Q & A's

Pell Grants

Q. When will my Pell Grant be credited to my account?
A. Your Pell Grant will appear on your account after:

  1. A financial aid award notification is sent to you,
  2. We have eligible SAR information for you,
  3. You are enrolled for the semester, and
  4. Tuition and fees are charged.

Q. What do you mean by an eligible SAR?
A. If the information on your SAR is correct, you are eligible for financial aid based on that information. However, we may need to send corrections electronically to have your information reprocessed. The corrected SAR is then your eligible SAR. It usually takes about 3-5 working days to send and receive electronic corrections. If corrections are sent, you will receive notification of a new SAR from the federal processor.

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Q. Will I get a refund from my Pell Grant? If so, when?
A. If there is excess cash in your account after tuition, fees, room, and board are paid, the Billing and Receivables Office will disburse a refund to you. The earliest refund date is three days prior to the start of the semester. After that, refunds are usually disbursed the second day after your Pell Grant is credited to your account. Contact the Billings and Receivable Office if you have not set up direct deposit of your refund.

Q. I received a refund but I've added/deleted courses. What will happen?
A. Until the Pell Grant certification date, any additions or deletions may adjust your Pell Grant amount. Also, if charges are deleted later in the semester for deleted courses you did not attend, your Pell Grant may be affected. You are not eligible for Pell Grant for courses you did not attend. If your Pell is decreased, you may owe money back to your WIU student account. Pell will not pay for courses added after the Pell Grant certification date.

PLEASE BE AWARE THAT YOU MAY NEED TO REPAY PART OR YOUR ENTIRE PELL GRANT IF YOU DROP HOURS AFTER YOUR REFUND AND ON OR BEFORE THE TENTH DAY, IF TUITION CHARGES ARE OTHERWISE DELETED, OR IF YOU DO NOT ATTEND.

Q. What is the Pell Grant certification date?
A. The certification date is the last day to drop courses with 100% refund or the date your eligible SAR was processed, whichever is later.

Q. I am attending another school at the same time; can I receive Pell at both schools?
A. No. You may receive a Pell at only one school per term. If you attend more than one school per term, please contact the WIU Financial Aid Office.

Q. I am enrolled in correspondence courses. How will that affect my grants?
A.Please be aware of the following conditions related to your grant eligibility and correspondence coursework:

Pell Grant payment for correspondence courses cannot be disbursed until 50% of the lessons or 50% of the work for the course is completed, whichever is later. Request your professor to send confirmation to the Financial Aid Office when you have completed 50% of your course work. Confirmation must be received by August 31, 2007 to be considered for a 2006-2007 Pell Grant and August 31, 2008 for a 2007-2008 Pell Grant.

Correspondence courses are expected to be completed within the framework of a regular semester's registration.

Your actual Pell Grant and/or MAP Grant may be less than the amount initially indicated on your financial aid award notification. Correspondence courses are paid at a lower rate.

If you are enrolled in a combination of correspondence and other courses, you may receive the portion of your Pell Grant eligibility for the other courses at the beginning of the semester.

If term enrollment is for correspondence courses only: