Maintained for Historical Purposes

This resource is being maintained for historical purposes only and is not currently applicable.

Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant Program - Payments to Students

AwardYear: 1996-1997
EnterChapterNo: 8
EnterChapterTitle: Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant Program
SectionNumber: 2
SectionTitle: Payments to Students
PageNumbers: 7-9



MINIMUM AND MAXIMUM AWARD AMOUNTS

[[Enrollment for less than an academic year]]
[[FSEOG for study abroad]]
A school may award a Federal Supplemental Educational
Opportunity Grant (FSEOG) in an amount the school determines a
student needs to continue his or her studies for an academic year. A
student’s minimum allowable award for an academic year may be
reduced proportionately if the student is enrolled for less than an
academic year. An FSEOG may not be less than $100 and may not
exceed $4,000 for a full academic year unless the student has
reasonable costs of study abroad that exceed the cost of attendance at
the home school. The maximum amount of the FSEOG may be
increased from $4,000 to as much as $4,400 for a student
participating in a study-abroad program that is approved for credit by
the home school.

DISBURSEMENT

[[Method of payment]]
A school must notify a student of the amount he or she can expect to
receive as well as how and when that amount will be paid. A school
may disburse an FSEOG directly to a student by check or may credit
the student’s account. In addition, a school may choose to pay a
student by electronic funds transfer (EFT) to the bank account the
student designates; however, the school must first obtain an
authorization from the student to disburse by EFT. A school may not
require a student to sign a power of attorney as a prerequisite to
receiving his or her FSEOG.

[[Timing of disbursement]]
The school may not disburse funds for a payment period until the
student registers for that period. (Correspondence students must
submit their first completed lessons before receiving funds.) The
earliest a school may PAY DIRECTLY OR CREDIT THE
ACCOUNT of an enrolled student is 10 DAYS before the first day of
a payment period or period of enrollment. A school may no longer
credit the account of an enrolled student up to three weeks before the
first day of classes as a school could do before the 1995-96 award
year.

If a student withdraws (officially or unofficially) or is expelled
before the first day of classes, the school must return to the FSEOG
account any funds that were paid to the student.

[[Late payment conditions--34CFR 676.16(f)]]
Under certain conditions, a student who drops out before receiving
his or her FSEOG can receive a payment. The school may disburse
FSEOG funds to the student only if

- the FSEOG is awarded to the student while he or she is still an
eligible student and

- the FSEOG funds are used to cover documented educational costs
that were incurred for a payment period for which the award was
intended and during which the student was actually enrolled.*1*

A school that disburses FSEOG funds to a student after he or she has
dropped out must document in the student’s file the reason for the
late disbursement.

If a student drops out AFTER receiving his or her FSEOG but before
the end of the payment period, the school determines the amount of
any refund and repayment as discussed in Chapter 3, Section 4.

FREQUENCY OF DISBURSEMENTS

[[Standard term school]]
If a school is awarding an FSEOG for a full academic year and the
school uses standard academic terms, it must advance a portion of
the grant during each payment period. (Generally, the total FSEOG
award is divided by the number of payment periods the student will
attend.) In schools with a traditional academic year, payment periods
are usually defined as semesters, trimesters, or quarters.

[[Non-standard term schools]]
If the school does not use standard academic terms, it must advance
funds at least twice during the academic year--once at the beginning
and once at the midpoint. Normally, no more than half the award
may be advanced before the midpoint. If the student attends less than
an academic year, the award is divided by the number of payment
periods the student will attend during the academic year. A school
may advance funds WITHIN a payment period in whatever
installments it determines will best meet the student’s needs.
However, if the total amount awarded a student under the FSEOG
Program is less than $501 for an academic year, only one payment is
necessary.

UNEQUAL DISBURSEMENTS

If the student incurs uneven costs or receives uneven resources
during the year and needs extra funds in a particular payment period,
a school may make unequal FSEOG disbursements. The school may
also make unequal disbursements under the Federal Perkins Loan
Program. For a discussion of uneven costs and unequal
disbursements, see Chapter 6, Section 2.

FSEOG OVERAWARDS AND OVERPAYMENTS

[[Resources that must be considered when awarding FSEOG]]
A financial aid administrator may not award or disburse an FSEOG
to a student if the grant, when combined with all other resources,
would exceed the student’s need. The aid administrator must take
into account those resources that he or she can reasonably anticipate
at the time aid is awarded to the student, those the school makes
available to its students, or those the aid administrator knows about.
If a student who has already been awarded a financial aid package
later receives additional resources that cause his or her financial aid
package to exceed his or her need, the amount in excess of the
student’s need is considered an overaward. Beginning with the 1995-
96 award year, there is now a $300 overaward threshold for all
campus-based programs. The $300 threshold is allowed only if an
overaward occurs after campus-based aid has been packaged. The
threshold does not allow a school to deliberately award campus-
based aid that, in combination with other resources, exceeds the
student’s financial need. A list of resources and a discussion of
overawards and overpayments are included in Chapter 5, Section 2,
"Resources and Overawards."


*1* Costs that may be included are those normally included in a
student’s cost of attendance under section 472 of the HEA (discussed
in Chapter 2).