Disbursement and Refunds

• There is a difference between a disbursement and a refund. “Disbursement” is when the college officially draws down your financial aid after your attendance for the semester has been confirmed and uses it to pay your school charges for the semester. A financial aid “refund” is when any overage of grants, loans, and refundable scholarships that were not needed to pay your bill gets sent out to you, the student, for any purpose you might need it for outside of college. Refunds are typically sent out to students 7-14 days after disbursement.
• All Pell Grants, other grants, and scholarships for the entire semester will be disbursed in full on the first refund date of the semester. Student loans will always be disbursed in two installments within each semester, even if you take out a single-semester loan.
• For students enrolled in a combination of 8-week classes, they will receive their refund for the entire Fall, Spring, or Summer semester (both 8-week sections) at the same time as students taking 16-week classes. The only students who may receive refunds later are those who are only enrolled in the second 8-week section and not taking any classes at all in the first.
• Some students may not receive a refund during the first refund date of the semester if the first ½ of their loan is not enough to cover all charges.
• The Financial Aid Office and Student Account Office will not provide refund amounts to students via phone or in person.
• The Student Accounts Office cannot give students an exact date of the refund.
• Please make sure you have made your Refund Choice in myTC.
• Paper checks will be mailed to students that have not finalized a refund choice (mailed to the legal address on file at Texarkana College).

Unrelated to financial aid, students may also sometimes receive refunds from the TC Business Office for courses they have paid for themselves if they withdraw from them very early in the semester.

To be eligible for a refund, students must officially drop individual courses or completely withdraw from the College by the deadline in the Refund Schedule. Students may find the specific dates for the Refund Schedule online for each term. Specific provision of the Texas Administrative Code, Title 19, Part I, Chapter 21, Subchapter A, Rule 21.5 “Refund of Tuition and Fees at Public Community/Junior and Technical Colleges,” governs the refund schedule. Only the Texas Legislature or the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, authorized by the Legislature, can alter this schedule.

Certain fees are not refundable. Please check with the Student Accounts Office for specific fees. A class day is defined as any day which classes are held at the College – not just the particular class you are enrolled in and have dropped – (classes are normally Monday through Friday).

The College will process refunds only after completion of all other registration responsibilities.