Students that have a credit balance on their accounts due to overpayment of financial aid can request to have that balance released to them in the form of a refund.

The on-line refund form gives students the opportunity to request a refund and lets you include an address in a more streamlined manner than before. The on-line refund request will also allow you to personally make changes to your request prior to the refund being processed.

To apply for a refund students will need to utilize the On-line Student Refund Request Form on the AU portal.

Once a refund request is on file, and there is a refundable credit on the student account, a refund will take about five to seven business days to process.  

Students who are unsure of the type of credit that exists on their student account should complete the On-Line Refund Request form. 

Students are encouraged to have their refund sent electronically via ACH direct deposit by going to the "ACH Bank Information" link under your Portal's Personalized Finance Links.

Additional information regarding our ACH policy is found below.

ACH Direct Deposit Refund Policy

• Students are required to enter bank account information for which they are designated as the primary account holder.
• Students are responsible for updating their bank account information. ACH direct deposit excludes payroll, federal college work study earnings and fellowships.
• Once enrolled in ACH direct deposit, students will continue to receive all refunds via ACH direct deposit up until 6 months after they graduate, withdraw or until a student deletes their bank account information on-line.
• It is the student's responsibility to verify that all ACH direct deposit payments have been credited to their bank account before writing checks against their funds.
• Students cannot have their refund split between ACH direct deposit and a paper check.
• Credit balances that are a result of a Parent Plus Loan can only be directly deposited into a students' bank account if a Parent Plus Authorization Form has been signed and submitted, by the borrowing parent, to the Office of Student Accounts.
• American University reserves the right to initiate credit entries and to initiate, if necessary, debit entries and adjustments for any credit entries in error to a students' account.
• ACH direct deposit can be transmitted to U.S. bank accounts only.
• Students can only have one bank account on file with the University at a time. Any changes made by the student to their bank account information will overwrite the previous information entered.

« [read less]

Service Departments:

Available to: