At the start of this fiscal year, there was a change to UMF's payout calculation.
Beginning July 2013, UMF began excluding the available balance from the calculation of monthly payouts. This change was made to bring MMF and UMF into alignment for their merger. On individual funds, the change resulted in payouts dropping anywhere from a few percent to as much as 15% or more. Funds that have had large available balances during the trailing five years are most impacted. You can see the impact on your funds in DMS by clicking on the Fiscal Year To Date spendable amount on the top right of the fund statement.
The Foundation will be making accommodations in cases where the change has created hardship, and they are looking at ways to minimize the impact on student aid funds. More details will follow in the coming weeks. For those funds that you rely heavily upon, I encourage you to check the impact of this change, but don't panic if you see a large payout drop -- you will be given options for cushioning the blow.
