Question #1: I have an off-campus scholarship that my donor mailed to me. What do I do with the check?
We recommend that you mail your off-campus scholarship check to the Financial Aid and Scholarship Office unless you are in the area and are able to bring it in. If you mail it, please send it to: Brigham Young University Attn: Financial Aid and Scholarship Office A-41 ASB Provo, UT 84602 Before sending your check, please be sure that your name and BYU ID# are referenced on the check. If you want to bring your off-campus scholarship into our office, we are located in A-41 which on the bottom floor of the ASB.


Question #2: My donor sent my off-campus scholarship check a long time ago and you still haven’t received it. Why?
There are several possible reasons your off-campus scholarship may not have arrived in the Financial Aid and Scholarship Office: It takes 3-5 days in addition to regular mail time for us to receive mail in the Financail Aid and Scholarship Office. Your off-campus scholarship may be in the Financial Aid and Scholarship Office, but your check has not been processed yet. If your donor did not provide us with enough information to process your scholarship check and left no contact phone number, we would have returned it to them by mail with a letter requesting the required information. If your donor sent your off-campus scholarship check to the wrong office on campus, it will take a few extra days for it to arrive in the Financial Aid and Scholarship Office.


Question #3: I received an off-campus scholarship that is made payable to both me and to BYU. What do I do with it?
You will need to endorse the check and then either mail or bring it into the Financial Aid and Scholarship Office. We will then deposit the check and apply the funds to your student account.


Question #4: How do I know when you have processed my off-campus scholarship?
The easiest way for you to check on the status of your off-campus scholarship is to log on to your Route Y account, which is accessible from the BYU homepage. If we have processed your scholarship, it will be listed on your electronic billing statement as a credit under “Awards and Payments.”


Question #5: If I bring an off-campus scholarship check into the Financail Aid and Scholarship Office, how long will it take before I can pick up an excess check?
The processing time for off-campus scholarships varies. At the beginning of a semester/term, it may take 3-5 days before your refund is available. Later on in the semester/term, it will usually only take 1-2 days. If it has been longer than 5 business days, please contact the Scholarship Office. There may be a problem with your scholarship that we should be able to remedy.


Question #6: I know my off-campus scholarship is in the Financial Aid and Scholarship Office but it’s not showing up on my account. Why?
If you are put on academic warning or probation by the university, your off-campus scholarship will be affected until you contact us. If GPA is not a requirement for your scholarship, we can override the block. If it is a requirement, we must verify your GPA with the required GPA before we can release your scholarship to you. If you have a Stafford Loan and your scholarship was not reported as aid you will be receiving, your scholarship may have put you into an “overaward” status.


Question #7: Can I use my off-campus scholarship to pay for housing?
If you have a housing charge on your student account when your off-campus scholarship is received in our office, your scholarship will automatically pay that charge. Any excess scholarship funds will be refunded to you and you will be responsible for paying any future housing charges with the excess funds.


Question #8: I’m receiving more than one off-campus scholarship and it is more money than I will need for one academic year. Will you just keep what I don’t need in my student account?
Unfortunately we are unable to keep excess funds in your student account. The student account is intended to function as a bookkeeping account to track charges and payments. It is not intended to be a bank account. You may, however, put your excess funds in a bank account and use them when you need to.


Question #9: What happens to my off-campus scholarship if my tuition is paid from some other source?
If your tuition is already paid when we receive your scholarship, we will still apply the funds to your student account to pay any other charges you may have. Once all outstanding balances are paid, if there is an excess of funds on your student account, you will receive a refund check from BYU. If you have no other charges owing on your account when the scholarship is applied, you will receive a full refund.


Question #10: Do I have to be a full-time student to retain my off-campus scholarship?
Most donors require their scholarship recipients to maintain full-time status in order to retain scholarship funds. If you drop below full-time status, your funds will be returned to your donor and you will be responsible for paying that amount back to BYU. If you have extenuating circumstances for dropping below full-time status, you may contact your donor to see if they will allow you to have an exception. Regardless of your donor’s decision, we will need a written explanation of it to keep in your file. It may be mailed, faxed, or emailed. The Financial Aid and Scholarship Office fax number is (801) 422-0235, and the email is scholarships@byu.edu. Your donor may not require you to be a full-time student. If this is the case and your scholarship has been removed from your student account, please contact the Financial Aid and Scholarship Office. With the number of scholarships we process, it may have been a simple oversight.


Question #11: Can I use my off-campus scholarship for Study Abroad, Internships, or Independent Study?
You may use your off-campus scholarship for either Study Abroad or for Internships as long as you are receiving BYU credit for the program. Since most donors will not pay for Independent Study courses, you must first obtain approval from your donor to use your off-campus scholarship for Independent Study. If they give their approval, we will need a written statement from them stating such. We will also need a letter from you that lists the course(s) you wish to take. Please note: we can only accept the amount for your course(s) and materials. Any funds that are in excess of your course(s) and materials will be returned to your donor.


Question #12: I am receiving tuition assistance from the military. What do I need to do?
You will need to contact your unit to get the necessary forms filled out. Once the forms are completed, you will need to fax them to (801) 422-0235 or bring them into the Scholarship Office in A-41 ASB. Please be aware that if you change your registration during the semester, you will need to get a corrected tuition assistance form from your unit and then bring it to us.


Question #13: I am receiving financial assistance from Vocational Rehabilitation. How does that work?
Your rehabilitation counselor should mail or fax us an authorization to pay your tuition and any other charges they decide to cover. When we receive your authorization, we will pay for the charges that your counselor has approved. If your counselor is paying for your textbooks, they must send a separate authorization to the Bookstore Customer Accounts Office, which is located in 3978 WSC. They can also be reached at (801) 422-2470.