Financial Aid Refund Schedule
What is a Refund?
Your financial aid award letter displays estimated semester charges along with semester financial aid. The result is a “payment” or a “refund.” If there is more financial aid than charges, your estimated “refund” amount is displayed on your award letter. The refund typically comes from federal student loans and is to be used for education expenses during that academic year only.
How do I receive my refund?
Your refund will be directly deposited to your personal bank account by MIU Student Accounts. You will be contacted by Student Accounts for a Direct Deposit (ACH) Authorization Form; the form allows students to provide bank account information, and authorize MIU to complete necessary transactions. If you choose to not enroll for direct deposit, please contact Student Accounts for the alternative paper check delivery (stuact@miu.edu).
When do I receive my refund?
Most, but not all, refunds are Direct Deposited to student bank accounts on Monday after the third week of the semester, pending many processing steps. All semester enrollment steps and financial aid documents must have been completed. In addition, online programs take longer for required documentation of semester participation (an assignment, a test, or active participation other than login to a website). Refunds for online students may take some weeks longer for all these process steps to be completed.
How will my refund be delivered?
If you have a scholarship from MIU within your financial aid package, the refund will likely be split into three installments, ⅓ likely on a Monday after the third week of the semester, ⅓ about a month later, and the final ⅓ another month later. The longer you participate through the semester, the more of your refund is delivered to you. If you drop or withdraw from a block, your refund will be delayed to the following month.
If you have no scholarship from MIU within your financial aid package, your entire semester refund will be delivered all at once, although most of these are online students where the semester enrollment and documentation of participation takes longer to complete the enrollment steps necessary to deliver the refund.
Why are some refunds split into installments?
Federal Student Aid regulations impact requirements for (1) how fast the refund must be delivered as well as (2) the effect on students withdrawing from the semester after having received a refund. An oversimplified and less technical explanation is that if there is no scholarship within the financial aid package, your entire refund is defined by USDE as a “Title IV credit balance” and must be delivered to you within 14 days of the date the federal aid is distributed to Student Accounts. If you were to stop attending your courses during the semester, you may keep the entire amount of the refunded loan, to be repaid under the loan terms, for Title IV credit balances.
If you have scholarship within your financial aid package, the federal student aid regulations reduce the amount of the refund you are eligible to keep based on the percent of time you attended up to the withdrawal point. Had you received the entire refund all at once, you would be holding cash which isn’t yours. This puts a burden on both the University and the student which isn’t affordable to either party. For this reason, refunds in this category are split into three installments during the semester.
Who do I contact for more information?
Contact the Financial Aid Office (email finaid@miu.edu) for most questions about your financial aid package and your expected refund. Contact Student Accounts (email stuact@miu.edu) for questions about the delivery method for your refund. File a Finance Review Board petition with Student Accounts if you feel that you have an unusual circumstance that the policy doesn’t address, for which you would like to request an exception.