Graduate Cash Advance

Overview

The graduate cash advance is not additional aid. A cash advance is available to graduate students who need help covering expenses before their graduate financial support is posted to their student account and/or before they receive their Teaching Assistant (TA) or Research Assistant (RA) salary. The cash advance must be repaid within 45 days. 

Key details:

• The graduate cash advance is not additional aid. It is an advance disbursement of anticipated funding, and must be repaid within 45 days. (Late fees and enrollment holds apply to past-due balances.)
• Available in $1,000–$4,000 increments per quarter.
• Direct deposit enrollment is required; funds typically arrive in your bank account within 3 business days.

Repayment 

A cash advance charge posts to your university bill and repayment is due 45 days after you request it. 

• If you have fellowship funding: 
  • If you request a cash advance for the quarter before your funding has disbursed for that quarter: when your funding disburses, it will automatically apply to help repay the cash advance charge. 
  • However, if you request a cash advance after your funding has already disbursed for the quarter, you must make a direct payment to cover the advance. (Funding for a future quarter cannot pay the cash advance charge in a prior term.)
• If you have an assistantship salary: 
  • If you request a cash advance for the quarter before the payroll deduction plan enrollment deadline, the cash advance charge will automatically be included in your payroll deduction plan (Housing & Fees or Pay All Charges options) for repayment via salary.
  • However, cash advances taken for the quarter after your payroll deduction plan has already been set up typically cannot be paid via payroll deduction. You must make a direct payment to cover the advance. (Payroll deduction plans for a future quarter cannot cover charges in a prior term.). 
• If you have no funding, insufficient funding, or your funding cannot automatically cover the advance: You must make a direct payment through Axess within 45 days. Late fees will apply to past-due amounts.  Learn how to make a payment.

Eligibility

In order to be eligible for a cash advance for any given quarter, including summer, you must:

• be an active graduate student in a degree program for the quarter you are requesting your advance
• have no financial or enrollment hold
• be signed up for direct deposit with valid banking details
• have not already received a cash advance for the term requested

Additionally, you will need to make the following attestations in the request process:

▢  I am expecting graduate financial support for the requested term
▢  I am fully responsible for repayment of the cash advance regardless of whether such financial support is provided
▢  I agree that any financial support I receive will be used to repay the cash advance
▢  Once I submit this request, I cannot make any changes

How to request

To request a Graduate Cash Advance:

1. Log into Axess.
2. Select the Cash Advance link in the Student Menu.
3. Follow the stated instructions.

Students can view their submitted request(s) by clicking “View Cash Advance Request” under the “Other Financial” drop down menu in the Finances section of the Student page.

When you can request*

Please note: the due date for the Graduate Cash Advance will be 45 days from the transaction date regardless of your current bill due date.

*Dates subject to change