Financial Aid Updates

This webpage will provide the latest updates on Financial Aid processing for the current academic year. This page will provide general information; information about specific accounts will be found in the financial aid portal.

Summer 2025

The Financial Aid Office is pleased to share that Summer aid is processing as expected. Federal financial aid disbursements typically begin in the first week of June, and many students have already received their payments. More disbursements are scheduled for next week.

Please note that some types of aid are designed to disburse later in the term, and each student鈥檚 financial aid file is unique. Some files may require additional time to process.

Fall 2024 and Spring 2025

Financial aid processing in Fall and Spring was delayed by a series of technical setbacks related to the integration of a new financial aid processing system. Many of the technical issues have been addressed and college staff are working diligently to ensure students receive all the aid they are eligible for. Processing is being supported by a manual effort to help ensure aid packages are complete and correct before being disbursed. While this requires more time, the College added additional support staff to support completing aid distribution.

On This Page

Phising Scams Life Happens Emergency Grant Frequently Asked Questions Terminology

Phishing scam is using financial aid language

Students and employees are asked to be vigilant when responding to email communications that might appear to be about financial aid.

The college will NEVER request important information by asking you to click on a link or attachment. Official 天涯海角社区 instructions will always direct you to your existing password protected sign-ins such as eSantafe for students.

天涯海角社区 has received phishing attempts from scammers pretending to be financial aid or other official offices or personnel.

Examples of recent phishing subject lines have been: 鈥淧ending Allocation,鈥� 鈥淔inancial Aid Verification,鈥� 鈥淪ANTA FE COLLEGE Financial Aid,鈥� 鈥淰erification/Financial Aid/BankMobile.鈥� There might be others that are similar.

Colleges throughout the Florida College System are experiencing these same phishing scams. The College is able to block many scams emails and typically can delete them before they are opened. But it is still possible to emails with malicious intentions.

To learn more about phishing scams and how to protect yourself, visit: /its/faq/how-to-identify-a-phishing-email.html

Life Happens Emergency Aid Grant

The 天涯海角社区鈥疞ife Happens Emergency Aid Grant is available to assist currently enrolled students who are experiencing financial hardship.

Financial hardships considered by the committee include documented:

Housing Issues
Transportation Issues
Medical Issues
Fire or Natural Disaster
Childcare
Other (explain in narrative)

Documentation

To qualify, students must provide documentation of a financial hardship.

Documentation will vary by the situation and the request. However,鈥�students鈥痵hould provide any documentation that is relevant to the specific financial need and hardship.鈥�Examples include鈥痗opies of bills/invoices/receipts or eviction notices, overdue payments, and notifications from childcare or healthcare providers.

Funding

Funds for the Life Happens Emergency Aid Grant are made available through the SF Foundation and the generous donations of individuals who care about the health and wellbeing of SF students.

The amount varies depending on the situation and documentation. The maximum grant amount is $1,000.

Disbursement

The SF Foundation will only write a check only to the third party that the student identifies, i.e., the car repair shop, landlord, etc.鈥�Neither the student nor the college qualify as third party.

Students will pick up the check to deliver to the listed third party.

This is a grant, not a loan. Therefore, students do not have to pay it back.

Have questions or need assistance?

The grant is overseen by College Ombuds Dr. Bea Awoniyi. 鈥疌ontact her at鈥�bea.awoniyi@sfcollege.edu鈥痮r by phone at 352-395-5513.

Frequently Asked Questions

Please remember that financial aid processing is ongoingr. We encourage all students to regularly check their financial aid portals for updates.

This FAQ addresses the more common questions students are having currently.

Currently aid is being released according to the type of funding source. If a student has aid from multiple funding sources, such as a federal, state and a local scholarship, it is possible that aid will be received in multiple deposits at different times. Aid will not be held until other aid arrives; it will be processed as soon as the College receives the funds.

The college does not receive Pell Grants or federal student loans and other funding until just prior to the time it is transferred to BankMobile for deposit into to student accounts. The amount the college receives depends on student eligibility.

It generally takes one to three business days for the funds to be deposited into student accounts once they reach BankMobile. The amount of time that it takes for each file to process and be sent to BankMobile differs for each case. Each file must be reviewed and approved for completeness and accuracy before any funds can be released into student accounts. This is done to protect students and ensure that students are not under-awarded or over-awarded, which could result in having to pay back funds. While this does take time, the College has brought in additional resources to help that process move more quickly.

If you have a financial obligation and registration hold, and you believe it is due to the delay in your financial aid, to let us know.

