Financing Law School

Understanding the Disbursement and Refund Process

So how exactly do you get your loan funds? Read on...

Disbursement of Aid
10 days before the start of each semester, your DU tuition bill is due. For the fall semester, that date is August 4th. On that same date, the fall portion of your financial aid—including loans—will disburse (or pay) to your DU student account. Remember that you will not receive all of your financial aid at the beginning of the year; you'll receive half of it before the start of fall semester, and the other half before the start of spring semester.

In order to receive your federal student loans, you must:

1. Be registered for at least 4 credits,
2. Have accepted your aid through PioneerWeb, and
3. Have no outstanding requirements on the Law Student tab of PioneerWeb (which is indicated by a red flag).

Financial Aid Refunds
If the amount of loan funding that disburses to your student account exceeds the amount owed to DU, the Bursar's Office will issue a refund to you. This typically happens two business days after the disbursement date. Refunds will be mailed to you, unless you sign up for direct deposit.

To sign up for direct deposit:

1. Log into PioneerWeb and go to the Law Student tab.
2. Click on the "Direct Deposit Info" link on the right side of the page in the My Statement/Payment box.
3. Select Insert New.
4. Enter your bank account information and check the Student Refund/Accounts Payable box.
5. Save.

Calculating Your Refund
One thing to remember about federal student loans is that they have an origination fee that's deducted proportionately from each loan disbursement you receive. This means the money you receive will be less than the amount you actually borrow (you're still required to repay the entire amount borrowed, however). The origination fee is 1.069% for Direct Unsubsidized loans and 4.276% for Graduate PLUS loans.

As an example, if you accepted the full amount of your $20,500 Direct Unsubsidized loan for the 2017-18 academic year, the fall portion is $10,250. Once the 1.069% fee is deducted (or $109.00—we round down), $10,141 will actually disburse to your DU student account on August 4th.

You can also calculate your estimated refund through PioneerWeb. Just go to the Law Student tab and click on the "Student Account by Term" link in the Financial Aid Awards box. Then, subtract your total "Term Credits and Payments" from the "Term Charges." If the result is a negative number, you'll receive that amount in a refund.

We sometimes have students ask if they can get their refund sooner. The short answer is no. We are prohibited by federal regulations to disburse financial aid funds any sooner than 10 days prior to the start of the semester.

2017-2018 Tentative Disbursement and Refund Dates

*We don't assume students take summer classes. If you would like financial aid for summer, you will need to submit a separate application (available in April).

Learn more about billing, tuition due dates and payment options through the Bursar's Office website.

That's it for this week! Up next week: What Happens Once Classes Start

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Contact Us

303.871.4020  •  finaid@du.edu  •  www.du.edu/financialaid