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Payment and Financial Aid Questions
How do I receive my bill?
You have access to review your charges and payment at any time via your FSW Student Portal. The Account Details for Term displays all charges and payments that have occurred. FSW does not mail bills.
What if my payment to FSW is returned/not honored?
Any physical check or e-check returned to FSW is assessed a service charge calculated based on the original payment amount. Payment of the returned check and service charge must be made with cash, cashier’s check, money order, or credit card online. Personal checks may not be used for repayment of a returned check item; only certified funds are accepted. If a student incurs 3 Returned Items, the college reserves the right to place the student on temporary or permanent payment restriction.
If the returned item is for tuition, the student’s course schedule may be canceled for non-payment.
A financial hold will be placed on the student’s record until all amounts due to the college have been paid.
If I am registered for a course that I do not want to take, will you drop me for non-payment if I just don't pay or go to class?
It is your responsibility to drop a course you do not intend to take via your FSW Student Portal. You will be liable for tuition/fees of any course for which you have registered if not dropped. Non-attendance does not result in a drop.
I withdrew from a class. Why am I still be charged for it?
It is the student's responsibility to drop courses by the Last Day to Add/Drop a course as published on the Academic Calendar in order to get a full refund (or not be charged). After the end of Add/Drop, the student is responsible for payment of all courses they are registered for. If a student withdraws after the Add/Drop period, they remain financially responsible for the course.
Students who withdraw and have received financial aid may be required to repay the amount of unearned financial aid funds disbursed to them as of their withdrawal date. For more information on how a withdraw will affect your Financial Aid, please contact the Office of Financial Aid.
Does your office handle financial aid?
The Office of Financial Aid deals with eligibility and awarding of financial aid.
The Cashiers/Bursar’s Office processes payments and issues refunds.
The Financial Aid Office will schedule your award and the Cashier’s Office will apply your Financial Aid to your FSW bill – and refund any excess to you – once it arrives.
The Financial Aid Office (financialaid@fsw.edu) is your best contact for questions regarding your financial aid status or the details of your financial aid award while the Cashier’s Office (cashiers@fsw.edu) is better positioned to discuss your FSW Account Details and any refunds that have been issued to you.
I was supposed to receive financial aid but it is not on my account. Where is my financial aid?
First, check your Account Details in your FSW Portal to verify whether your funds were disbursed. Your financial aid might have been used to pay outstanding charges. The Account Details by Term lists all of your charges and payments by date, including financial aid payments, and might prove a helpful place to look.
If you do not see record of your financial aid posting to your Account Statement, then check your Financial Aid Award listed in your Portal. If you do not have a Financial Aid Award or are expecting more financial aid than your FSW Award Letter states, please contact the Office of Financial Aid. (financialaid@fsw.edu)
When will I get my refund?
You will receive a refund if your financial aid award is greater than the charges that can be paid with financial aid on your FSW bill. Be sure to establish your BankMobile Disbursements Refund Preference so we know where to send your refund. Refunds are processed after Attendance Verification each term and within 14 days of when we apply funds to your FSW bill.
Florida Prepaid Questions
Where do I turn in my Florida Prepaid card?
Good news. We bill Florida Prepaid automatically every semester—and there’s nothing you need to do to make it happen.
We do not need to see your Florida Prepaid card and you do not need to complete any paperwork. Please note, though, that while Prepaid covers tuition, and the local fees if you purchased that feature, no Florida Prepaid plan covers the full cost of taking classes.
Please review our tuition and fee tables for details.
Why doesn’t my Florida Prepaid pay all of my tuition?
The per credit hour cost at FSW comprises several fees in addition to tuition. Please review our tuition and fee tables for details.
The tuition portion of the credit hour is covered by Florida Prepaid. Local fees are covered if you purchased that feature and the differential fee is waived if you contracted your plan before summer of 2007, or covered by Prepaid if your plan is newer than that and you also purchased the Differential fee feature.
Please note that regardless of your plan’s features, you will be responsible for some class fee balance after Prepaid as Florida Prepaid does not cover mandatory per-credit fees for Technology, Parking or Student Activity use. Additionally, Florida Prepaid does not cover additional costs, like lab fees, online course fees or fees for repeating a course.
Be sure to check your FSW bill and take care of any remaining balance prior to the fee payment deadline as posted on the Academic Calendar to avoid the risk of schedule cancellation.
I do not want to ever use my Florida Prepaid benefits at FSW. What do I do?
Please contact Florida Prepaid at 1-800-552-4723 to discuss options to hold, close or transfer your Florida Prepaid account.
Tax Information Questions
What is the 1098-T Form and how do I access it?
The 1098-T reports payments for qualified tuition (as defined by the IRS) and scholarships and grants received within the tax year and is provided to assist students and parents in determining whether they might qualify for Education Tax Credits.
Please note that only students with qualifying tuition payments that posted within the tax year will receive a 1098-T for that year.
Find more information on educational tax credits and deductions through the IRS web site.
The 1098-T forms are available electronically through your secure FSW Portal. For more information, please visit the Tax Information link on our website.
What if the amounts on my 1098-T are not correct?
Please note that the 1098-T reflects transactions that happened within the tax year, regardless of the year of the term involved.
For example, a payment towards Spring 2020 tuition that was processed in December of 2019 would reflect on the 2019-year 1098T. Also, the 1098T reports payments of qualified tuition, which will not match the exact value of payments that you made to FSW.
Qualified tuition, as defined by the IRS, includes most of the mandatory per-credit hour fees assessed for taking classes at FSW. However, the IRS excludes payments for housing, dining, book payments and other fees that may be part of the mandatory per-credit cost of taking classes at FSW.
Delinquency and Collections Questions
What happens if I am delinquent on amounts owed to FSW?
Students that owe money to FSW will have a hold placed on their account and risk having their schedule cancelled for non payment. This hold will prevent the student from administrative functions such as registering for classes and receiving grades, transcripts or diploma. The hold will not be removed until all debts are paid in full. It may take up to 24 hours for a hold to be released once payment has been received.
Students will be notified by email sent to their FSW BUCs e-mail account concerning outstanding tuition delinquencies and given an opportunity to pay tuition and fees prior to schedule cancellation.
Students at FSW are expected to take responsibility for payment deadlines and policies, financial aid distribution policies and debts owed.
Accounts are sent to a collection agency and collection fees are added if the student has had an outstanding debt for 120 days or longer.
Why am I receiving communications from a Collection Agency?
Any account balance remaining beyond the approved payment due date is considered delinquent and subject to collection action. Students are notified of their past due balance, via their FSW student email, in advance of being sent to collections. If the balance remains unpaid it is subject to be turned over to a collection agency, per FSW's College Operating Procedures regarding Past Due Accounts, with additional collection fees added to the account. If a student's account balance is in a delinquent status, the entire amount will be sent to collections. Any increase/decrease of the balance owed to FSW will be updated with the applicable collection agency.
*Once the balance has been placed with a collection agency, the student will no longer be able to pay FSW directly.
I paid the collection agency today. Why do I still have a hold on my account at FSW?
Payments made to the collection agency will be updated once the funds have been received by FSW. Payments can take up to 30 days to be received and reflected on a student's FSW Student Portal.