Awards & Disbursements
Notification of Award
- If you are awarded financial aid, your award will be posted on the SOS website under My Award Information.
- Listed are funds you are scheduled to receive through either SJC or outside sources, if we are aware of them.
- All financial aid awards are subject to adjustments based on the availability of funds, your enrollment status, any supplementary assistance you might receive, changes in information and your being in compliance with SJC’s Academic Requirements for Receiving Financial Aid. This award is automatically canceled if any false representation has been made.
- Estimated funds you are scheduled to receive are listed by type of award, term amount and total award. If you receive a scholarship, tuition waiver, have your tuition and/or books funded by another source, etc. which are not listed on the web, you must immediately notify the Campus Financial Aid Office.
Disbursement of Funds Prior to Registration—Charging
- If your financial aid award is posted to the web prior to registration, tuition and fees may be charged to Pell, SEOG, TPEG, TEXAS Grants and some scholarships, not to exceed your eligibility.
- If there is a balance after tuition and fees have been deducted, you may charge books and supplies on a schedule posted at the SJC Bookstore. Proceeds will not be available at the Bookstore until 24 hours after the grants/scholarships/third-party billings have been authorized to pay your tuition and fees charges. Because there is a 24 hour delay of posting aid to your bookstore account, you are highly encouraged to register for classes either via telephone or at www.sos.sjcd.edu at the earliest possible time.
- If you have been awarded aid and you have submitted the San Jacinto College Authorization to Apply Financial Aid form, you can expect the aid to be posted automatically to your account usually within 24 hours of the time you register for your classes. If the aid has not been authorized within 24 hours of registration, you should contact the Business Office to determine if a problem exists. The updating occurs on a regular and frequent basis. If you register for classes and decide not to attend SJC, you must officially drop all your classes prior to the first day of classes. Failure to do so could result in your being billed for accumulated charges. Once payment has been received and posted, your classes will not be automatically purged for non-attendance. Financial aid funds are officially applied against your account the day after the census date. If you receive a scholarship or if your fees are paid by a third-party, you MUST visit the Business Office to sign the paperwork to have the scholarship or third party payment applied. Once payment has been applied, the PAID flag is set on the account. The PAID flag prevents the purging of registration for non-payment.
Disbursement of Funds after Registration
If you have a balance after all registration charges, including tuition, fees, books and supplies, or if your financial aid award is posted to the web after registration has ended, the funds will be released in the form of a check. This check will be mailed to the address you have on file in the Enrollment Services Office no earlier than 30 days after the beginning of the term. You may check the status of your account by visiting the website: www.sos.sjcd.edu and viewing the “Scheduled Disbursement” and “Account Summary by Term” sections. Please cash your balance check promptly as the College policy is to void un-cashed checks after 90 days.
Debts Owed to SJC
Current term debts owed to SJC will be deducted from available financial aid, except Federal Work Study earnings, that you are scheduled to receive before a balance check is mailed to you. Prior term financial aid debts, including Return to Title IV debts, owed to SJC cannot be paid from current term financial aid. The debt must be paid from the student’s own resources before additional aid will be disbursed.
Hours of Enrollment
- Pell awards are based on anticipated full-time enrollment. Awards are reduced for less than full-time enrollment. Less than half-time students may qualify
- SEOG and TPEG awards require a minimum enrollment of six (6) hours
- TEXAS Grant requires at least ¾ time enrollment. TEXAS Grant II requires at least half-time enrollment
- SLEAP/LEAP requires at least half-time enrollment
- In general, enrollment status, the number of hours for which the student is enrolled, is determined on census date and is defined, for the purpose of financial aid, as follows:
Full-time—12 or more hours
Three-quarter time—9 - 11 hours
Half-time—6 - 8 hours
Less than half-time—1 - 5 hours
NOTE: Financial aid awards will be determined by the number of hours for which you enroll and for which the census date has been reached. If you enroll in classes that begin at different times during the term, financial aid funds will not disburse to your account until the census date of each part-of-term class is reached. Because classes do not all begin at the same time, you may be required to pay a portion of your costs until financial aid disburses to your account.
Additional Resources
The Financial Aid Office must take into account any resources available to the student to help offset school expenses. Therefore, you must immediately report, in writing, to the Campus Financial Aid Office any scholarships or funds available to you from outside sources for your school expenses.

