When the amount of financial aid applied to a student account exceeds tuition and University Housing room and board, a refund will be issued to the student within 14 days of the application of aid. If a student has educationally related expenses assessed to their student account (such as Graham Health Center charges, lost student ID charges, Counseling Center charges, etc.), the student can voluntarily elect to use excess financial aid funds to pay these balances by completing a Financial Aid Disbursement and Payment Authorization prior to the disbursement of aid funds. The authorization can be rescinded at any time.
Credit balance refunds resulting from excess financial aid will be processed on Tuesdays and Thursdays beginning 10 days before the first day of the semester. Credit balance refunds resulting from overpayments, dropped course, etc. will be processed on Tuesdays and Thursdays beginning after the last day to add/drop courses for the semester.
How fast will you receive your refund? The amount of time it takes a student to receive a refund depends on the how the student is receiving the refund. Students who elect to receive their refund by direct deposit will generally receive their refund in 2-3 days. Students who elect to receive their refund by check will generally receive their refund in 7-10 days (due to mailing time). Refund checks are mailed to the current address on file.
Direct Deposit: To elect to have your refund direct deposited, complete the Authorization Agreement for Direct Deposit of Any Student Non-payroll Payments From Oakland University and send it to the address at the top of the form with a voided check, a copy of a bank statement (with transaction data black-lined if the student desires), or a letter from the bank verifying that the account holder is the student, the account number and the ABA routing number.
Credit Card Refunds: If a payment is made on a student account by credit card, a credit must be issued to the original credit card in accordance with Visa/MasterCard regulations. Credit card refunds are processed according to the schedule above. Students must keep in mind that it can take the credit card company up to 3 weeks to complete its portion of the refund process.
Escheats/Unclaimed Property (Un-Cashed Checks): Per State of Michigan regulations, all un-cashed payroll and refund checks (except for Title IV financial aid funds) are to be escheated (sent) to the State of Michigan. Oakland University escheats these checks when they become one year old.
Federal Regulations stipulate that if a refund check that resulted from the application of Title IV financial aid funds is due to escheat to the State of Michigan, the university must instead return the Title IV funds to the appropriate aid program. Oakland University returns un-cashed federal financial aid refunds on a monthly basis.
Please cash your refund check in a timely manner to avoid having to contact the State of Michigan or Oakland University to retrieve funds that were escheated and/or to avoid loosing financial aid funds that you were eligible for at the time of disbursement.