Disbursement of Financial Aid

Requirements for Receiving Your Aid

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Financial aid is disbursed to your student billing account no earlier than 10 days prior to the first day of instruction. There are a number of tasks that you need to complete in order to make sure that your financial aid awards disburse in a timely manner.  Some of the top things you need to remember are listed below, but to see all of this important information review your Award Terms & Conditions MyFinancialAid at UC Merced Connect.

  • Complete All Outstanding Requirements — Be sure that every item on your MyChecklist on UC Merced Connect is completed.
  • Course Units — Students must be enrolled full time (12 units for undergraduates and eight units for graduate students) on the 15th day of instruction in fall and spring terms (unless approved for part-time status).
  • Loan Promissory Notes and Entrance Counseling — If you are borrowing a student loan, complete and sign any applicable promissory notes for your loans. First-time, first-year Direct Loan borrowers and Grad PLUS borrowers must complete loan entrance counseling at StudentAid.gov. Both of these requirements can be found on the MyChecklist at My.UCMerced.edu.
  • Academic Holds — If there are any academic holds on your account, you must resolve them before your aid will be disbursed.

How Financial Aid is Disbursed

Authorized Aid

Authorization is the first step in the disbursement process and can be thought of as a “pre-disbursement” stage. Aid will only authorize when it is ready to be disbursed.

Aid authorization occurs on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings. The next step in the disbursement process begins no earlier than 10 days before the start of instruction.

Grants, Scholarships, and Loans

Grants, scholarships, and loans administered by the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships are applied directly to your UC Merced student billing account. These funds are used to pay charges such as tuition, fees, and on-campus housing and meal plans, if applicable.

Federal Work-Study Funds

Students awarded Federal Work-Study earn their funds through employment with eligible employers. Wages are typically paid bi-weekly through the employer’s payroll system.

Learn more about the Federal Work-Study program .

Outside Scholarships

Once the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships receives your scholarship check, it will be added to your financial aid package within approximately two weeks. You will receive an email notification with details of any updates.

If the check is made payable to UC Regents, or co-payable to you and UC Regents and has been endorsed, the funds will be applied to your UC Merced student account like other financial aid. Disbursement occurs only after all requirements are met, you are enrolled, and no earlier than 10 days before the start of instruction.

Scholarships are typically split evenly between fall and spring terms unless otherwise specified by the donor.

Additional Information