Students enrolled in the fall/spring terms receive half of their funds (minus fees) for the fall semester and half for the spring semester. If students are enrolled in only one semester or the loan term is only for one semester, there will only be one disbursement. Bills are posted on your my.pitt.edu account in mid-July for the fall semester and mid-November for the spring semester. For more billing information, contact the Student Payment Center.
If you receive a Law School Scholarship or Endowment, it will be disbursed to your account ten days before the start of the term.
Federal Stafford Loan funds and Federal Graduate Plus Loan funds will be disbursed by Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) directly to the school. EFT funds cannot be credited to your account any earlier than ten days before the first day of classes. The Student Payment Center will automatically credit EFT funds to your student account and notify you via email at your @pitt.edu email address. Spring loan disbursements will not be applied any earlier than January 2nd.
If you are a first-time federal loan borrower at Pitt, you must complete an Entrance Interview Session before the funds can be received and credited to your student account.
Private loan funds will be disbursed by check or EFT approximately ten days before the first day of classes. If you receive your private loan funds by EFT, they will automatically be credited to your account. If you receive these funds by check and the check is made co-payable to you and the school, you must go to the Student Payment Center to endorse the check before it can be credited to your account.
Refund Information
Many students receive financial aid that exceeds the amount of the charges on their student account because financial aid is awarded to help pay for expenses that are not billed by the University, such as books, supplies, and living expenses. After all of the charges on your student account are paid, you may have a credit balance that will be refunded. Refunds are processed by the Student Payment Center and made payable to the student.
- Amounts received more than your charges will be refunded to you automatically, unless restrictions require that excess amounts be returned to the source.
- Refunds cannot be processed until funds are received and posted to your student account.
- In accordance with federal regulations, the University cannot begin processing refunds until ten days before the official starting date of the term.
- We cannot issue a refund related to Stafford and other guaranteed student loans until the loan funds have been posted to your account and you have a credit balance. Please note that Anticipated Aid has not yet been posted to your account and cannot, therefore, be refunded.
- If you have registered for Direct Deposit in PittPAY, your refund will be deposited directly into your bank account two to three business days after the date of the refund transaction in PittPAY under Transaction History. The funds will be immediately available for you to use once they are deposited into your account.
- To sign up for Direct Deposit, log into the student portal at my.pitt.edu and search for PittPAY.
- Select Direct Deposit from the PittPAY menu and follow the instructions on the screens. Make sure you have a check from your bank account in front of you because you will need the routing and account numbers to complete the PittPAY process.
- To sign up for Direct Deposit, log into the student portal at my.pitt.edu and search for PittPAY.
- If you have not registered for Direct Deposit in PittPAY, a refund check will be automatically generated and sent to you at your mailing address from our vendor in Rhode Island. You should receive the check three to five business days after the date of the refund transaction on your student account. You must then endorse the check and deposit it into your bank account. Some banks may not make the funds available to you to use for three or more business days, until they are confident the check has cleared through the banking system.
- Stop Payment Requests: If you do not receive your refund check within a reasonable time period, you should contact the Student Payment Center. They will verify the required information with you. Requests to trace a check through the banking system must be made in person or in writing at the Student Payment Center. This process takes up to seven (7) working days. If the bank finds that the original refund check has not been cashed, the Student Payment Center can stop payment on the check and issue a new check to you. You will be charged a fee for this service. The fee will be waived if you sign up for Direct Deposit.
