During your enrollment at Texas Tech University, there may be situations where a credit balance is created on your student account. A credit balance occurs when the total payments, financial aid, or other credits applied to your account exceed the charges owed to the university. When this happens, the remaining funds must be refunded to the student or, in certain cases, to a parent borrower.
There are several common reasons why a refund may occur. For example, students may receive more financial aid or scholarship funding than the total amount of tuition and fees charged to their accounts. A refund may also be issued if a student pays more than the balance due, drops a course that results in a tuition adjustment, or receives a waiver or exemption that reduces previously billed charges. When these adjustments create a positive credit balance, the university processes a refund for the remaining amount.
Students are encouraged to enroll in My Direct Deposit through Raiderlink in order to receive refunds electronically. Direct deposit allows funds to be transferred directly to a student’s bank account through an Automated Clearing House (ACH) transaction. Electronic refunds are generally faster and more secure than waiting for a paper check to arrive by mail.
Even when using direct deposit, students must maintain a current local or mailing address in the university system. A valid address is required in case a paper refund check must be issued or if the university needs to contact the student regarding their refund. Students are responsible for keeping their address information up to date to ensure that payments and official communications from the university can be delivered successfully.
Students should also be aware that refunds generated from financial aid or other credits cannot be applied toward more than $200 of an outstanding balance from a previous academic year. If a student has a prior balance that exceeds this amount, the university may temporarily hold the refund until the remaining balance has been paid.
Financial Aid Refunds
At the beginning of each academic term, Student Business Services focuses on processing refunds that result from Title IV federal financial aid funds or other financial aid disbursements. Federal financial aid regulations require that if financial aid funds create a credit balance on a student’s account, the excess amount must be refunded to the student or to the appropriate borrower. In the case of a Parent PLUS Loan, the refund may be issued to the parent borrower rather than the student.
When a Parent PLUS Loan refund is issued to the parent borrower, the refund will be mailed as a paper check to the parent's address on file with the Office of Student Financial Aid. Parents may choose on the original loan application to have any resulting refund issued directly to the student instead. If that option is selected during the loan application process, the refund will be processed and issued to the student according to the university’s standard student refund procedures.
Electronic ACH direct deposit is not available for Parent PLUS refunds issued directly to parents. Because of this limitation, Parent PLUS refunds sent to the parent borrower must be delivered through a mailed check.
Federal regulations require that credit balances created by federal student aid( called Title IV) funds be refunded within 14 days of the credit balance being established. To comply with these regulations, Student Business Services prioritizes financial aid refunds at the beginning of each academic term.
General Refunds
General refunds are credit balances that are not directly related to financial aid. These refunds may result from tuition overpayments, class schedule changes, such as dropping a course, or adjustments made by other university departments. General refunds are typically processed after the add/drop period has ended to ensure that all enrollment changes and billing adjustments have been finalized for the term.