Disbursements and Refunds
Financial Aid will be paid directly to your student bill 10 days prior to the first day of class each semester, provided you have satisfied all eligibility requirements. Financial aid payments are referred to as disbursements or 'funds cross over'.
Scheduled Disbursements
Upcoming financial aid disbursement dates can be found at the Payment Calendar page.
If your aid is not disbursed at these scheduled times, please log in to your ACES account to check any outstanding financial aid requirements or messages. Beyond any financial aid requirements that are posted to your ACES account, enrollment requirements must be checked by Financial Aid to allow disbursement.
Refunds
If your financial aid covers your full bill for the semester, the remaining funds will be given to you as a refund. Refunds are handled by the Business Office, and generally will be available in your bank account 3-5 days after the refund amount appears on ACES. Students are encouraged to set up direct deposit to receive funds more quickly than by check in the mail.
The Refund schedule can be found at the Refunds webpage.
Unclaimed Funds
If the Business Office has sent you a refund by check because direct deposit was not set up, it is up to you to ensure that those funds are cashed to your bank account in a timely manner. If the check is misplaced or an incorrect address on file causes it to be sent back to the Business Office, you must contact them to re-issue it.
There is no guarantee that unclaimed checks can be re-issued after 90 days. Unclaimed funds reported to Financial Aid by the Business Office may be cancelled with no guarantee of being re-awarded due to Federal and State spending deadlines.
Balances
Students who have awards posted to their Award Summary on ACES will be protected from being dropped until the first scheduled financial aid disbursement date. After this disbursement, students must resolve any remaining balance that is due to avoid having their classes dropped.
Students who applied for financial aid after the Priority Date will need to make payment arrangements until their financial aid application is processed and eligibility determined.
Refer to the Virtual Business Office to pay your remaining balance or sign up for a payment plan.
FAQs
No, if you enroll in Maymester courses, you must pay all tuition and fee charges by the payment deadline to avoid being dropped for non-payment.
Students awarded financial aid for a combination of Summer I, Summer II, and Maymester enrollment will not have their aid disburse until after the Spring Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) calculation has run at the end of May.
No, if you enroll in Wintermester courses, you must pay all tuition and fee charges by the payment deadline to avoid being dropped for non-payment.
Your Wintermester course enrollment will be included in your financial aid enrollment and aid eligibility/disbursement calculation for the Spring along with any 16 week and Flex classes.
If you are enrolled full time (12+ credit hours) and begin classes during Flex I or 16-week sessions, you will receive the maximum financial aid for which you qualify. If you add additional classes for Flex II, no adjustments will be made to your financial aid since you've already received your maximum disbursement.
If you are enrolled in less than 12 hours during Flex I or 16-week sessions, your aid will be prorated and paid based on that enrollment status. If you decide to enroll in additional classes during Flex II, your financial aid will be adjusted based on your new enrollment status which may result in additional financial aid.
Please be aware that if you drop a course before the census date of any part of term for which you are enrolled, your financial aid calculation will also reflect those changes. This could result in a decrease of your financial aid.
Yes. Students whose financial aid disburses after tuition has already been paid in full will be reimbursed up to the amount of financial aid for which they qualify.
Students who are paying through a payment plan will see their financial aid disburse toward any remaining balance first, and then will be reimbursed up to the amount of financial aid for which they qualify.
The Alamo Colleges District may, by Federal Regulation, use up to $200.00 of a student's current year funds to pay for a prior year's charges of tuition, fees and other educational related charges. The prior year repayment cannot include repayment of a student loan or non-educational related charges.