|
Dropping or Withdrawing from Classes & Financial Aid
Dropping and Withdrawing
We understand that unexpected events occur that may cause you to need to drop or withdraw from some or all of your courses. However, before dropping or withdrawing, it is important for you to consider how the decrease in credits will affect your financial aid or scholarships. There is a probability that you will owe funds back to PCC and/or the U.S. Department of Education. It is strongly recommended that you speak with a financial aid staff member prior to dropping, or withdrawing from, courses. Dropping or withdrawing may also have a negative impact on your Satisfactory Academic Progress.
When dropping or withdrawing from a course, it is important to consider how this might impact prerequisite sequences and your graduation timeline. Therefore, Pima Community College also encourages you to speak with an academic advisor.
The information below is useful in determining how dropping or withdrawing from a class(es) could impact your future.
PCC Policies Affected
Refund Policy
PCC’s tuition and fees refund policy is separate from the Federal regulations. Whether or not a student can receive a tuition and fees refund has no bearing on the amount an aid recipient must repay to the Federal aid programs for failure to complete the number of courses which they were paid to attend. Contact the Student Accounts Office for further information regarding tuition and fees refunds or visit their website at http://www.pima.edu/costs/costpayments/refunds.shtml
Federal Policies Affected
Satisfactory Academic Progress
A student must maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress in order to continue to receive Federal assistance. If a student received financial aid, and drops classes or withdraws from the term in which assistance was awarded, the student may not be eligible to receive future aid from PCC. Review the Satisfactory Academic Progress Standards to be aware of how a student will be affected when dropping or withdrawing.
Loan Deferment Status
When a student is enrolled in more than 6 credits in each term, their Federal Stafford and/or Private Education Loans are in deferment status. If the enrollment decreases to less than half-time (6 credits), the grace period for these loans begins. If after 6 months, the student is still not enrolled in more than 6 credits, the loan(s) will go into repayment. The student must contact their lender to make payment arrangements to avoid default. If loans go into a defaulted status, students are not eligible to receive any Federal financial aid until the loans are back in good standing.
Return of Title IV Aid
Federal regulations state that a student can only be paid for courses that they successfully complete. If a student fails to complete the number of credits they were paid to attend, these same Federal regulations require that PCC calculate the amount of Title IV financial aid that a student did not earn. Any aid not earned must be repayed in the event the student completely withdraws (officially or unofficially) from school. If a student stops participating in the classes they were enrolled in and receives all F and W grades, this is considered to an unofficial withdrawal. The Title IV programs that are included in these regulations consist of: Federal Pell Grant, Federal SEOG, Federal Perkins Loan, Federal Subsidized Stafford Loan, Federal Unsubsidized Stafford Loan, and Federal PLUS loans. Even though Federal Work-Study is a Title IV program, it is exempt from the Return of Title IV calculation. The student is able to keep all Federal Work-Study earnings up to the time of withdrawal, but is ineligible to work after the withdrawal date.
When a student withdraws (officially or unofficially) during an enrollment period, the amount of Title IV program assistance that a student has earned up to that point is determined by a specific formula. If a student has received less assistance than the amount they earned, that student may be able to receive additional funds. If a student received more assistance than they earned, the excess funds must be repaid by the student and either returned by the school and/or the student.
The amount of assistance that a student has earned is determined on a pro rata basis. For example, if the student completed 30% of the enrollment period, they earned 30% of the financial aid they were originally scheduled to receive.
If a student did not receive all of the funds that they earned, they may be eligible for additional aid disbursement (this is called a post-withdrawal disbursement). If the post-withdrawal disbursement includes loan funds, the student may choose to decline the loan funds so that they do not incur the additional debt. PCC may automatically use all or a portion of post-withdrawal disbursements (including loan funds, if a student accepted them) for tuition and fees. For any other school charges, PCC needs a student’s permission to use the post-withdrawal disbursement. If a student does not give permission, they will be offered the funds. However, it may in their best interest to allow PCC to keep the funds to reduce their debt at the school.
There are some Title IV financial aid funds that a student cannot earn once they withdraw. For example, if you are a first-time, first-year undergraduate student and you do not completed the first 30 days of your program before you withdraw, you will not earn any Federal Stafford loan funds that you would have received had you remained enrolled past the 30th day.
If a student receives Title IV program funds that must be returned, PCC must return a portion of the funds equal to the lesser of:
- Your institutional charges multiplied by the unearned percentage of your funds, OR
- The entire amount of funds.
PCC must return this amount even if it did not keep this amount of your Title IV program funds. In this event, your student account will be billed for the amount you must return to PCC.
If PCC is not required to return all of the unearned funds, the student must return the remaining amount to the U.S. Department of Education. Any loan funds that must be returned must be repaid in accordance with the terms of the promissory note. Generally, this means scheduled payments to the lender over a period of time.
Any amount of unearned grant funds that a student must return is called an overpayment. The amount of a grant overpayment that a student must repay is half of the unearned amount. The student must make arrangements with PCC or the U.S. Department of Education to return the unearned grant funds. Details on how to do this are included in the letter mailed to the student after the calculation is made.
The requirements for Title IV program funds when you withdraw are separate from the PCC refund policy. Therefore, you may still owe funds to the school to cover unpaid institutional charges. Keep in mind, PCC may also charge you for any Title IV program funds that the school was required to return.
A notification letter outlining the amount repaid will be mailed to the student’s permanent address on file. PCC will repay the owed amounts to the appropriate Federal program(s) on behalf of the student, and will bill the student’s account. A statement reflecting these charges will be sent to the student.
|
