Financial Aid Withdrawal Policy
Summary of the Requirements of 34 CFR 668.22
Treatment of Title IV Aid When a Student Completely Withdraws After Beginning Attendance
The law specifies how Rochester College must determine the amount of Title IV program assistance that a student earns if s/he withdraws from school. The Title IV programs that are covered by this law are Federal Pell Grants, National SMART grants, Stafford Loans, PLUS Loans, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (FSEOGs), and Federal Perkins Loans.
When a student completely withdraws from their courses during his/her period of enrollment, the amount of Title IV program assistance that they have earned up to that point is determined by a specific formula. If the student received (Rochester College and/ or student’s parent received on the student’s behalf) less assistance than the amount earned, the student may be able to receive those additional funds. If the student received more assistance than earned, the excess funds must be returned by the school and/or the student.
The amount of assistance earned is determined on a pro rata basis. For example, if the student completed 30% of his/her payment period or period of enrollment, s/he earns 30% of the assistance they were originally scheduled to receive. Once the student has completed more than 60% of the payment period or period of enrollment, they earn 100% of the assistance scheduled to be received for that period.
If the student did not receive all of the funds they earned, they may be due a post-withdrawal disbursement. If the post-withdrawal disbursement includes loan funds, Rochester College must receive the student’s permission before we are able to disburse. The student may choose to decline some or all of the loan funds so that s/he does not incur additional debt. Rochester College may automatically use all or a portion of the post-withdrawal disbursement (including loan funds, if the student accepts them) for tuition, fees, and room and board charges (as contracted with the school). For all other school charges, Rochester College must receive the student’s permission to use the post-withdrawal disbursement. However, it may be in the student’s best interests to allow the school to keep the funds to reduce his/her debt to the school.
Some Title IV funds that the student may have been scheduled to receive cannot be disbursed to the student once s/he withdraws because of other eligibility requirements.
If the student receives (or Rochester College and/or the student’s parent receives on the student’s behalf) excess Title IV program funds that must be returned, the school must return a portion of the excess equal to the lesser of the following:
Student account institutional charges multiplied by the unearned percentage of the student’s funds, or the entire amount of excess funds.
Rochester College must return this amount even if we did not keep this amount of the student’s Title IV program funds.
If we are not required to return all of the excess funds, the student must return the remaining amount. Any loan funds that the student must return, the student (or his/her parent for a PLUS Loan) repays in accordance with the terms of the promissory note. That is, the student makes scheduled payments to the holder of the loan over a period of time.
Any amount of unearned grant funds that the student must return is called an overpayment. The amount of a grant overpayment that the student must repay is half of the grant funds they received or was scheduled to receive. The student must make arrangements with Rochester College or the Department of Education to return the unearned grant funds.
The requirements for Title IV program funds when a student withdraws are separate from any refund policy that Rochester College may have for tuition and fees. Therefore, the student may still owe funds to the school to cover unpaid institutional charges. Rochester College may also charge the student for any Title IV program funds that the school was required to return.
Also, Direct Loan borrowers are required to complete an exit interview online at www.nslds.ed.gov studentloans.gov, and Perkins Loan borrowers are required to complete exit counseling. Please visit the UAS website at www.uaservice.com for further information.
For questions about Title IV program funds, students may call the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 1-800-4-FEDAID (1-800-433-3243) or they may contact the Rochester College Student Financial Services office by emailing sfs@rc.edu.
Official Withdrawals
Prior to the start of the semester, students are encouraged to initiate the course drops process with their academic adviser.
Once the semester has begun, students initiate the withdrawal process with Academic Services by filling out the Course Add/Drop/Withdrawal form on the student portal.
Students will be administratively withdrawn from their courses if they stop attending all of their classes within a 14-day period.
Students who fully withdraw (after the course start date for Accelerated Learning students and after Census Day for traditional students) will need to go through the Return to Title IV (R2T4) process. The process must be completed within 30 days of the date that the college determines the student withdrew, no later than 14 days after the student stopped attending. Rochester College is required to take attendance by Department of Education definitions and therefore uses the student’s last date of attendance as the withdraw date for official and unofficial withdrawals.
Unofficial Withdrawals
Students who receive all Ws and/or Fs within a semester must be evaluated after each semester. Academic Services identifies these students and provides supporting documentation (attendance records, emails from faculty, etc.) to Student Financial Services each semester after grades are posted.
Student Financial Services must evaluate these documents to determine if any of these students are Title IV recipients and perform any necessary return to Title IV calculations
For these types of withdrawals, as with all other withdrawals, Student Financial Services will use the last date of attendance (LDA) based on the documentation from Academic Services as the student’s withdrawal date.
