in your financial aid package, but only actual awards count as anticipated against the bill (i.e. TAP and/or Tuition Credit estimates).
  • Book stipends – when these funds are applied to the account as payment they are issued back to the student for use to purchase books and supplies.
  • Federal Work Study and Work Stipends – these funds are paid directly to the student based on their employment arrangement.
  • Student reported awards – only when actual funds from the awarding agency are received will they show on the bill.
Be aware: Changes in anticipated aid can affect the balance owed!

  • Anticipated aid items that have not disbursed after a set amount of time expire and are no longer considered as pending credits to your account balance.  Unpaid balances can result in administrative and/or late payment fees.
  • Aid that has expired may still appear when viewing your aid on SOLAR under “My Financial Aid Awards”.  If this is the case, you need to check your SOLAR ‘to do list’ for outstanding items requiring action (i.e. Verification, MPN, Entrance Counseling, etc.).  If none appear, follow up with financial aid as to why the award has not disbursed to your account.
  • Awards that have been cancelled due to eligibility changes are no longer anticipated and can cause an outstanding balance.  Unpaid balances can result in administrative and/or late payment fees.

Financial Aid Refunds

A financial aid refund occurs when the total amount of financial aid you receive—such as grants, scholarships, and loans—exceeds your university charges for the semester (like tuition, fees, housing, and meal plans). Once these charges are paid in full, any remaining funds are refunded to you. This money is intended to help cover other education-related expenses, such as books, supplies, transportation, and personal living costs.  Learn more about the process by reviewing our Understanding Refunds section of our website.