There are several possible reasons. Your payment may not have been received before the bills printed, or a new charge (such as a library or parking fine, or a heath services fee) could have recently been added to your account. Contact the Office of Students Accounts to inquire.

If there have been any adjustments, the account activity will appear on your next invoice. However, these invoices are only generated on the tenth day of every month via the QuikPAY^® eBill and ePay service. Therefore you are encouraged in the meantime to log on to CAESAR to see real-time billing of your account.

First, be sure that you accepted the loan on the Financial Aid Announcement and returned the signed announcement to the Financial Aid Office. Then be sure that you completed the proper loan application materials. (If your award announcement or loan applications have not been received by us or are incomplete in any way this will be noted in the Financial Aid - To Do section on CAESAR. Also, if you are borrowing a NU Loan, be sure to sign and return your promissory notes to the Student Loan Office. Anticipated credits for the NU Loan, Perkins and Stafford loans will remain on your account until actual funds are received providing you have completed all necessary application materials for the loans. Anticipated credits will be removed later in the academic year if you have failed to complete your promissory notes or entrance interview or if for some reason your loan application has not been processed. You should contact the Financial Aid Office to determine the reason for the delay in processing.

Students who cannot afford the cost of the Northwestern health plan can request assistance by submitting a Health Insurance Assistance Request directly to this office. If you submitted a certification signed by your parent(s) last year, you can appeal to the Financial Aid Committee indicating that your family's status remains the same. We use specific criteria in determining eligibility for assistance. To be considered for additional assistance for the 2007-08 academic year, your total family contribution must be $5,000 or less. The type of assistance provided to cover the additional health insurance costs will be based upon the availability of funds.

Student Accounts cannot release funds to you that they have not actually received. If you have a credit balance but your aid is not yet actual, you will need to see a counselor in the Financial Aid Office to obtain a cash advance voucher which authorizes the release of anticipated funds. Once all of your financial aid for the quarter has been received by Student Accounts, you may contact them directly to get any credit balance you are due.

If all of your aid has been paid to the University (none of it is listed as anticipated), you may contact Student Accounts for your refund. If any of your aid is anticipated, then you may come to the Financial Aid Office for a cash advance. Cash advances are limited to $1000 a month and are available on a quarterly basis starting with the first day of class.

Yes. Any Northwestern student may be eligible to borrow up to $500 for each quarter of enrollment, pending Financial Aid Office approval. You should come to the Office of Financial Aid to fill out the request forms. In order to receive the money, you will need to take the forms to the Bursar's Office and present a valid Northwestern ID. You can request this loan once per quarter, and it must be repaid within 60 days or by the end of the quarter, whichever comes first.

You're right, and it is. The Associated Student Government (ASG) fee is a charge that is billed each term. The Athletic Event fee is charged once annually during fall term. Because these fees are assessed to all enrolled students, we do include an allowance for these charges when determining cost of attendance. You will see the allowance for these charges and any other standard fees grouped together on your award letter under the "fees" category. See the section entitled Components of an Aid Package for more information on how cost of attendance is established.

If you live off campus, your financial need is calculated exactly the same way as if you lived on campus. The major difference is that Student Accounts will not charge you for your room and board expenses. If your financial aid credits exceed your charges, you can obtain a refund or cash advance to help you with your off-campus living expenses. On the other hand, if your tuition and fee charges exceed the financial aid credits, your family contribution will be used to pay off your tuition invoice and off-campus living expenses. See the section on Living Off-Campus & Financial Aid for more information.

Students who wish to participate in an internship or field studies program that carries academic credit during the academic year may request, if awarded work study, that the work study allocation for the quarter of participation be replaced with additional loan assistance. If you have other questions regarding your financial aid and associated program costs, please contact a counselor in the Office of Financial Aid.

As far as financial aid is concerned, you must be enrolled in order to receive assistance. If you are going to graduate after winter quarter, for instance, you would be eligible for your fall and winter aid, and your spring aid would be cancelled. If a student will be graduating early, he/she should notify the office in writing the quarter before. It is also the student's responsibility to check with the University Registrar to make sure that the University's enrollment requirement has been met.

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If you don't find the answer to your question or would like to discuss your concerns with a counselor, please contact us by phone at (847) 491-7400 or e-mail us at ug-finaid@northwestern.edu.