Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

To receive financial aid at MCC, students must enroll in a program of study leading to an associate’s degree, a certificate of achievement, or a career certificate, and pursue only one active Degree program at a time. Certificates of achievement and career certificates must be in the current year catalog to be financial aid-eligible. Degree programs can be in any active catalog. To declare or verify your current program of study, call the MCC Contact Center at 531-MCC-2400 or meet with an Academic Advisor.

Will I Owe Any Money Out-of-Pocket for Your Tuition and Fees?

If the total of your grants, loans, and scholarships for a quarter is less than your tuition and fee charges for that quarter, you must pay the difference to the Student Accounts Office.

Will I Receive a Financial Aid Refund?

If the total of your grants, loans, and scholarships for a quarter is greater than your charges for that quarter, you will receive a refund of the funds that are left over after your charges are paid. Some MCC scholarships can only be used to pay MCC charges and therefore cannot be disbursed in the form of a refund.

When Will Refunds Be Available?

The first refund dates for each quarter are listed in Key Financial Aid Dates. After the first refund date each quarter, refunds are generated every Friday. The refund amount reflects the aid that has applied to your student account for the quarter minus your charges for the quarter with the exception of some scholarships. Grants and scholarships are applied to student accounts once per quarter. However, loans are applied twice each quarter. The first loan disbursement will be half of your net loan amount for the quarter. The second disbursement is the second half of your net loan amount and occurs after the 50 percent point of the quarter. If you are eligible to receive a refund, but your quarterly charges are not paid in full until the second half of the loan has been disbursed, you will not receive a refund until after the second half of your loan has been disbursed. If you are eligible to receive a refund and your quarterly charges are paid in full after the first half of your loan (and any grants and scholarships) has applied to your student account, you will receive two refunds for the quarter. The second refund will occur after the second half of the loan has been applied to your student account.

There are four enrollment levels:

• Full-Time 12 or more credits
• ¾-Time 9 – 11.5 credits
• Half-Time 6 – 8.5 credits
• Less than Half-Time .5 – 5.5 credits

For a class to count towards a student’s financial aid enrollment level, the following criteria must be met:

• The student is in a financial aid-eligible program of study
• The program of study is under a valid MCC catalog year
• The student was enrolled in the class as of the quarterly census date
• The class is required for the student’s program of study (the program of study as of the census date)
• The instructor reported that the student is participating in the class if the course is a repeated course
• The student has not yet received a grade of R, P, D or better in the course; OR
  It is the first time the student has repeated the course since receiving a grade of R, P, D or better in the course

Although original award letters are based on full-time attendance, most students do not have to be full-time to receive financial aid. Pell grants are prorated based on enrollment level. For example:

• If your Pell grant for fall quarter is $1,000 based on full-time attendance (12 or more credits), but you only attend ¾-time (9-11 credits), your Pell grant for that quarter will be reduced to $750
• If you attend Half-Time (6-8 credits), your Pell grant for that quarter will be reduced to $500
• If you attend less than Half-Time (1-5 credits), your Pell grant for that quarter will be reduced to $250.

Students with an Expected Family Contributions (EFC) of $3,901 – $5,200 must be enrolled at least Half-Time (6- 8.5 credits) to receive a Pell grant, students with an EFC of $5,201-$5,600 must be enrolled at least ¾-time (9-11.5 credits) to receive a Pell grant, and students with an EFC of $5,601-$5,846 must be enrolled Full-Time (12 or more credits) to receive a Pell Grant.

Students must be enrolled in a minimum of six (6) credits at the time their federal student loans are certified and at the time their federal student loans are disbursed. If they are not enrolled in at least six (6) credits at the time of disbursement, the disbursement will be cancelled. Loan amounts for students whose enrollment level is less than Full-Time for any quarter will be reviewed each quarter to determine if the loan amounts exceed the adjusted Cost of Attendance and therefore need to be reduced.