Financial Aid & Billing
What is Authorized Financial Aid?
Authorized aid is funding that is scheduled for disbursement, with all the disbursement requirements completed. It will be disbursed to your student account when the disbursement date is reached, which is the first day of classes each semester.
How does Authorized Financial Aid impact my student balance due?
Authorized aid has already been deducted from the total amount due on your bill. The Bursar's Office is aware of your authorized aid and is giving you credit for these funds until they are officially paid at the start of classes. You only need to pay the amount listed as Total Amount Due.
Why don't I have any financial aid showing against my student balance due?
If there is not any pending student aid (loans or grants) showing as authorized against your student balance due there could be two reasons.
- Did you remember to file the FAFSA?
- Our office and studentaid.gov will send out reminders to FAFSA filers, but it does happen that students can forget to file the FAFSA. Log into your account at StudentAid.gov and make sure you have filed a FAFSA for William & Mary (school code 003705) for the correct financial aid year. For example, the 2023 - 2024 FAFSA will be filed for the school year that begins in Fall 2023 and goes through Summer 2024.
- A FAFSA can take 5 to 10 business days to process and be available to our office. If you have filed your FAFSA recently, please be patient for us to be able to access it.
- If it has been more than 15 days since you filed your FAFSA and William & Mary offices were open to receive documents, please reach out to our office to research what may be going on.
- Did you submit all the requested documents that our office needs to review, process, and create financial aid?
- This can be verification documents, documents needed for an appeal, or your financial aid counselor waiting on some other information from you. Review your requested documents in Banner Self-Service (my.wm.edu)
I cannot accept my financial aid/loans in Banner Self-Service.
Make sure that you answer the Title IV Authorization questions in Banner Self-Service
1. Log into Banner Self-Service at http://my.wm.edu.
2. Click on the "Resources/Additional Information" tab to answer the Title IV Authorization questions as described above.
3. Accept (or decline) your loans through the "Accept Award Offer" tab.
Why is my Federal Direct Student Loan not showing against my student balance due?
There are a few reasons your loans may not yet be appearing as authorized financial aid in your student account.
- Did you accept your loans in Banner?
- If yes, make sure you have completed your Entrance Counseling and signed your Master Promissory Note at StudentAid.gov.
- If you have done the first two steps in the last 5 to 7 business days, the information may not have been linked through yet to our system. Loan certification can take time as we have to create the loans and request confirmation be sent back in a data transfer.
Why is my Federal Direct Parent PLUS Loan not showing against the student balance due?
There are a few reasons your Parent PLUS loan may not yet be appearing as authorized financial aid against the student balance due. Please review the loan steps for new and returning Parent PLUS loan borrowers on our Loan Application Instructions webpage.
- Make sure you have completed the Master Promissory Note at StudentAid.gov.
- Credit Approval decisions are notified to the borrower by StudentAid.gov, if you were denied for the PLUS loan based on credit merit, you can either appeal or seek an endorser for your loan.
- If you have recently applied for the PLUS loan at StudentAid.gov and completed your Master Promissory Note, it can take 5 to 7 business days for the loans to complete the certification process.
Why is my Federal Direct Graduate PLUS Loan not showing against the student balance due?
There are a few reasons your Graduate PLUS loan may not yet be appearing as authorized financial aid against the student balance due. Please review the loan steps for new and returning Parent PLUS loan borrowers on our Loan Application Instructions webpage.
- If a Graduate PLUS loan was not part of your financial aid package, you must apply for a Graduate PLUS loan at StudentAid.gov.
- Make sure you have completed the PLUS loan Master Promissory Note at StudentAid.gov. Please note that if you have an Unsubsidized loan, you will sign two different Master Promissory Notes.
- Credit Approval decisions are notified to the borrower by StudentAid.gov, if you were denied for the PLUS loan based on credit merit, you can either appeal or seek an endorser for your loan.
- If you have recently applied for the PLUS loan at StudentAid.gov and completed your Master Promissory Note, it can take 5 to 7 business days for the loans to complete the certification process.
How can I pay the balance on my student account after all authorized financial aid has been applied?
The College's Tuition Payment Plan is available to any student with at least $100 in charges on their student account. The plan is available by the semester, and it will automatically divide the balance due into four installment payments.
