New student refund policy puts check in mail

Various changes in procedure are taking place at Milligan College this semester, including a refund policy which will be “more efficient and effective than our previous policy” according to Chris Rolph, associate vice president for business and finance.

In years past, students were encouraged to have extra funds held in their account. These funds would stay in the account and carry over to the next semester’s balance. Those wishing for a return of the excess funds had to request that a check be mailed to them.

With the new method, checks will be automatically issued each week. Students with a credit balance on Thursday will be issued checks on Friday, but students may request to have their checks mailed earlier in the week if they wish.

The change in Milligan’s policy was made to meet Department of Education guidelines more effectively than the school had in the past.

“The regulations require that we refund money to students if a credit balance was created on their account by federal funds,” said Rolph. “Federal funds include grants and loans. If students want to keep a credit balance on their account, they must give us permission to retain the funds until the student requests them.”

Though these guidelines, which apply to all colleges and universities, require that only those balances created by federal monies be refunded, Milligan will issue checks for everyone with a credit balance, regardless of the source.

“The change allows us to comply with regulations more easily,” Rolph said.

He also said most other schools refund credit balances as they are created. “We have also seen that most students would prefer to get their refunds right away.”

“As a result,” Rolph said, “we are no longer asking students to give us permission to hold credit balances on their account; we are simply issuing refunds as they are created each week.”

Senior Hannah Henderson sees both positive and negative effects of the policy change. “For some it will be helpful to receive the extra money without having to request it. On the other hand some people need the extra money to stay in their account for future expenses. This will be a bit of a problem because it causes extra paperwork to be filled out by students.”

Becky Brewster, a secretary in the financial aid office, said the new policy will cause her and the others working in the office “a little more stress.” They will need to look at each student account every week to determine whether a check needs to be issued.

Most checks from state grants and various other scholarships have not come in yet, so the office has not had much extra work thus far. However, they are expecting the work load to pick up beginning this week thru mid-October, the usual time for scholarship funds to come in.

Students wishing to have their excess funds held on their account rather than refunded to them may fill out a form available in the financial aid office.