Refunds

Financial aid refunds are automatically processed by the Office of the Bursar. To be eligible for a financial aid refund, your student account must meet all of the following requirements.

Total credits on the account for a specific term exceed total charges for the same term.

Financial aid is already disbursed to the account. Pending financial aid (Estimated Aid on TouchNet's website) will not be refunded.

The dollar amount of the credit balance is greater than the total personal payments on the account. Personal payments include matriculation deposits, personal checks, money orders, cash, online payments through TouchNet, brokerage account checks, and tuition savings account checks.

If there are any checks or ACH payments on your account, at least 10 business days have passed without the payment(s) being returned by the bank.

Examples of refunds categorized by DelVal as financial aid refunds:

Your account has a credit balance, and there are no personal payments on your account.

Your account has a credit balance of $1,200, and you paid only a $400 matriculation fee.

If your total personal payments exceed your credit balance, DelVal categorizes your refund as an overpayment refund, even if you received some form of financial aid. Personal overpayments by current students are not automatically refunded. To receive an overpayment refund, the student must email bursar@delval.edu from the student's DelVal address to request it. To be eligible for an overpayment refund, your account must meet all of the following requirements.

Total credits on the account for a specific term exceed total charges for the same term.

At least 10 business days have passed from the date of the most recent check or ACH payment, and no payments were returned by the bank.

There is no unpaid balance from a prior term or from miscellaneous charges (Other Activity on TouchNet's website).

There is no unpaid balance for a future registered term.

Students with overpayments have the following options:

Request a refund by emailing bursar@delval.edu with the statement, "I wish to receive a refund of the overpayment on my student account.

Leave the overpayment on your student account toward future charges by emailing bursar@delval.edu with the statement, "I wish to hold the credit balance on my student account to pay for future charges."

To reduce a student loan for the current term, email finaid@delavl.edu and copy bursar@delval.edu with the loan and the desired dollar amount of the loan reduction.

If you do not email bursar@delval.edu with your preferred option, the university will automatically refund any credit balance remaining on your student account at the end of the current term. If you are registered for the next term with a balance, the credit will be transferred to the term with a balance.

Refund requests from parents and/or from private email addresses will not be accepted.

A Federal Student Aid refund, also known as a Title IV refund, is a special type of refund regulated by the federal government. Title IV refunds are automatically processed within 14 days of the disbursement of federal aid to your account unless you give specific written authorization to hold the credit balance toward additional tuition and academic fees within the same loan period. To be eligible for a Title IV refund, your account must meet the following requirements.

The total amount of Title IV aid for a specific term is greater than the total tuition, mandatory academic fees, and any room and board charged by the University for the same term. Title IV aid includes Direct Subsidized Loans, Direct Unsubsidized Loans, Parent PLUS loans, Grad PLUS loans, Pell grants, SEOG grants, and TEACH grants.

Title IV aid has been disbursed to your account. Pending Title IV aid is not refundable.

This category applies most often to students in the graduate and Continuing and Professional Studies programs who borrow federal loans that exceed their charges for a given term. Full-time undergraduate students are rarely eligible for a Title IV refund.

For more information on Title IV refunds, see Refunds of Excess Federal Title IV Student Aid.

If you submit an official withdrawal form to DelVal, your account will be automatically reviewed for refund eligibility. To be eligible for a refund, your account must meet all of the following requirements.

All tuition, fees, residence hall, and meal plan charges are finalized in accordance with the University's tuition refund policies.

All financial aid awards are adjusted to comply with federal regulations and University policies.

After all required account adjustments, total credits on the account exceed total charges.

At least 10 business days have passed from the date of the most recent check or ACH payment, and no payments were returned by the bank.

To estimate the financial impact of withdrawing from the University, contact the Office of the Bursar and the Office of Financial Aid.

An electronic direct deposit refund, or eRefund, is the most convenient refund method. At the beginning of a new term, it is also the fastest method for receiving your refund.

• Direct deposit into any bank checking or savings account in the United States: You may set up your own bank account or a parent’s account to receive a refund.
• Priority processing: During the first four weeks of a new term, we only process eRefunds. If you do not set up a valid eRefund account, we will not review your eligibility for a refund until after the fourth week of a new term. (Exception: Students with Title IV credit balances will be refunded within the timeframe required by federal regulations. See Refunds of Excess Federal Title IV Student Aid for more information on Title IV refunds.)
• No waiting in line: Avoid lines in the bursar’s office and at the bank!

Students without a valid eRefund account will be refunded by a check payable to the student. (See CHECK REFUNDS below.)

To set up your eRefund account with TouchNet, our online service provider, access the TouchNet login page and log in with your myDelVal credentials.

