Disbursement & Refunds

When your financial aid awards are disbursed to your CUNYfirst account, the funds will be applied to any unpaid tuition and fee charges. If you have a financial aid credit balance after the payment of your tuition and fees, you will receive a financial aid refund. Before your financial aid awards can be disbursed, all financial aid related items on your CUNYfirst “To Do List” must be resolved and you must be enrolled in your classes. Awards that have been authorized for payment will appear as “Pending Financial Aid” (also referred to as anticipated aid) on your CUNYfirst Student Center page and will have a scheduled disbursement date.

Your financial aid is disbursed to your CUNYfirst account, not to you personally. Only after all charges on your account are satisfied will a refund be issued to you directly. Refunds are processed within 3-5 days after a financial aid payment appears on your CUNYfirst account.

Financial aid funds are not disbursed all at once; the funds are disbursed in stages. Your tuition account will continue to show a balance until enough financial aid funds have been disbursed to your account to satisfy the tuition charges. Guttman takes the “Pending Financial Aid” into account and will not require that you pay tuition charges that will be covered by the “Pending Financial Aid” before all the anticipated aid is disbursed to your account.

There is a difference between the “scheduled” disbursement date and the “actual” date an award is disbursed. The “scheduled” disbursement date is the earliest date in the term that Guttman may release the award. The “actual” disbursement date may be different from the “scheduled” date.

Note: the disbursement date is the date the funds post to your CUNYfirst account, not the date you can expect to receive your refund. An actual disbursement date will not appear until the disbursement has occurred.

View your Pending Financial Aid on CUNYfirst:

STEP# 1: Login to CUNYfirst at https://home.cunyfirst.cuny.edu.

STEP# 2: Select the Student Center link from the left menu.

STEP# 3: In the Finances section, click the Account Inquiry link to see the details of the Account Summary.

STEP# 5: Under the Account Inquiry tab, you will be able to view your pending financial aid by clicking the “pending aid” sub-tab. If you have pending financial aid that covers your tuition and fee charges in full, you will not be required to make a payment to the Bursar.

View Scheduled Disbursements on CUNYfirst:

STEP# 1: Login to CUNYfirst at https://home.cunyfirst.cuny.edu.

STEP# 2: Select the Student Center link from the left menu.

STEP# 3: Select View Financial Aid

STEP# 4: Select to corresponding Aid Year and Guttman

STEP# 5: Select View Scheduled Disbursement Dates

View disbursements and refunds on your Account Activity page on CUNYfirst:

STEP# 1: Login to CUNYfirst at https://home.cunyfirst.cuny.edu.

STEP# 2: Select the Student Center link from the left menu.

STEP# 3: In the Finances section, click the Account Activity link from the drop-down menu.

The Account Activity page will display the activity occurring in your account for the academic year.

Financial aid refunds are funds in excess of your tuition and fees liability issued to you as either an electronic direct deposit payment to your bank account, or sent to your CUNYfirst mailing address in the form of a paper check. Refunds are usually made available to students on the Friday following their disbursement date. That means you will see your eligible refund in CUNYfirst several days before it will actually be deposited to your bank account if you have signed up for direct deposit, or mailed as a paper check if you do not sign up for direct deposit.

CUNY offers two different ways you may receive your financial aid payments/refunds.

Option #1: Direct Deposit – Your refunds are paid to your personal bank account.

How to enroll in direct deposit on CUNYfirst:

STEP# 1: Login to CUNYfirst at https://home.cunyfirst.cuny.edu.

STEP# 2: Select the Student Center link from the left menu.

STEP# 3: Click Manage My Accounts.

STEP# 4: On the My Accounts page, click the Add Account button. You will be prompted to enter your Financial Institution Details. After entering the required account information, click the Next button at the bottom of the screen.

STEP# 5: To activate the bank account you have added as your direct deposit account, click the Enroll In Direct Deposit button.

STEP# 6: On the Enroll in Direct Deposit panel, select the Account Nickname to designate as the direct deposit account and click Next.

STEP# 7: On the Enroll in Direct Deposit Agreement page, select the checkbox next to the statement “Yes, I agree to the terms and conditions of this agreement.” and click on the SUBMIT button. 

After you have set up direct deposit in CUNYfirst, remember to keep your account information updated. Changes, such as opening or closing bank accounts, or changing banks, do not get updated automatically in CUNYfirst. You are responsible for updating your personal bank account information in CUNYfirst. Failure to keep your account information up to date may cause refunds to be transferred to an inactive account and delay your receipt of the funds.

For additional information regarding Refunds and Direct Deposit, you can visit the CUNY website.

Option #2: Paper Check – by Mail

If you do not choose the direct deposit option, your refunds will be sent to your CUNYfirst mailing address in the form of a paper check. We strongly recommend that you sign up for direct deposit to eliminate the chance that your check will get lost, delayed during delivery, or misplaced once you receive it. Direct Deposit is efficient and secure.

Take the following steps to protect your check:

• Keep your mailing address current in your CUNYfirst account.
• If you do not receive an expected check within 10 days of the scheduled disbursement date, or if your check is lost or stolen, contact the Bursar’s Office
• Deposit or cash your check as soon as possible after you receive it. Stale checks may not be able to be replaced and you risk losing those funds.
• Report any lost or stolen check to the Bursar’ Office

Your Federal Pell grant is disbursed in 2 installments each semester. The first disbursement will be equal to 25% of your total scheduled award for the semester and is scheduled to coincide as closely as possible to the start of the semester so that you have a chance to purchase books and supplies in the first week of the term. The remaining 75% of your scheduled award will be disbursed later in the term (refer to the section above to see how to view your disbursement dates). The amount of Pell you will receive for books and supplies depends on how much Pell is left after your tuition and fees are paid using all applicable financial aid awards.

You will receive a disbursement of your loan funds once you have completed all the requirements including signing your Master Promissory Note (MPN), completing loan entrance counseling, and submitting additional requested information to the Office of Financial Aid. Your Loan Disclosure Statement indicates anticipated disbursement dates, and every attempt is made to have the actual loan disbursement dates coincide with the anticipated disbursement dates. Not completing the requirements mentioned above could result in your loan disbursements being delayed.

You must establish and maintain 6 credits or equated credits of enrollment each semester to be eligible to receive a disbursement of Direct Loan funds.

Your Direct Loan funds will be disbursed to your CUNYfirst account. Only after all charges on your account are satisfied will a Direct Loan refund be issued to you directly.