Section Content:
•Missing Information & Business Office Holds
•Payment
•Payment Options
•Disbursement of Financial Aid and Scholarships
•When are Funds Available (Availability of Funds)
•Consequences of Dropping Credits
•Consequences of Changing FAFSA Data after Disbursement
•Withdrawing from Lawson State
•Withdrawals for Students Receiving Title IV Aid
•Specific Financial Liability Information about Withdrawal and Dropping Out
•Missing financial aid documents can delay evaluation of your financial aid eligibility and therefore delay disbursement of your aid funds.
•If you were awarded prior to the approaching Fall and did not maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP), we cancelled your aid pending your appeal.
•Any prior balance can result in a Business Office Hold being placed on your account by Student Accounts. This will stop you from being able to register for the next semester/term. The Office of Student Financial Services is unable to remove a Business Office Hold, you must contact the Business Affairs Office to make arrangement to pay the balance.
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•You should receive a statement of what you owe for a particular semester/term when you register for that term.
•Financial aid will disburse on or before the fourtneeth day of the semester.
•You are expected to pay the difference between the financial assistance credited to your account and the amount of the charges debited to your account.
•A credit balance will be released to you.
•If additional charges are placed on your account after a credit balance is released to you, you are expected to pay any debit balance in order to register for the next term.
•Any prior balance can result in a Business Affairs Office Hold being placed on your account. This will stop you from being able to register for the next semester/term.
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- Student Direct Deposit Enrollment Form
- TouchNet - monthly payment plan
- Sometimes a student will find that even after financial aid has been applied to their account, they will still have a balance owing. If a student is not eligible for enough funding to cover all tuition charges, he/she is responsible for the remaining balance. Students may meet their financial obligation by paying in full any remaining balance to the Lawson State's Business Affairs Office.
- Lawson State's procedures are that registration, grades and transcripts will be held until all outstanding charges have been paid and the student’s account has been cleared.
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Disbursement is the process through which your financial aid is released to you through your student account based on your enrollment at a point in time. Several steps are involved in that process:
1.Your aid is first used to cover any charges you owe the College, such as tuition and fees.
2.Any funds remaining will be released to you by the Business Affairs Office.
3.Funds are disbursed to your account based on your enrollment on or before the fourteenth day of the semester. If you added courses after that point, your aid will be adjusted.
Business Affairs Office - the Business Affairs Office handles the release of students' funds, including:
•All financial aid including scholarships
•Federal Work Study payroll checks
•All credit balance refunds
•Funds are disbursed to your account based on your enrollment on or before the fourtheenth day of the semester. If you added courses after that point, your aid will be adjusted.
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Funds are disbursed to student accounts on or before the fourteenth day of the semester. Students are expected to be prepared with sufficient funds for maintenance, books and supplies for at least two weeks.
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•If you drop credits prior to the last day of free/drop add (prior to aid disbursing to your account) your aid will be adjusted accordingly.
•If you drop credits after aid is disbursed to your account, you may have received aid for which you were not entitled. If this is the case, your aid will be adjusted.
•If aid is adjusted and you then owe Lawson State additional funds, you will not be able to register for future semesters/terms until your balance is paid.
•When dropping credits or withdrawing, keep in mind that future financial aid could be withheld due failure to meet our Satisfactory Academic Progress policy.
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•If you change your FAFSA data after your aid has disbursed for that same academic year, your disbursements could be cancelled or reversed. This is especially true if we have reviewed your data with a process called Verification.
•Always request (in writing with documentation) for the Office of Student Financial Services to make changes to your FAFSA data for the FAFSA year for which you are enrolled (rather than doing them yourself).
•Changing FAFSA data yourself for the same year for which aid has disbursed will result in our selecting you for Verification of the changed FAFSA data elements if the Department of Education neglected to select you.
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•Students who withdraw during the semester are required to notify the Office of Student Financial Services and may be required to repay all or a portion of the funds awarded for that semester/term.
•Withdrawal may also mean that future financial aid could be withheld due failure to meet our Satisfactory Academic Progress requirements.
•Withdrawal prior to the completion of 60% of any term/semester, could result in funds being returned to their sources. If so, you will be responsible for the balance due on your student account.
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In addition to Lawson State's withdrawal policy, if a student is a recipient of Title IV aid [Pell Grant, Supplemental Education Opportunity Grant (SEOG)], federal regulations administered through the U.S. Department of Education will apply. If a recipient of Title IV aid withdraws during the term, the college will calculate the amount of aid the student did not earn, and the unearned portion will be returned to the Title IV programs. The student is responsible for any charges which are unpaid as a result of the return of Title IV funds.
Generally speaking, a student earns Title IV aid based on the number of days completed during the term prior to withdrawal. Once 60% of the term has been completed, the student is considered to have earned 100% of the Title IV aid awarded.
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Withdrawal impacts your financial aid differently depending on when the withdrawal is initiated and the type of financial aid you received. In all cases, your financial aid must be recalculated.
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NOTE: Lawson State would like to thank and credit the support of Troy University for its assistance and cooperation in the development of the information contained in the Financial Aid section of this website.