Frequently Asked Questions
Student Refunds
Refund checks are generated every week. Accounts are updated within Self-Service throughout the week, and an email will be sent to students once refunds are processed. The refund option you select determines when you will receive your refunds:
- Direct Deposit — approximately 3 business days from the refund date in Self-Service.
- Checks — approximately 7-10 business days from the refund date in Self-Service.
The best way to determine if a refund has been generated for you is to log into Self-Service. By clicking on Finances, then Balance, then Charge/Credit Details, you will be able to see if there is a Student Refund on your account. In addition, you will receive an email from Trinity at approximately 2 PM on the date that your refund is processed. If your account does not show a Student Refund, but you feel that you should be getting a refund, please contact Enrollment Services at enrollmentservices@trinitydc.edu. Please note that if your student accounts shows “Refund Third Party,” the refund will not be made payable to you, and will instead be mailed to the payee by Trinity
According to the Department of Education regulations, you may use the money you receive only to pay for education expenses at Trinity. Education expenses include school charges such as tuition, room and board, fees, books, supplies, equipment, dependent childcare expenses, transportation, and rental or purchase of a personal computer. For more details, please contact Enrollment Services at enrollmentservices@trinitydc.edu.
Refund Checks
With the prevalence of check fraud in today’s environment, many banks are hesitant to cash any checks unless you have an account with them and are able to show multiple forms of ID. Trinity does not recommend cashing your refund check, as it is unsafe to carry around great sums of cash. Instead, we recommend that you open up a free bank account at a local bank to deposit your refund check. A list of local banks and their student bank account programs can be found here. Please note that Trinity does not recommend or endorse any specific bank, and receives no compensation from listing the banks on the attached list. Choosing a bank is your personal decision.
If you have not received your refund and it has been 10 business days from the date that the refund was issued in Self-Service, please contact the Business Office at 202-884-9527 to inquire about the status of your refund. We will be able to help you further.
If you have received your refund check, and have lost the refund check, please contact the Business Office at 202-884-9527 to request that a stop payment be placed on your check and a replacement be reissued. A stop payment fee may apply.
Direct Deposits
Signing up for direct deposit means that you get your money sooner! If you’re interested in signing up for direct deposit, you just need to log into Self-Service to select your refund option.
All direct deposit recipients will receive an email to their Trinity student email address at least one day prior to the direct deposit being initiated. If you have not received your refund, please check to see if you have received an email from us. Please also check to be sure that you are scheduled to receive a refund check through logging into Self-Service. If you have received the email from us, and show a refund check in Self-Service, please first contact your financial institution to inquire about the direct deposit. At this point, if you still have an unresolved issue, please call the Business Office at 202-884-9527 and have your account number and routing number available. A Business Office staff member will investigate the issue further. If you have provided an incorrect account or routing number, we must wait to obtain notification from our bank that the funds have been returned. This can take up to 3-5 days. At the point that the funds are returned, a paper check will automatically be generated and will be mailed to the address on file. You will receive an email when this occurs. Please allow 7-10 business days from the date of this email to receive your refunds. Please be sure that the refund information you are entering is correct!
Tax Documents
The 1098-T is a form designed by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and used by colleges and universities to report tax-related information concerning educational expenses, pursuant to the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997. Trinity is required to report information including the student’s name, address, taxpayer’s identification number (TIN) academic/enrollment status and (since 2003) any amount of qualified tuition payments or scholarships/grants (found in boxes 1 and 5, respectively). These forms are intended to be used by students as a guide while completing their individual federal tax returns, and should not be taken as any tax advice given by the University. It is a helpful step in applying for the federal income tax education credits, however, it does not contain all of the information necessary to apply, requiring additional information that must be researched and obtained by the student and their tax preparer.
You will receive an email at the address provided to Heartland ECSI when 1098-T forms are available to be viewed online, typically in early January. Any student who has not chosen to receive their 1098-T electronically will receive a paper copy via mail, which will be sent to the address on record with the University by January 31. The email sent by Heartland ECSI will specify the Heartland Key needed to access your form. To opt-in to receive your 1098-T form electronically, please click here and have your student ID number (beginning with P) ready.
If you have given consent to receive your 1098-T form electronically, a paper form will not be mailed to you. However, you will be able to log in as often as you wish to print out copies of your form.
Students can reset their ECSI account password by visiting here.
