Community Exchange

We are asking what other schools do when a student overpays in the fall semester.

• Do you automatically send the student a refund? 
• Do you ask the student if they want the credit to be applied to the spring semester?
  • If they say yes, how do you handle the credit? Do you leave the credit on the account or do you remove the credit and memo it to be disbursed for the spring semester once you run your spring billing process?

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Ana OBrien
Associate Director of Student Accounts
Wheaton College
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Our policy is that unless it is Title IV funds, a credit stays on the student's account until they request a refund.  If no refund is requested it stays as a credit for the current term.  Once there are charges in a future term, we apply the credit then.

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Susan Cunningham
Assistant Director of Finance
Allegheny College
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Hi Ana, 

• We refund the student. We don't ask the student before we refund if they want to use it for the upcoming semester. However, if they contact us we will move it if we have written permission on file. We typically ask the student to send us an email. We use PeopleSoft and use what we call a move term payment item type to add the credit to the other semester and an administrative adjustment charge time to remove the credit from the semester with the credit balance. 

Hope this helps!

Jennifer Kowalski

Director of Student Financial Services

Grand Rapids Community College 

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Jennifer KOwalski
Director of Student Financial Services
Grand Rapids Community College
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Our policy is to automatically refund students after the add/drop period has passed. If a student does not want to have their credit refunded they need to contact our office to request the credit be held on their account. The credit remains on the account and is applied to the next semester's charges.

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Jenny Clayton
Bursar
Bellin College
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We process all student credit balance refunds on a weekly basis. However, when a credit balance results from a payment posted to the account, a systematic refund lock is automatically applied. The duration of this lock depends on the amount of the credit.

This hold allows time for any anticipated charges to post and for any potential non-sufficient funds (NSF) payments to be identified and processed. Once the refund lock expires, the remaining credit balance is automatically refunded.

This procedure was implemented to help prevent fraud. In the past, we encountered situations where individuals made payments that were later returned for insufficient funds after a refund had already been issued. The refund lock helps ensure that funds are fully cleared before refunds are processed.

Please let us know if you have any questions or need further clarification.

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Karmen Grondin
Collections Manager, Student Account Services & University Billing
Central Michigan University
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Hi Karmen,

We process student credit balance refunds on a weekly basis as well and I have to manually review where the credit balance is coming from. A refund lock would be a great timesaver, especially during initial refunding. What SIS system do you use at Central Michigan University?

Thanks,

Misty Newport

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Misty Newport
Bursar and Director of Accounts Receivable
Wabash College
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Original Message:
Sent: 11-06-2025 08:58 AM
From: Karmen Grondin
Subject: Overpayments

We process all student credit balance refunds on a weekly basis. However, when a credit balance results from a payment posted to the account, a systematic refund lock is automatically applied. The duration of this lock depends on the amount of the credit.

This hold allows time for any anticipated charges to post and for any potential non-sufficient funds (NSF) payments to be identified and processed. Once the refund lock expires, the remaining credit balance is automatically refunded.

This procedure was implemented to help prevent fraud. In the past, we encountered situations where individuals made payments that were later returned for insufficient funds after a refund had already been issued. The refund lock helps ensure that funds are fully cleared before refunds are processed.

Please let us know if you have any questions or need further clarification.

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Karmen Grondin
Collections Manager, Student Account Services & University Billing
Central Michigan University
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We only process refunds when the student requests one (which must be in writing).  At the beginning of each semester, our Financial Aid Office notifies us regarding any Title IV credits that must be refunded, otherwise the credit remains on the account until a refund is requested or it is transferred to the following semester once the next term is billed.

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Carissa Stubbs
Director of Student Accounts & Bursar
Grinnell College
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We also issue the refund back to the student and process refunds weekly. 

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Melissa Tessier
Director of Student Billing and Cashiering
University of California, Merced
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Hello Ana,

We refund. However, if the student is enrolled in the Spring term when a Fall credit is available, any non-financial aid credit will apply to the available Spring balance. We do not ask the student, but disclose this policy/process in our Financial Responsibility Agreement each term.

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Rosemary Irvine
Director of Student Financial Services
California State University, Northridge
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Original Message:
Sent: 11/6/2025 11:37:00 AM
From: Rosemary Irvine
Subject: RE: Overpayments

Hello Ana,

We refund. However, if the student is enrolled in the Spring term when a Fall credit is available, any non-financial aid credit will apply to the available Spring balance. We do not ask the student, but disclose this policy/process in our Financial Responsibility Agreement each term.

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Rosemary Irvine
Director of Student Financial Services
California State University, Northridge
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At Texas Tech, our front-end payment portals are integrated and should not allow a student to overpay. However, if a credit balance results from a student dropping or withdrawing from class and reducing their charges, we will wait until after the add/drop period to refund their personal payments. Title IV refunds begin 10 days prior to the first class day. We also monitor that if a payment was made via credit card within the last 30 days, we will refund the card. 

We will not hold credit balances but if we have already fee assessed for the next term, we can apply the credit forward. 

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Christine Blakney
Senior Managing Director of Student Business Services
Texas Tech University
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