As the semester approaches, the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid (OSFA) answers some of the top questions financial aid recipients may have about receiving their financial aid and how it applies to their bill at Georgia Tech. OSFA is available in their office in the Bill Moore Student Success Center Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. to answer further questions about a student’s financial aid.
How do I pay as a student/parent, and how does financial aid get applied to my bill?
Nearly everyone pays online using the Payment Portal. There are excellent instructions about paying your bill for both students and parents on the Bursar’s website. This includes the steps for students to give their parents access to the payment portal so they can see charges and make payments.
If financial aid is involved, there are some additional things that are helpful to know.
First, about a month before the semester starts, financial aid moves from just being listed on the financial aid notification (FAN) to showing up as “anticipated aid” on the student account. This is basically a temporary credit to help with financial planning. For most funds, the anticipated aid assumes that the student will enroll full time.
Next, financial aid will start to appear as an actual credit (payment) on the student account. This process will begin no later than three days before classes start. For Fall 2025, we will start this process August 12 for students who have accepted aid, have done everything needed for the type(s) of aid accepted, and are registered for the required number of hours.
Before the actual credit (payment) is applied to the student account, the temporary credit has to be removed. There’s a period of up to 24 hours when it may look like money has been removed from the anticipated aid line and the actual credit is not yet applied to the account. This nearly always resolves within one business day.
Additionally, actual disbursements (payments) of financial aid are based on the student’s current enrollment. This means that if a student is enrolled in only six credit hours, for example, some or all of the financial aid may not appear on the account until additional hours are added.
During registration, enrollment is continuously fluctuating. The financial aid office takes a snapshot of everyone’s enrollment daily and pays financial aid based on that snapshot. If enrollment changes, it may take up to one business day for the correct financial aid to apply to the account based on the new enrollment.
Why doesn’t my Financial Aid Notification (FAN) match the student account?
The cost of attendance on the FAN includes amounts for items like tuition and fees that are directly charged to the student account, but it also includes allowances for indirect costs like transportation and personal expenses. These amounts are included to give a comprehensive estimate of the total cost of education for planning purposes, but they are not a component of the bill.
What happens if part of my bill will be paid by an outside scholarship check?
For outside scholarships, the donor may send students a check made payable to the student or to Georgia Tech and the student jointly. In these cases, students must endorse these checks to Georgia Tech and submit them to the OSFA.
When the outside donor sends a check to the Institute directly, the student will be notified to visit the Bursar’s Office to endorse the check, if needed, before it can be applied. In order to be applied to the student’s balance prior to the Fee Payment deadline, checks must be received a month before the deadline. Checks received after this date will still be processed in the order that they are received.
What happens if my financial aid is more than my charges?
If a credit balance exists after all financial aid has been posted, the bursar will deposit these funds by means of direct deposit into the student’s designated bank account, if the student has enrolled in direct deposit on OSCAR. Visit the Bursar’s Office website for more information on direct deposit.
Anything else I should be thinking about?
We suggest that all students put October 1 on the calendar, as both the Georgia Tech Application for Scholarships and Financial Aid (GT App) and Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) will open. The financial aid process is annual, and students should complete all relevant financial aid forms by January 31, 2026, Tech’s priority aid deadline, to be considered for Georgia Tech financial aid for the 2026-27 academic year.
Also, remember that sometimes a deposit was paid towards the cost of the fall semester, which lowers the fall semester bill. Because of this, a student’s spring semester bill may be slightly higher.
For more information on receiving financial aid, review OSFA’s website.
Fall 2025 Know Your Dates:
- Anticipated Aid – July 14, 2025
- Funds Credited to bill – August 12, 2025
- Bursar Refunds – August 13, 2025
- First Day of Class – August 18, 2025
- Fee Payment Deadline – August 25, 2025