Financial Aid Authorizations

If you receive Federal (Title IV) financial aid, Per Federal Student Aid guidelines, ECU is required to obtain your consent to pay non-institutional charges. This affects all ECU students who receive federal financial aid, whether they are new or returning.

  • Institutional charges: Tuition, fees, housing, and meal plans
  • Non-institutional charges: Bookstore deferrals, health center charges, library charges, parking and traffic charges, and the student health insurance.

When Federal (Title IV) financial aid is disbursed to your student account, the authorizations you have submitted will determine which charges will be paid on your student account.

Your decision to provide an authorization, rescind an authorization, or to take no action will impact how the Cashier’s Office processes payments and refunds on your account.

ECU requires that your entire account balance, including non-institutional charges, are paid in full by the payment deadlines posted in the tuition & fee brochure for each academic term to avoid a late fee and to prevent schedule cancellation.

Authorizations Available

  • Federal Funds Authorization: Submitting this authorization will ensure that all non-institutional charges on your student account such as student health insurance, and health center charges are paid by your federal financial aid.
  • Prior Year Charges Authorization: If you have a balance remaining on your student account from the most recent prior school year, submitting this authorization will allow ECU to use up to $200.00 of your current year federal (Title IV) financial aid award to pay prior-year charges on your student account. (Note: Federal Student Aid guidelines currently limit this amount to $200.00)
  • Credit Balance Authorization: At ECU, financial aid credit balances can be held in a bookstore deferral account.

To authorize East Carolina University to use your federal financial aid to pay all non-institutional charges on my account:

  1. Log into ECU Pirate Port
  2. Find and select the “Financial Aid Self Service” card
  3. Select “Resources”
  4. A link to the Title IV Authorization is one of the blue text boxes on that screen

Non-Institutional Charge

  • Bookstore deferral: Before your refund is processed on your account, you may choose to transfer some of your anticipated federal financial aid refund to your bookstore account. You must have selected “Authorize” under “FEDERAL FUNDS AUTHORIZATION” and have excess financial aid available in order to do this. Once your authorization is submitted, you can transfer money to your bookstore account through the Bookstore Deferral in PiratePort. You will need your Pirate ID and passphrase. You can find more information on Bookstore accounts at: 1Card.
  • Health Center charges: When you visit the Student Health Center, you may have chosen to have charges placed on your student account with the Cashier’s Office. These charges show up as “Health Service” on your account. You can find more information on health center charges at: Student Health Services
  • Student Health Insurance: The Student Health Insurance Plan is required for most students. Those students who already have their own coverage, or who are still covered under a parent or guardian plan, can “waive out” of the requirement by providing documentation of their coverage. You can find more Information on the Student Health Insurance Plan at: Student Health Services

Due Date

Authorizations should be submitted at least 10 days prior to the day classes start. The Cashier’s Office will see the authorization in our system immediately. If you do not provide an authorization, non-institutional charges on your account will not be paid by your federal financial aid. This may impact your federal financial aid refund, and it may also subject you to schedule cancellation if all charges have not been paid by the payment deadlines that are posted in the tuition and fees brochure.

Viewing Your Choices

Authorizations stay on file as long as you are enrolled at East Carolina University. You may review your selections through your Pirate Port account at any time.

Revoke Authorization

Authorizations can be revoked at anytime by emailing cashier@ecu.edu. Please note that if you rescind this authorization, it is not retroactive. Federal Student Aid guidelines require that we maintain a written copy of your request to rescind this authorization on file. Your email provides us with that documentation

eBilling

If you have received financial aid, your billing statement will show any “authorized” or “memo” financial aid that you are expected to receive. You can find more information on how to access your billing statement at: eBilling. You can also see their financial aid awards through your Pirate Port account. More information on your financial aid award can be found on Student Financial Aid, or contact the Financial Aid Office at finaid@ecu.edu or (252) 737-6610.

Parent PLUS loans

The parent makes the authorization choice and may provide a financial aid authorization for a Parent PLUS loan. This is done as part of the application and acceptance process. For questions on this process, please contact the Financial Aid Office at finaid@ecu.edu or (252) 737-6610.

Refunds

It is possible to receive a refund even if you owe a balance on your non-institutional charges.  If you have any unpaid charges on your account, you will need to ensure your balance has been paid in full by the payment deadlines posted within the tuition and fees brochures. Your financial aid authorization is not retroactive, if the Cashier’s Office has already processed your refund, you will need to make a payment even if you are you are still waiting for your financial aid refund check.

Types of Financial Aid

  • Pell Grants
  • TEACH, Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grants
  • Federal Supplemental Educational Grants (FSEOG)
  • Perkins Loans
  • Direct Loans (Note: this includes Stafford, Parent PLUS, and Graduate PLUS loans)

Sufficient MEMO or AUTHORIZED Financial Aid

  • The amount of aid must be sufficient to cover the entire account balance to secure a student schedule. If a student has received financial aid, but not enough to cover the entire account balance, please refer to the payment options to cover the remaining balance.
  • If an application for Federal Financial Aid has been submitted and has yet to be awarded, please follow up with the Financial Aid Office at 252-737-6610 or by emailing finaid@ecu.edu. Students can also go to the Financial Aid Office at 2103 Old Cafeteria Complex for assistance. If you have not been awarded financial aid at the time of cancellation, the account balance must be paid in full to secure the student’s schedule
  • Financial aid may disburse to your account up to 10 days before classes start. The Cashier’s Office may begin to process refunds at any point after financial aid has disbursed.
  • If financial aid is awarded at a later date, you will be issued a refund based on your eRefund profile. Refunds are mailed as a paper check for students who have not set up an eRefund profile. For more information on the eRefunds process, please visit the TouchNet eRefunds page
  • Credit (or negative) account balances mean that your schedule is secure and you are expected to receive a refund once your financial aid has disbursed, this normally occurs on or before the first day of class


For additional information regarding the impact of your financial aid authorization, please contact our office at cashier@ecu.edu or (252) 737-6886.