Spring 2023 financial aid refunds will BEGIN in early to mid-February and will then continue on a weekly basis throughout the spring semester.

Student aid recipients at Ozarks Technical Community College can expect to receive a refund AFTER the following steps have taken place:

    1. Processing the Student Aid File (verifying eligibility and documentation included in the file)
    2. Validation of Student Enrollment and Attendance
    3. Receipt of Funds from the Grant, Scholarship or Direct Loan Source and Subtracting Course Expenses (tuition, fees, bookstore items, etc.) to Determine the Overpayment/Refund Due to the Student
    4. Depositing the Refund Amount to the OTC SmartCard Refund Preference

Processing of Student Aid File

Students who submit their financial aid application and supporting information to the Financial Aid office prior to the deadline for the semester should receive their refunds approximately 4 weeks after classes begin.

Students who apply for financial aid after the deadline may still receive a refund but should expect a delay in receiving their refund.

Validation of Student Enrollment and Attendance

In order to receive student aid funds, class attendance is required to maintain an acceptable academic record and to maintain student aid eligibility. Students who fail to meet Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy requirements may become ineligible for financial aid.

Students receiving financial aid assistance must attend classes as required. Students who do not attend classes are subject to being dropped from their class by the instructor. Since student aid is paid on enrollment (with attendance), students dropped from classes will not be paid for those classes.

Determining Student Refunds

Financial aid funds are applied (transmitted) directly to each student’s account with the college in order to pay tuition, fees, bookstore charges or any other items charged by the student.

After the student account charges have been paid, any remaining credit balance (overpayment) will be reviewed and eligible credit balances will be refunded.

Please note that credit balances are not reviewed until financial aid funds have paid to the student account. Anticipated financial aid funds are not considered as paid to the account until they reflect as transmitted. Students can review their financial aid awards and their status (anticipated vs. transmitted) in their myOTC on their Student Accounts dashboard.

Deposit of the Refund Amount to your OTC SmartCard Refund Preference

This is the step everyone likes – getting the money!  Students must have an active OTC SmartCard refund preference in place in order to receive their financial aid refund.

Once all the above steps are complete, Student Account Services reviews each student account, processes eligible overpayment amounts and deposits the refunds to the student’s OTC SmartCard refund preference.

Initial student aid refunds are typically deposited to students’ SmartCard refund preference approximately 4 weeks after the beginning of classes.