Scholarship Check Policy

Private scholarships may impact the financial aid previously offered to a student. The combined amount of your financial aid award and external resources cannot exceed your total cost of attendance. It is the policy of the Office of Financial Aid & Scholarships to apply for private scholarships to reduce self-help aid (work-study or student loans) before reducing gift aid unless required to do so by state or federal regulation.  Students whose original award is changed will receive an email notification and be encouraged to review their revised award online on the Financial Aid and Scholarship Self-Service Portal.

Scholarship checks are frequently made payable to both the University of Michigan-Dearborn and the student recipient. Students must visit the One-Stop Student Services to endorse a scholarship check and are required to bring picture identification. The student will be given a receipt.

Never endorse a scholarship check and send it to our office through the mail.

Most private scholarships are equally divided between the fall and winter semesters. If a check is $500 or less, the funds will be used for the current term unless specific instructions have been provided by the donor.

Organizations awarding scholarships frequently provide written requirements that students must meet to be eligible for their award. Students are responsible for knowing the terms of their scholarship. The Office of Financial Aid & Scholarships must certify eligibility or return the check to the awarding organization.

The typical processing time for private scholarship checks ready for deposit is 3-4 business days. At peak times (August through September), students should allow additional time to process private scholarship checks. Stale-dated checks or checks approaching the stale date will not be accepted and will be returned to the awarding organization for reissue.

We depend on the assistance of our students to help our office provide the timely processing of scholarship checks.

Policy owned by: Financial Aid and Scholarships

Last review: 08/2024

Last updated: 08/2024

Next review: 08/2025