Financial Aid FAQs

A review will occur within five to 10 business days after all of the items on your checklist have been completed.

Loan disbursements will be made no sooner than 10 days prior to the start of your active half-time enrollment for the semester. For example, you are an undergraduate student enrolled in two 3-credit courses. One class starts on August 22 and the other starts on October 24. Provided that all paperwork and checklist items have been completed, your loans should disburse 10 days prior to October 24, the official day that you become actively enrolled as a half-time student.

Your Pell Grant will be updated throughout the semester, approximately a week after sessions begin. For example, you may find that your current Pell Grant is based on half-time status, but you are registered full-time. Once your classes begin later in the semester, we will update your Pell Grant to reflect your active enrollment status.

Pell Grant disbursements occur about a week or two after the start of your class. Pell Grant disbursements will automatically calculate after your classes have started to match your active enrollment.

For example, if you are awarded a Pell Grant for half-time status and you are enrolled in one 3-credit class that begins on August 22 and a second 3-credit class that begins on September 12, your Pell Grant will be calculated after the start of the August 22 class and 3 credits worth of funds will be disbursed. After the September 12 class begins, your Pell Grant will be recalculated and another 3 credits worth of funds will be disbursed.

When students are selected for verification, the university is required to verify that the information on their Free Application for Federal Student Aid application matches their income tax, financial, and other household information. Please respond to any request on your MyUMGC to-do list in a timely manner. Read more information about UMGC’s Title IV verification policy.

Book vouchers are available; however, be advised that many UMGC courses will not require you to purchase books or other materials. Please check your class syllabi for information specific to your courses. Book voucher requests cannot be canceled. If you request a book voucher and only use a portion of the funds, UMGC must wait until the end of the semester to reconcile your account and refund the unused funds to you. You can apply for a book allowance using the Book Voucher Request, accessible from Finances in MyUMGC.

Once your financial aid disburses to your account and pays any outstanding tuition or fees, any funds in excess of your charges will be refunded to you. Read more about refunds.

UMGC reviews all student records to determine who is eligible to apply for a scholarship and then invites those students to apply through a To Do in MyUMGC. Learn more about UMGC's eligibility requirements for scholarships.

Scholarship awarding will begin after the July 15 priority filing deadline and continue through the summer until all funds are exhausted. Please remember that applying for a scholarship does not guarantee you will receive one. If you are awarded a scholarship, you will receive a congratulatory letter via e-mail after you are awarded. All applicants will receive notification of the awarding decision by September 1.

For most Maryland Higher Education Commission scholarships and/or grants, the funds will disburse to your account on the first disbursement date after the start date of the course that fulfills the enrollment requirement for your award. For example, if you are an undergraduate student who receives a grant that requires full-time enrollment, and three of your courses (9 credits) begin on September 1, but your fourth course (3 credits) doesn’t begin until October 1, your grant will disburse on the first disbursement date after October 1.

Federal student aid is awarded under the assumption that you will be enrolled for a specified period of time, such as a semester, and successfully complete all of your scheduled classes. When you receive these funds but do not enroll or complete all of your classes as expected, the Financial Aid Office is required to determine your last day of participation and calculate the earned portion of the financial aid awarded to you. Read more about UMGC's R2T4 policy.

If you may be graduating at the end of the summer or fall semester, please contact Graduation Services to have your graduation date updated. Once the date is updated, you may submit a case through the Help Center to alert the Financial Aid Office of this recent update. We will then review your account and eligibility for aid.