Important notes about eRefunds:

• eRefunds cannot be voided or adjusted. If you become ineligible for a refund after an eRefund process, you will be required to pay the refund back to DelVal.
• If you ask the financial aid office to reduce a loan award after an eRefund process, you will need to pay back the amount of the loan reduction to DelVal.
• To use your financial aid to purchase books in the DelVal bookstore, you must sign a Ram Dollars agreement before an eRefund process. For more information on Ram Dollars.
• When an eRefund has been approved, you will receive a notification in your DelVal email stating the amount of the refund. The funds will be directly deposited within 5 business days after the email is received if valid bank account information was provided to TouchNet.

Eligible students who do not set up a valid eRefund account will receive a check refund.

• Payable to the student: A check refund is always payable to the student. If a parent would like to receive a refund, the student must set up an eRefund account in TouchNet using the parent’s banking information.
• Lower priority: At the beginning of a new term, we do not review the credit balances of students without eRefund accounts until after the fourth week. (Exception: Students with Title IV credit balances will be refunded within the timeframe required by federal regulations. See Refunds of Excess Federal Title IV Student Aid. for more information on Title IV credit balances.)
• Check refund: All refund checks are automatically mailed. We do not hold checks for pick-up. We will mail the refund check to the permanent address in our files. It is your responsibility to notify the Office of the Registrar of any changes in your mailing address.

The timing of a refund depends in part on several factors:

• Sources of financial aid.
• Date(s) that financial aid is moved out of pending status and disbursed to a student’s account.
• Whether the account is eligible for a financial aid refund, personal payment refund, Federal Student Aid (Title IV) refund, or a refund after withdrawing from the University.
• Whether the student has set up a direct deposit eRefund account. During the first four weeks of each start of the term, we only process eRefunds; we do not begin to review the refund eligibility of students without eRefund accounts until the end of the fourth week of a term or later (with the exception of Title IV refunds - see below).

The refund process at DelVal requires multiple levels of approval and the efforts of multiple departments. DelVal cannot guarantee a specific date that a refund will become available (except for FSA (Title IV) refunds, which are discussed below). Therefore, if you have an outside financial obligation that is due on a certain date, such as off-campus rent or a credit card bill for books, we encourage you to make alternate arrangements in the event that your refund is not ready by that date.

Your refund will be automatically processed. It may take at least two weeks (14 days) after your account becomes eligible before your refund is available. To determine whether your refund will be a financial aid refund rather than an overpayment refund or a Title IV refund,  Refund Eligibility.

Overpayments resulting from personal payments by current students will be refunded by the end of the term. To receive the refund earlier, the student must email bursar@delval.edu from his or her DelVal email address with the statement, "I wish to request a refund of the overpayment on my student account." It may take at least two weeks after the student’s request is received before the refund is available. For more information on overpayment refunds, see Overpayment Refunds on our Refund Eligibility webpage.

Federal Student Aid (FSA) refunds are also known as Title IV refunds and are automatically processed within 14 days of the disbursement of the aid to the student’s account, in accordance with federal regulations. If the student signed up for an eRefund, the refund will be wired into the banking system by the fourteenth day. Otherwise, the check will be available to be picked up in the Office of the Bursar for 3 business days after a "Refund Check Available" notice is sent to the student's DelVal email address. If the check is not picked up, it will be mailed by the fourteenth day to the permanent address in our files.

Under limited circumstances dictated by federal regulations, a student may give written permission to hold all or a portion of the credit balance for additional coursework during the same overall loan period.

For more information on Title IV refunds, see Refunds of Excess Federal Title IV Student Aid.

If a student who withdraws from the university is eligible for a refund, it will be automatically processed. If the student has set up a valid eRefund account, the refund will be processed as an eRefund. Otherwise, a refund check payable to the student will be mailed to the permanent address in our files. The refund will be issued after the Office of the Bursar finalizes any adjustments to tuition and fees and the Office of Financial Aid finalizes any adjustments to the student's financial aid if all other refund eligibility criteria are met. See the University's withdrawal policy for more information.

All refund notifications are emailed by the Office of the Bursar to the student’s DelVal address. We do not email parents or private email addresses.

• eRefund notification: When an eRefund has been approved, the student will receive an email stating the amount of the refund. The funds will be direct deposited within 5 business days after the email is received, if valid bank account information was provided to TouchNet.
• Check refund: The check will be mailed to the student's permanent address in our records. Students are not notified of when the check is placed in the mail.

A credit balance from excess federal student aid, also known as a Title IV credit balance, results when the following conditions are met.

• Total federal Title IV financial aid disbursed to a student's account for a specific loan period exceeds the charges for tuition, mandatory fees, and room and board charged by the University for the same loan period.
• Title IV aid has been disbursed to the student's account. Pending aid (Estimated Aid on TouchNet's website) is not refundable.

