Now that I'm registered for classes, how does my aid work?
Once you are registered for classes, your financial aid is put into motion. One month before the start of each semester, the University's Bursar's Office mails your student billing statement to your permanent home address. The billing statement will show your direct University charges (tuition, room and board, and any miscellaneous charges, such as the optional student health insurance fee) as well as anticipated financial aid that will be credited to your account in the future.
Please note: federal financial aid (Pell Grant, SEOG, , Perkins Loans, Federal Direct Loans, PLUS Loans, etc.) is not posted to your account until the start of the semester. If you are eligible for any of the above federal financial aid, and have completed any requirements necessary to receive the aid, it should appear as an anticipated financial aid on your billing statement from the Bursar's Office. If your final high school transcripts are not received by the Admissions Office before the start of classes, your federal financial aid cannot be disbursed to your student account with the Bursar's Office.
The Bursar's Office will send a billing statement each month thereafter, reflecting any new transactions on your student account (i.e. new charges and financial credits or adjustments to previously posted charges and credits) since the last statement was printed. You also can monitor your student account by logging in to WebExpress at any time. The information available to you via WebExpress is "real-time," meaning it's updated the moment any activity has posted to your account. This is particularly helpful when you want to see if federal aid you are eligible to receive (Pell Grant, SEOG, Perkins Loans, Federal Direct Loans, PLUS Loans, etc.) has posted to your account. (If you're not sure how to use WebExpress, contact the IT Help Desk at 440-826-7000.)
A few days before the billing statements are printed, the Bursar's Office reviews each student's status. They check course registration, housing status, Jacket Express food and bookstore expenditures, and financial aid eligibility. With some exceptions (outlined toward the end of this article), you should see most financial aid applied to your student account on the first billing statement you receive at the start of the semester. This is the case for students who are registered full-time (12 or more credit hours during a semester) and whose financial aid award is based on their full-time status.
If a student is not enrolled full-time but the financial aid award is based on the student being so, some types of aid will not be credited until the student's registration and financial aid statuses are clarified. If this happens to you, notify the FAO so we can review your award status.
If a student is enrolled part-time (11 credits or less), financial aid eligibility will be credited to your account at the start of the semester, provided your financial aid award is based on part-time student status.
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