When do you disburse your scholarship funds? Timing of scholarship fund disbursement
Hello everyone!
When do you send scholarship checks to your recipients' school/university/college etc? Is it possible to send funds in May?
In the past I have disbursed the funds for new recipients and renewal recipients in August/September. However, my boss was wondering if we could disburse the funds right after making awards, so in May/June. I don't think that should be an issue for students already in college because they will already have a student ID, but will Financial Aid Departments be able to accept funds in May/June for new students starting in the Fall? I know May 1st is the acceptance deadline for most schools, but how far after that do schools give students their official Student ID? The funds will be disbursed with a grant letter informing the school what student and semester to use the funds for.
Thanks in advance!
Alexandra
Comments
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We disburse funds in July. We ask for newly awarded students to complete an online scholarship acceptance form by June 15. By that time, they should be settled on a school and be able to provide their student ID. For our renewals, we ask for those forms to be submitted by May 31, but I usually have a few to follow up with into June.
Also, for our larger awards, we split the award evenly between the two semesters, issuing Spring semester payments in early January. For example, we have a $5,000/year (renewable for up to 4 years) scholarship, and we send $2,500 per semester. Hope this helps!
Laurie Abildso
Vice President
Your Community Foundation of North Central West Virginia, Inc.
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We pay our scholarships out in July/August but a student is notified in June of the award, so they know before they start the school year. We ask for students to complete an Acceptance Form by July 31, but many submit much earlier which is great. As soon as it is submitted and reviewed, we process the payment. We send one payment, but schools will often choose to split it between 2 semesters.
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We notify students of their awards by May 1 and have them fill out a payment information form with their school name, address, student ID, etc. We then mail out the checks in mid to late July. We've found that the later the checks are mailed the less risk of scholarship displacement.
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We notify students in early May and pay when they send a payment request form with proof of enrollment. So, we write checks as early as May for multi-year awards already in progress to September or possibly even later as some students delay their start. It's on demand rather than in bulk. In almost all cases a check is written with instructions to the school to split the award between 2 semesters.
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We mail payments in July/August. We have a significant amount of summer melt, and delaying the payment saves us a lot of return checks.
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