If you did not receive the 1098-T form, or need a duplicate form, please go to the website of our service provider. If you have not received a Heartland Key from ECSI, you will need to obtain your previous account PIN here. Trinity’s school code is XO, and your account number is your full social security number.
Please note that 1098-T forms for prior years starting with 2013 will be available through ECSI, if you need them for your records. There is a year drop-down menu within the service provider website. If you need a 1098-T form for a year prior to 2013, please contact the Business Office.
Contact the Business Office via email with a completed W-9s form. The Business Office will correct your information online within 48 hours of your request, and you will receive an e-mail from Heartland ECSI when your corrected form is available.
In previous years, Form 1098-T has included a dollar amount in Box 2 that represented the qualified tuition and related expenses (QTRE) the University billed to your student account for the calendar year. Due to a change in institutional reporting requirements under federal law, beginning with tax year 2018, the University must report in Box 1 the amount of QTRE paid during the year. Qualified tuition and related expenses (QTRE) include any tuition charges plus the student activity fees, laboratory fees, graduation fees, and enrollment fees. All other charges to your student account, including room and board, are not considered eligible charges. A statement of account activity for tax purposes can be provided upon demand, and may be requested from the Business Office by e-mail at BusinessOffice@trinitydc.edu.
There are various reasons why the amounts paid to Trinity does not equal the amount reported in Box 1. One reason is that the amount of payments reported does not include payments for room and board, health service and insurance fees, parking or other expenses not considered mandatory education expenses for tax purposes. Secondly, Form 1098-T reports the amount that the student paid in a certain year, and the pay date does not necessarily correspond to the dates that the classes were attended. For example, tuition for the Spring semester is typically billed in November, and a student may have paid tuition for the Spring semester in 2018 despite the fact that classes didn’t start until 2019. Information about the amounts that you paid for qualified tuition and related expenses can be viewed in Self-Service.
Box 4, “Adjustments made for a prior year” shows an amount if qualified tuition and related expenses that were reported on a 1098-T form for a prior year were subsequently adjusted or reduced during the current tax year.
Box 5, “Scholarships or grants” shows the net amount of certain forms of educational assistance that was received or applied to your student account between January and December of the current tax year, regardless of the term for which the funds were originally intended.
Box 6, “Adjustments to Scholarships or Grants for a Prior Year” shows an amount if scholarships or grants that were reported on a 1098-T for a prior year year were subsequently adjusted or reduced in in the current tax year.
Eligible or qualified charges are any tuition charges plus the student activity fees, laboratory fees, graduation fees, and enrollment fees. All other charges to your student account, including room and board, are not considered eligible charges.
Why are my Spring charges not showing up on my 1098-T? (Applicable for 1098-Ts issued prior to 2018)
Students automatically charge their accounts by registering for classes. If you registered for Spring classes during the regular registration period (typically November and December), you charged your account at that time, making those charges eligible to claim in the year of registration. These would have been reflected on that year’s 1098-T. Similarly, if you have already registered for this coming Spring, these charges will be included on this year’s 1098-T form.
Some May 2019 graduates will not be issued a Form 1098-T for 2019 depending on the date their account was billed for the Spring semester. For most students, tuition charges for Spring 2019 were billed in November 2018 and included as QTRE for the 2018 tax year. If a student had no reportable tuition charges for 2019, then the student would not receive a 2019 Form 1098-T.
Students must make all information requests. The student is responsible for providing information to other parties in accordance with the Family Education Right to Privacy Act (FERPA).
The University is not required, by the IRS, to furnish a Form 1098-T in the following instances:
- Payments for courses for which no academic credit is offered, even if the student is otherwise enrolled in a degree program,
- Enrolled student is a nonresident alien, unless requested by the student,
- Students whose qualified tuition and related expenses are entirely waived or paid entirely with grants/scholarships,
- Students for whom you do not maintain a separate financial account and whose qualified tuition and related expenses are covered by a formal billing arrangement between an institution and the student’s employer or governmental entity, such as the Department of Veterans Affairs or the Department of Defense.
Trinity employees are not authorized to offer any personal tax advice. Please address all questions and concerns regarding personal tax matters to a tax consultant/advisor or the IRS directly at 1-800-829-1040. Alternatively, you may want to consult the following websites before calling the IRS:
- www.irs.gov (Type 1098-T in search box)
- Federal Education Tax Benefits Guide
- Various Federal Tax Cuts and Credits