Grants, scholarships and loans administered by our office are disbursed to your university student account to pay charges for tuition, fees, university-operated housing and other university charges.
Financial aid is paid, or disbursed, to your UMKC account no sooner than 10 days before the beginning of the term for which you have enrolled.
Students who have completed all requirements for disbursement will typically receive excess funds, if applicable, two to three days before classes begin.
Steps to complete before aid can be disbursed
Respond to all requests for additional information
Enroll (may not be waitlisted or auditing) in at least the number of hours your aid is based on
Sign promissory notes
How your financial aid pays your bill
We begin disbursing the aid approximately one week before the beginning of each term.
Financial aid awarded for a specific term can only pay for charges for that same term or a term within the same academic year.
In general, if you receive other aid it will first be applied against any costs that have not been accounted for in your financial aid package, meaning the gap — if one exists — between the Cost of Attendance and your Expected Family Contribution (EFC) plus the financial aid offered. Next, it will be used to reduce your loan or Work-Study award, reducing the funds you must borrow or earn by working. Only then, if all loan and Work-Study awards have been replaced by scholarships or other resources, will the amount of your grant aid be reduced.
Your aid will be applied to your bill to cover all institutional charges on your account.
If your financial aid exceeds the charges on your university student account, you will receive a refund to pay other education-related expenses.
You may choose to have your refund deposited directly to your personal bank account. If you do not choose this option, the refund — in the form of a check — will be mailed to your current address listed on Pathway.
If your parents are borrowing through the Parent PLUS Loan program, the refund will be deposited according to instructions your parent provided on the loan application.
Not cashing a refund check does not cancel any loans you have been awarded. To cancel a loan, you must return the check to our office with the explanation that you do not want the loan.
Private scholarship checks
If the scholarship check is sent directly to you, it is your responsibility to report this to our office and to apply the funds to your UMKC account.
If your scholarship check is sent to the university, it will be disbursed to your UMKC account for the current term, unless otherwise specified by the scholarship sponsor. Payments are usually processed within two weeks.
If the payment creates a credit balance on your UMKC account, the credit will be refunded to you either by check or by direct deposit to your bank account.
If your scholarship check is sent directly to you but is made out to the university, you should submit the check to us for processing.
If your scholarship check is sent directly to you, and it is made co-payable to you and the university, endorse the check and submit it to us.
