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Receiving Financial Aid Awards

Disbursement of Awards

Once students have received a Financial Aid Offer letter, grants are automatically applied to the HCC student account.  Loan offers are not automatically applied, they must be accepted to be applied to the HCC student account.  When visiting your myHeartland student center, the first page of your student center will show a balance due regardless of aid applied to the HCC student account. Please click on view my schedule tile/semester bill to view a "real time" summary of your HCC student account. Financial aid is initially awarded on full-time enrollment and will adjust on the 10th day of classes to reflect your actual credit hours of enrollment.

Federal and state grants, scholarships and student loans are usually divided equally between the fall and spring semester. Financial aid funds are first used to pay any outstanding tuition, fees and bookstore charges.

Important Financial Aid Dates Spring 2025

Grants

Grants are applied directly to your HCC student account and do not need to be accepted. The dollar amounts listed on your award letter are based on full-time enrollment (15 credit hours) and will be adjusted if you are enrolled in fewer credit hours. If you withdrawal from courses early (usually three to four weeks in), they won't be counted toward your credit hour enrollment and may lower your grant amount. Federal and state grant funds processed by the financial aid office will be automatically disbursed to your account except for Federal Work-Study funds. The business office will then deduct your incurred costs (tuition, fees, and other authorized charges such as books and supplies) from the financial aid that is credited to the your account.

Student Loans

Student loan funds are applied to your account after the 50% point of the semester. You must complete all student loan requirements each academic year (i.e. entrance loan counseling, completion of master promissory note and Borrower Information Sheet, etc.) before a loan disbursement is made. The loan will not disburse if you are in less than six credit hours at time of disbursement. The business office will deduct your incurred costs (tuition, fees, and other authorized charges such as books and supplies) from the financial aid that is credited to your account. Any remaining financial aid is refunded to you within 14 days of disbursement to student accounts. 

Instructions for accepting/declining Federal Student Loans

Bookstore Charges

An account may be opened for you at the Heartland Community College Book Store if you need to use a portion of your financial aid towards books. The bookstore (Follett) will email instructions a few weeks before the semester starts. The amount charged at the bookstore will be added to your bill for the semester (this is NOT an additional grant). If the amount charged at the bookstore is more than financial aid awarded, you will be billed for any remaining balance due to Heartland. If you withdrawal from courses and lose pending aid, you will be responsible for any charges incurred at the Bookstore. 

Refunds

If funds remain in your student account after all institutional charges are paid, a refund will be issued to you based on your selected refund preference through BankMobile Disbursements, a technology solution powered by BMTX, Inc. (learn more about selecting a refund preference).  Any remaining financial aid is refunded to you within 14 days of disbursement to your account. Anticipated grant refund dates are posted under financial aid deadlines and refund schedules. Grant and scholarship funds awarded by private/outside donors are not applied to your account until the money is received by Heartland Community College.

Online Student Bills

To access your online student bill:

  1. Go to home.heartland.edu
  2. Enter Login username and password (remember this is case sensitive)
  3. Click on the Student Center
  4. Click on View/Print My Bill under "Finances"
  5. Select a term (or ALL terms) from the drop down menu
  6. Click View (Note: you may receive a pop-up blocker message preventing you from viewing the document. In order to view the file, please select either "temporarily allow pop-ups" or "always allow pop-ups." We recommend clicking on the "always allow pop-ups" option to avoid this message in the future.)
  7. You may then view or print an itemized bill for the semester(s) selected