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Understanding how Financial Aid Disbursements Work

Financial aid is packaged by the separate UC Financial Aid Offices – this is not something that UCEAP controls or influences. Disbursement of financial aid is based on the UCEAP program start date, and the earliest financial aid can be disbursed by the UC campus is 10 days prior to the program start date according to federal law.

When a student’s financial aid is applied to their campus account, any outstanding balance on the campus account will be paid first. Such balances may include health insurance or health service fees, for example. The difference will be transferred to UCEAP to cover program costs. 

When will financial aid funds be disbursed?

Once financial aid is disbursed, each campus will report the aid to UCEAP and funds will be reflected on the student’s UCEAP portal within 7 days.  

UCEAP disburses financial aid funds that are in excess of the program costs no sooner than 10 days prior to the program start date according to federal law.  

How are excess financial aid funds disbursed?

To receive financial aid disbursements from UCEAP in a timely manner (as a direct deposit), all students are strongly encouraged to sign up for eRefund. UCEAP eRefund is not the same as the student’s UC campus direct deposit system, and it must be established in time if the student wants to receive timely disbursements. 

It is the student’s responsibility to accurately set up eRefund; any mistakes made in establishing their eRefund account could result in a delay of receiving disbursements. 

  • If a student has signed up for eRefund at least 5 days prior to the disbursement date, UCEAP will disburse the credit balance to your bank. 
  • If a student has not signed up for eRefund in time, UCEAP will disburse the financial aid funds as a printed check and mail it to the student’s financial address in their UCEAP Portal application. 

Pro tip: Watch your email for notification on when to sign up for eRefund. 

Financial Aid Disbursement FAQs

Because the two systems are different, it may take a few business days before the financial aid is applied to the UCEAP Portal account. If a minimum of 5 days has elapsed, contact the Finance Accountant assigned to your program.

See the Contacts page on the website or your UCEAP Portal account for their contact information. 

Disbursement sent by eRefund should be reflected in your bank account within 3-5 business days from the date shown in the UCEAP Portal. If that time has elapsed, and the disbursement is not reflected in your bank account, please contact the Finance Accountant assigned to your program.

See the Contacts page on the website or your UCEAP Portal account for their contact information. 

There’s a specific window of time to sign up for eRefund.  

  • If you signed up for eRefund prior to the disbursement request date and the disbursement was sent by check, there may be an issue with the eRefund account. In that case, in order to get the funds to you in a timely manner, the funds are automatically sent to your address as entered in the UCEAP Portal. 
  • If you signed up for eRefund after the disbursement request date, it is not possible to send the disbursed funds as direct deposit. Future disbursements, however, will be sent by direct deposit as long as the eRefund account was set up correctly. 

It is the student’s responsibility to accurately set up their eRefund account. 

Financial aid disbursement checks are issued by UCSB and will be contained in an envelope bearing the UCSB address.

Paper checks take approximately 10-14 business days to arrive. If that amount of time has elapsed, and you still haven’t received the check, please contact the Finance Accountant assigned to your program.

See the Contacts page on the website or your UCEAP Portal account for their contact information.