What is a Federal Financial Aid Credit Balance?

When a student pays for school using federal financial aid funds, the total amount of their payment period funding (grant and/or loans) is disbursed directly to the university to cover the tuition and fees for that payment period. Any remaining funds will be refunded to the student to cover other educational expenses (i.e. their living expenses). The University refers to this as “federal financial aid credit balance” or “refund.”