Title IV funds consist of federal student aid awarded from programs administered by the U.S. Department of Education. Title IV funds include:

• Direct Subsidized loans
• Direct Unsubsidized loans
• Perkins loans
• Direct Graduate PLUS loans
• Direct Parent PLUS loans
• Pell grants
• Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (SEOG)
• Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) grants

Funds provided by any other public or private sources, such as Delaware Valley University scholarships and grants, outside scholarships, state grants (Pennsylvania PHEAA and EAP, grants from other states, and vocational rehabilitation funding), tuition exchange programs, Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits, and federal tuition assistance for active military service members, are not Title IV funds.

Federal regulations require each school to provide a method for students with excess Title IV aid to purchase books and supplies. At DelVal, students with excess Title IV aid are permitted to use pending or disbursed funds to purchase Ram Dollars, which may be used in the DelVal bookstore to purchase books and supplies. If you have a pending or an actual credit balance from excess Title IV aid and wish to purchase Ram Dollars, please review the Ram Dollars Terms and Conditions and visit our office to sign a Ram Dollars application. You may also print the Ram Dollars application from our webpage and fax the signed and completed application to us at 215.230.2972 or email it to bursar@delval.edu. This method of purchasing books and supplies is optional. If you wish to purchase Ram Dollars, we recommend that you pre-price your books (new vs. used vs. rental) and supplies and purchase only the dollar amount of Ram Dollars that you need. Ram Dollars do not expire, but they are not refundable after purchase.

Title IV refunds will automatically process within 14 days of the application of the aid to the student’s account, in accordance with federal regulations. The only exception is when a student gives specific written permission to hold all or a portion of the credit balance for additional tuition and fees during the same loan period, within the limited circumstances permitted by federal regulations.

If the student signs up for an eRefund, the refund will be wired into the banking system by the fourteenth day. Otherwise, the refund will be issued as a check and will be available to be picked up or mailed by the fourteenth day. Title IV refunds resulting from the disbursement from a Plus loan will be processed according to the choice made by the borrower on the PLUS loan application. If the borrower requested the credit, then a check will be issued and be available for pick up or mailed by the fourteenth day.

Students in the graduate and Continuing and Professional Studies programs who borrow federal student loans are more likely to have excess Title IV aid disbursed to their accounts and to be eligible for a Title IV refund. Full-time undergraduates are rarely eligible for a Title IV refund.

If a student's account has credits other than Title IV aid, the Office of the Bursar will determine eligibility for a Title IV refund in accordance with federal regulations

If you have a pending credit balance for a term, you may be able to use all or part of it to purchase Ram Dollars that can be used in the DelVal bookstore to purchase textbooks and supplies. You do not have to wait for the financial aid to be moved out of pending status onto your account.

• Ram Dollars are not refundable. If you do not wish to spend all of your pending credit balance on Ram Dollars, please pre-price your books at the bookstore (new, used, and rental).
• Before we begin to process your refund, visit the Office of the Bursar and sign a Ram Dollars agreement for the amount that you wish to purchase. If you do not purchase Ram Dollars before your refund has begun to process, you will need to wait for your eRefund or refund check to make your purchases.

To learn more about Ram Dollars, visit our Ram Dollars webpage.

Financial aid may be in pending status for reasons that include but are not limited to the following.

• Federal Direct Subsidized and/or Direct Unsubsidized loan: Will not be disbursed to the student’s account until the first day of the new term or later, even if the student signed the master promissory note and completed the entrance counseling. There will be an additional delay if the MPN is not signed and the entrance counseling is not completed until after the start of the term.
• Federal Parent PLUS loan: Will not be disbursed to the student’s account until the first day of the new term or later, even if the parent signed the master promissory note and completed the entrance counseling. There will be an additional delay if the MPN is not signed and the entrance counseling is not completed until after the start of the term.
• Private/alternative loan: Will generally not be credited to the student’s account until on or after the first day of the term, even if the loan is approved by the lender and certified by DelVal. There will be a further delay if approval and certification are not completed at least 10 days before the start of the term.
• State grant: Grants from Pennsylvania or other states may be delayed by the state’s budget process.
• Award from an outside agency (outside scholarship, vocational rehabilitation award, tuition benefit from parent’s employer): Remains in pending status until after DelVal receives the funds from the agency.
• Endowed scholarship (awarded by DelVal): If scholarship donor requires a thank-you letter, scholarship remains in pending status until the letter is submitted. The financial aid office will email students with contact information for any donor requiring a thank-you letter.
• Aid for the student selected for income verification: Will not credit the student’s account until at least 2 weeks after the Office of Financial Aid receives all required documentation. The amount is subject to change and will depend on the results of the verification process.
• Aid for the student who is registered part-time: If the student has not obtained approval from the Office of the Registrar for part-time attendance, full-time aid will remain in pending status until after the student becomes registered for 12 or more credits.

