How do I stop financial aid funds from being disbursed?

Question

I may be unable to attend college this year due to circumstances and would like to know how to stop any grants, loans from being sent to the school if I do decide that I can't go. (I'd like to do this sooner rather than later so I don't s***w myself into having to pay back the aid given.) I have not received my award letter yet but I do know where the money would be coming from. Do I simply notify the college and withdraw my expected attendance? How does that work? Do I have to contact the companies that are going to be giving the aid? I haven't registered for any core classes yet but I am already scheduled for their Orientation class.

Answer 1

If you decide not to attend, you need to contact your school and be sure to complete the official withdraw process AND you need to directly contact the financial aid office and make them aware of your withdraw.  If you fail to properly withdraw, you can be charged for the semester and when they figure out you weren't there, ALL of your financial aid will be sent back, but you could still be stuck with the bill.  

As far as your award.  It should not take that long.  If you have a financial aid counselor/administrator that is assigned to you, call them.  If not, then contact an assistant director, associate director, director or someone of that nature to help you with the problem.  Once a school has received your FAFSA, they can generally have your award to you within 2-3 weeks, provided you submit all required documentation to them in a timely fashion with proper signatures ect.

Answer 2

First, if you decide you won't be going to college, you'll need to contact the school directly. Talk to either your financial aid office or the business (student accounts) office and tell them that you want any and all aid disbursed to be "sent back." If it's a student loan, they'll take care of that for you by sending it back. You won't have to pay any interest or any other fees if you have the money sent right back.

Second, to withdraw from the college, simply contact the business office and tell them you want to withdraw. They'll tell you what to do.

Finally, you were probably "cleared" to start classes because they received some sort of correspondence that said you'd have enough to pay for tuition after grants/loans, etc.. So don't worry about that. Just let the school handle that.

So now you just have to decide whether or not you're going to college. If you decide you don't want to attend, contact the business office first to have any aid returned (and follow up to make sure it was all returned!) You might also want to contact the financial aid office to make sure they don't need to send any aid back as well. Better to clear all your bases.

Then tell the business office you want to withdraw. They'll take it all from there.

Good luck!