Disbursement of Funds
How Scholarships Are Paid
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FIRST YOU MUST ACCEPT YOUR CHARGES WITH THE BUSINESS OFFICE!!!! You will receive a Fee Assessment in the mail from the Business office. You must sign the back of the statement to confirm attendance and return it to them before ANY AID can be posted to your account. If your Financial Aid exceeds your charges, you may confirm attendance on the Banner Secure Web.

Provided you meet all qualifications to receive financial aid funds any scholarship, grant, or loan awarded to you will be automatically credited to your expenses (tuition, fees, room and board if you live on campus) and any other charges assessed by the institution, once you have accepted your charges. If you do not complete this process, your registration will be cancelled.

When the financial aid is credited to your account and results in a CREDIT BALANCE, a check will be prepared. Your Refund Check will be mailed to the current mailing address on file in Banner. If you want to check or change your mailing address please do so on the Banner Web Page. The checks will not be mailed to you until 10 Days after the first day of classes. For exact dates of mailing please contact the Business office at 265-3733. Under no circumstances can they be picked up at the Business Office.

Check your fee assessment carefully. Some types of financial aid appear on your bill as credits and others (such as work-study) are paid at other intervals. Compare your receipts which show your aid against your award letter to reconcile funds awarded to you. If your Fee Assessment does not show any Credits (financial aid), please contact us or check your file on the Banner Web Page. Please DO NOT wait for the first week of class to make sure your file is complete, it may delay your money being on your account in timely manner. If you ARE NOT completely Admitted, your aid will NOT pay to your account. NOTE: If for any reason you register for classes late or enroll for insufficient credits, your aid will be delayed and/or adjusted, Loan funds will not be credited to your charges until all required documents have been processed.

Other aid, such as BIA grants, some Stafford loans and scholarships arrive in the form of checks. These funds will be made available after processing is completed in the Financial Aid Office and distributed by the Business Office. Some checks must be signed to be applied to your student account, if you don't know for sure please check with our office to see if we have a check for you. Please remember, fees and other charges must be paid when due or a late fee may be applied and/or your registration may be canceled. If a check does not arrive in time for you to pay your fees and other charges, you are responsible for payment of your bill on the due date. If you have specific questions regarding charges, distribution of change checks, or release processes, please contact the Business Office at 265-3733.

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Return to Award Procedure page

How Scholarships Are Paid

Scholarships Awarded By Northern

Any scholarship that you received from Northern that was on your award letter will be automatically applied to your account along with any other aid. If you received a scholarship from Northern at the Awards Day Convocation and it did not appear on your award letter please contact our office.

Outside Scholarships

If you have received a scholarship from an out side source the check should be mailed to the MSU-Northern Financial Aid office. If you receive the check please bring it to our office as soon as possible. Most checks are made out to MSU-Northern, but some are made out to both the Student and MSU-Northern. If this is the case you the student must sign the check before it can be applied to your account. Some may be sent directly to you, but this is the exception. All scholarships more than $500.00 are divided equally between Fall and Spring Semesters, unless otherwise noted. If you need the funds all in one semester, you must have the Scholarship donor send us a letter advising us to do so. Scholarships totaling less than $500 will be disbursed in full and applied to your current enrollment semester.

Once the Check has been recorded by our office, we send it to the business office to wait for a signature or to be applied to your student account. When the check is split in two half of it will go on your student account and half will go into a Miscellaneous Financial Aid account and it will be automatically applied to your student account the next semester.

If your scholarship is not available at the time payment is due, you must make other arrangements to pay your bill to avoid cancellation of classes or late charges.

Determining Eligibility | How Aid Is Awarded | How is Aid Disbursed?

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