For questions about pending financial aid, please contact the Office of Financial Aid at finaid@delval.edu or 215.489.2272.

Your refund may be smaller than expected for reasons that include but are not limited to the following.

• DelVal hasn’t received all of your financial aid funds. If you still have pending aid, you may become eligible for an additional refund at a later date.
• You incurred additional charges on your account, such as a distance education fee for an online course or a late payment fee for failure to make acceptable financial arrangements by the term payment deadline.
• Your alternative or PLUS loan funds did not cover as many expenses as you expected. If you or a parent calculated your own loan amount, you might not have accounted for a lender’s loan origination fee, or DelVal might not have been able to certify the amount that you requested. Your bill might have increased since you applied for your loan (for example, if you are assigned to on-campus housing after you receive your fall bill). If you were borrowing for the fall term and did not specify the term to the lender, your loan may have been split between the fall and spring terms. For loan amount issues, please contact the Office of Financial Aid at finaid@delval.edu or 215.489.2272.

The answer depends on the dollar amounts of the student's credit balance and total non-PLUS financial aid.

• If the credit balance is less than or equal to the total non-PLUS aid, the refund will be payable to the student unless the student has set up an eRefund account with the parent's banking information.
• If the credit balance is greater than the total non-PLUS aid, and if the parent borrower requested the refund on the PLUS application, then the parent borrower is eligible to receive the portion of the credit balance that exceeds non-PLUS aid.

An eligible parent borrower will be refunded via check and notified by email when the check is available for pickup or mailing. No eRefund will be processed for the parent borrower's portion, even if an eRefund account has been set up in TouchNet.

Title 5: Will I receive my refund in time to pay my off-campus rent or other outside obligations?

Text 5: The financial aid refund process requires multiple approvals and the efforts of multiple departments and may take up to two weeks. The timing of your refund may also depend on factors beyond DelVal’s control (see Refund Timing). You should make alternate payment arrangements until your refund becomes available, particularly if you have a financial obligation that is due within the first month of the term.

Overpayments are not automatically refunded until the end of the term if the credit balance on your account is less than or equal to the total amount of personal payments. You may request an overpayment refund by emailing bursar@delval.edu from your DelVal address.

Below are some of the reasons why you may have an account balance after you receive a refund.

• Unpaid miscellaneous charges: We are not permitted to credit your financial aid to miscellaneous charges, including but not limited to traffic fines, unreturned rental textbooks, and late payment penalties. You will need to pay for miscellaneous charges separately.
• Unpaid tuition charges for a prior term: In the fall term, you may have unpaid charges from the summer term. Though the total amount of your financial aid may be enough to cover those charges, we are not permitted to credit financial aid from one term to other terms except under very limited circumstances. You will need to pay the charges separately.
• Room and board additions or changes: If you were on a waiting list for on-campus housing; if you move to a higher-priced residence hall; if you request a higher-priced meal plan; or if your housing and meal plan charges increase for some other reason after your refund is processed, you will need to pay back all or a portion of your refund.
• Registration changes: If you add one or more online courses, change to certain equine majors, increase your total registration above 19 credits, or make certain other changes to your registration after your refund is processed, you will need to pay back all or a portion of your refund.

To reduce the amount of a loan, email the Office of Financial Aid at finaid@delval.edu from your DelVal email address. The loan must be adjusted before your refund begins to process. Otherwise, your student account will end up with an unpaid account balance. You will then need to use your refund to pay your student account balance.

Students who plan to study abroad should contact the Office of Financial Aid before they apply to discuss the timing of their refunds.

Refund checks are valid for 90 days from the date on the check.

• If you misplace your check: Please email bursar@delval.edu to request a replacement refund. We will stop payment on the check and review your student account. If you are still entitled to a refund, we will request a replacement refund for you.
• If your refund check has become void: Please write “VOID” on the check, return it to the Office of the Bursar on the second floor of Lasker Hall, and request a replacement refund. We will review your student account. If you are still entitled to a refund, we may be able to process a replacement refund for you.

If you are entitled to a replacement refund, it may take at least two weeks to process.

Any replacement refund will be in the form of an eRefund. To set up a direct deposit eRefund account, log in to TouchNet using your myDelVal credentials and go to the eRefunds tab. If your DelVal login credentials are no longer active, please contact our office and we will request a temporary reactivation so that you will be able to set up an eRefund account.

If you request a check refund rather than an eRefund, DelVal reserves the right to charge a fee for a replacement check.