Traditional Students Withdrawal/Add/Drop Policy
Students may add or drop courses until the second Friday of each semester (Census Day), after which courses may not be added and withdrawals are noted as “W” on transcripts. Withdrawals are not allowed after the date published on the college calendar.
Financial aid will be packaged based on original enrollment and will be re-evaluated after the second Friday of each semester. At that point financial aid, based on enrollment hours, will be locked in. If enrollment changes occur after this date, financial aid cannot be calculated for those enrollment hours.
Students will receive 100% refund on all course drops up until the second Friday of each semester (Census Day). After this date tuition will be refunded on a pro-rata base.
Student are allowed to add a Session B course after Census Day, prior to the course start date, if it allows the student to continue in the block rate (12-18 credit hours). If it takes them out of the block rate, students will be required to pay out of pocket and will not be eligible for financial aid for the added course(s).
Chapel additions and removals will be evaluated prior to the second Friday of each semester.
Withdrawals in Modules
If a student fails to begin attendance in the number of credit hours for which the Federal Pell Grant was awarded, Rochester College must recalculate the student’s eligibility for Pell and campus-based funds based on a revised cost of attendance and enrollment status (CFR 690.80(b)(2)(ii)).
For the Return Calculation: The numerator is the number of completed days in the semester (the first day of the module through the date of withdrawal – the days the student was actually in attendance). The denominator includes all modules the student was scheduled to attend in the semester.
If a student ends up less than half time after completing one module (would have been half time if both modules had been completed) any disbursed loan funds do not have to be returned since they were based on the student’s original status. However, once less than half time status has been established, subsequent disbursements may not be made.
If a student fully withdraws from Session A, however, the student gives written confirmation (at the time of the withdrawal or within 10 days after) of intentions to continue in Session B, the student does not have to be considered a withdraw. However, if the student does not continue, the withdrawal calculation must be processed using the original withdrawal date.
Post-Withdrawal Disbursements
The Student Financial Services adviser must obtain student or parent (for PLUS Loans) permission prior to loan disbursement. The student or parent may choose to decline some or all of the loan. To obtain permission to disburse the student or parent loan the Student Financial Services adviser will notify the student or parent in writing of the loan funds available. Notification must be made within 30 days of the date the student withdrew.
The notice must include: source, type and amount of loan funds. The notice must advise that the student or parent may: reject, accept, or accept part of the funds offered as well as provide the information necessary for the student or parent to make an informed decision as to whether the student or parent should accept any disbursement of loan funds. The notice must include explanation of the obligation to repay the loan funds, whether they are used to pay the Rochester College balance or are credited to the borrower. The notice must include Rochester College's intention to apply the loan funds to pay current charges. Should the student or parent not wish to have loan funds credited to their Rochester College account, they are to be informed that they may decline the loan and Rochester College must not make the post-withdrawal disbursement. The notice should include information about the advantages of keeping loan debt to a minimum. The notice will include a deadline of 14 days for response in order to receive the funds. Following the 14 day period, RC is not required to make the post-withdrawal disbursement (should the student or parent respond after the 14 days and Rochester College declines to make the disbursement, written notification must be sent to the student or parent of the decision and the reason – should the college agree to the disbursement, notification is not required). The Student Financial Services adviser will not disburse any funds until the student or parent has confirmed the funds are wanted. Student and parent confirmation must be documented in the student file.
The post-withdrawal disbursement funds may be used to automatically pay tuition, fees and room and board charges.
The post-withdrawal disbursement funds may only be used for other school charges by permission from the student.
Student Financial Services will request grant and scholarship monies immediately following the recalculation process. Student Financial Services will request loans after the 14 calendar days has passed.
Withdrawing from Session A and B Courses
Students enrolled in a course(s) offered in a Session A and/or Session B in the Accelerated Learning program are subject to additional governmental regulations regarding withdrawing from and dropping courses. If a student is enrolled in at least one “full semester” course, then these regulations do not apply. Students must attend and “complete” all of the “scheduled days” for which they were originally registered and enrolled. Students are considered a complete withdrawal if they cease to attend their Session A courses for any 14-day period unless Rochester College has received, in writing, confirmation that they will continue to be enrolled and attend their Session B courses. If confirmation is not received within 10 days of the last date of attendance in Session A course(s), then the student will be considered to have completely withdrawn from Rochester College, and both Session A and Session B course dates will be included as “scheduled days” when recalculating their Financial Aid eligibility. If students request to be dropped from their Session B courses while still attending their Session A courses, the Session B course dates will not be included as “scheduled days” when recalculating their financial aid eligibility.