In the Fall, 天涯海角社区 implemented a new financial aid processing system to address federal processing changes. The process of integrating the new system with the college鈥檚 current system presented multiple unexpected challenges when the systems failed to interact appropriately. The College has made significant progress resolving the implementation issues and has engaged additional expertise to get the issues resolved more quickly and accurately. Moving forward, we anticipate that the new system will accommodate evolving federal regulations and streamline the student experience.

Nearly all funds for Fall were disbursed. Any remaining aid falls under more complex regulations and processes, and because of the delays, emergency funds remain available to assist those students. Students who need emergency aid should apply at Emergency Aid/ Resources.

While rare, there are situations that will cause students to receive more aid than they are eligible for. Typically, this results in a student having to return funds to the college, which in turn, the college returns to the Department of Education or other funding source. If a student thinks they have been overpaid, they could contact the financial aid office. Also see 鈥淩eturn to Title IV.鈥�

The College is working hard to assist any student experiencing hardship. Emergency aid has been made available to help students mitigate resulting problems. Emergency aid may be used to assist with housing, utilities, transportation, toiletries/personal items, and/or childcare. Students who need emergency aid should apply at Emergency Aid / Resources.

Emergency aid funds are directed to landlords and other service providers to ensure they are used for essential student needs such as housing, utilities, transportation, and childcare. This approach helps the College verify that the funds are meeting the most pressing needs directly. When students apply for funds, they'll be asked to provide documents like rental agreements or utility bills to demonstrate their needs.

While the college does not disburse funds directly for food, we invite you to visit the Saints Food Share Pantry, which is available to support students facing food insecurity.

Terminology

Terminology can vary by institutions. This is 天涯海角社区鈥檚 common terminology related to financial aid.

An ACH payment is an electronic transfer of funds between banks using the Automated Clearing House network, commonly used for direct deposits and bill payments. It allows for secure and convenient money transfers without the need for paper checks. BankMobile may use this terminology.

A student is awarded when they are presented with a financial aid package to help cover the cost of attendance.

BankMobile is a disbursements platform that serves to move funds from various financial aid funding sources into student accounts. Once the college approves a financial aid package, funds are transferred to BankMobile for deposit into student accounts. It takes BankMobile 1 or 3 days to transfer funds.

Clock hour programs (sometimes called contact hour programs) are vocational or technical programs where the student's progress is measured by the number of hours spent in class or in hands-on training, as opposed to credits earned. In a clock hour program, each hour of instruction is considered to be one "clock hour".

In Credit Hour Programs, a student鈥檚 progress is measured by the number of credits earned for the class.

Student鈥檚 financial aid payment has been released by the college to BankMobile and arrives in student鈥檚 bank accounts in 2-3 business days. Note: The total amount disbursed to BankMobile does not include funds that covered tuition, fees and books.

Emergency aid refers to grant funds that are awarded to students to meet immediate needs. These funds, which are awarded to students who are waiting for their aid to be processed, do not have to be paid back and do not have any impact on the pending financial aid award. Emergency aid may be used to cover housing, transportation, medical, and childcare expenses. Students can apply for emergency aid at /student-affairs/emergency-aid/#financial

Refers to any tuition, fees or other payments owed to the college.

An overaward is when certain factors cause the student to be presented with an aid package that has more awards than they are eligible to receive. An overpayment occurs when that award is disbursed. An overpayment also can occur when a student receives duplicate payments of the same award. In these cases, funds must be returned to the college, which in turn returns it to the funder.

Paid means the Financial Aid Office has verified eligibility for aid and has authorized the finance department to draw down funds that have been transferred to the College by the Department of Education. It does not mean that aid has been moved into student accounts, but that the process for disbursing aid has begun.

Student鈥檚 award has been processed through the Financial Aid system.

When a student receives more aid than is needed to cover tuition, fees, book charges and other charges, it is refunded to the student鈥檚 account. Funds are transferred to BankMobile, which transfers the funds into a student鈥檚 designated account. Once funds are received by BankMobile, it can take 1 to 3 days to be deposited into student鈥檚 account.

Students who withdraw complete from classes stop attending classes, or have all failing grades may have their aid revised and might be required to repay all or a portion of federal student aid received. This is known as Return to Title IV. The College is required to calculate how much of the semester a student did attend to determine how much of the aid was "earned." Students are required to pay back the portion of financial aid not earned.

The Title IV programs include: Federal Pell Grants, Direct Loans, Direct PLUS Loans and Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (FSEOGs).

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