Step 4: Financial Clearance and Cash Advance Check
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This step addresses the first Harvard University student account notice that you will receive from Student Accounts in July for financial clearance for fall registration, and eligibility for a fall cash advance check. This page is designed to provide a basic understanding of these topics.
Steps to Financial Clearance
Steps to Financial Clearance
- Understanding Billing at Harvard University
- Your 1st Student Account Notice
- Fall Registration
- Fall Cash Advance/Refund Checks
Understanding Billing at Harvard University
- Harvard Law School’s Student Financial Services Office awards financial aid, notifies the central University Student Financial Services Office of anticipated financial aid credits, and ensures that students have financial clearance for fall registration, spring registration, pre-registration & graduation. All student billing & receivables functions are centralized run University-wide by Harvard University’s Student Financial Services Office, located on the 8th floor of the Smith Campus Center.
- Student Account Notices are generated on the 10th and 25th of each month. Charges such as tuition, University Health Services Fees, Harvard Student Health Insurance (SHIP), & dormitory room (if applicable) are billed half per semester, once in July, and a second time in December. Likewise, your total anticipated financial aid credits for the academic year are divided in half and offset the charges on your student account. Other charges may be monthly, or “as incurred” and are due on a regular monthly basis. The central University Student Financial Services Office prefers that students make their payments as e-payments, although checks and wires are acceptable. You student account balance cannot be paid by credit card. Methods of payment are available on the central SFS website. For more information, please visit the Student Billing section of our website.
Your 1st Student Account Notice
- Charges for the fall term will be posted in July. In July, you will receive a student account notice from the central University Student Financial Services Office via your official HLS email account that you can login to view your student account balance. Entering students: Your student account cannot be accessed until you receive your first student account notice. Your student account can be accessed at https://my.harvard.edu.
- Students who are admitted after July student account notices are sent out (including all transfer students) MUST work directly with HLS Student Financial Services to ensure their outstanding charges are resolved in time for fall registration. All students must have either paid or applied for enough financial aid in order to cover all charges posted to their student account prior to being allowed to register for fall classes.
- You will need your Harvard Key to gain access to your student account.
- All secured financial aid that appears in the SFS Self-Service Portal on the Budget and Award page as of July 25th will be reflected as anticipated financial aid credits on your student account. You should expect to see half of your total academic year charges and half of your total financial aid for the academic year on your student account.
Fall Registration
All students must be financially cleared in order to participate in fall registration. This means that you need to ensure that your student account balance is covered by August 15th, either by anticipated financial aid credits, a payment, or a combination of both. The following will occur if satisfactory payment arrangements are not made with Student Financial Services prior to Fall Registration:
- You will not be able to participate in Fall Registration or the Course Add/Drop process.
- You will not be eligible to receive a cash advance/refund check (if applicable).
- A late fee of $250 will also be assessed and posted to your student account.
Fall Cash Advance/Refund Checks
If your anticipated financial aid credits exceed the total of the charges on your student account, you will be eligible for a fall cash advance that can be used for living expenses. Eligible students will receive their cash advance around fall registration. We are unable to release cash advances prior to this date. Students who are eligible for a cash advance should budget those funds for living expenses, including rent, for the entire fall semester. Spring cash advances will be issued late December (if anticipated financial aid credits are greater than charges on your account). Students should sign up for direct deposit. For more information see the Cash Disbursements section.
This step is not yet completely updated for 2021-2022. Generally, step 4 happens during the summer. You can still read the information provided here for a basic understanding of what this step is all about. Once this step is open for 2021-2022, we will email you to let you know.
Student Account Examples FOR 2021-22
| Example 1 | Example 2 | Example 3 | |
| Grant Recipient | Full Budget Borrower | Partial Budget Borrower | |
| Total Financial Aid Package | |||
| HLS Grant Amount | $67,720.00 | — | — |
| HLS Loan Amount | $10,000.00 | — | — |
| Additional Borrowing from Federal or Private Lenders (Optional) | $77,720.00 | $104,200.00 | $60,000.00 |
| Annualized Aid Amount | $104,200.00 | $104,200.00 | $60,000.00 |
| Anticipated Financial Aid Scenarios (by semester – Fall and Spring) | |||
| All Student Loans | $18,240 | $52,100 | $30,000 |
| Grant | $33,860 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Total Anticipated Aid | $52,100 | $52,100 | $30,000 |
| Standard July Charges | |||
| Fall Tuition | $33,860 | $33,860 | $33,860 |
| UHS Student Health Fee | $621 | $621 | $621 |
| Student Health Insurance (HUSHP) | $2020 | $2020 | $2020 |
| Total Charges | $36,501 | $36,501 | $36,501 |
| Fall Semester Result (Total Charges – Total Anticipated Aid) | $15,599 Credit | $15,599 Credit | $6,501 Owed |
Notes:
- Bear in mind that these are general examples to give you an idea of how anticipated financial aid and your fall charges interact on your student account.
- The anticipated aid numbers also do not account for any potential fees if you chose to borrow an Unsubsidized Direct Loan or GradPLUS.
- The student receiving a grant (Example 1) and the student who is a full budget borrower (Example 2) have elected to apply for the maximum student loan amount possible to bring them up to the set student budget of $104,200 and are eligible for a fall cash advance to cover living expenses.
- In all these examples housing/rent was not addressed. If you will be living off-campus in housing not affiliated with Harvard University, you should expect to utilize your own personal resources and/or cash advance, if eligible, to pay off-campus rent. If you will be residing in a dormitory, your room will appear on your student account as a semester charge both in July and December. If you will be residing in Harvard Real Estate Services’ housing (HU Housing), your monthly rent will be billed to your student account. You must pay your rent charges on your student account each month.