Withdrawal
Are you thinking about withdrawing from classes? Please read the following about what happens to your financial aid.
Financial aid is awarded with the expectations that you will attend your classes the entire semester. Never attending, dropping, or withdrawing can have both long-term and short-term consequences on your eligibility to receive financial aid you have been awarded.
Scenarios
Complete Withdrawals: When a student withdraws from all of his or her classes, the amount of financial aid that he/she is allowed to keep is determined on a pro-rated basis. For example, if the student completed 30% of the semester, the student is allowed to keep 30% of his or her financial aid. The remaining 70% must be returned to the federal and/or state financial aid programs. Once a student has completed more than 60% of the semester, the student is allowed to keep 100% of his or her financial aid. Please note: Withdrawing from all classes before the 60% point of the semester requires the school to return a portion of financial aid funds that were used to pay the school bill. This will result in unpaid charges on the student's account.
Partial Withdrawals: Federal rules require schools to reduce financial aid when a student withdraws from a single course if the student is not attending any other courses at the time of the withdrawal and the student has not provided written confirmation of his or her intention to attend other courses that begin later in the same semester.
Unofficial Withdrawals: If a student stops attending and fails to officially withdraw from classes, the school uses the 50% point of the term as the withdrawal date, although a different date may be used if the school has received a last date of attendance from an instructor.
Consider the following
If you withdraw from a class, in most cases your tuition charges will remain the same; however, your financial aid may be reduced or eliminated. You may be asked to pay back money you received in a financial aid payment because you withdrew from all your classes.
You might find you are not eligible for financial aid in future terms because you have withdrawn from too many credit hours in past terms.
These situations can leave you having to pay tuition bills and other school expenses out of your own pocket.
If you do decide to withdraw, consult with an Academic Advisor and a Financial Aid Counselor to be sure you understand the consequences of your decision.
More information can be found here.
