Office of Financial Aid

When you withdraw, two separate processes occur—the Office of Admissions and Records (OAR) prorates your tuition and some fees (according to their withdrawal policy and refund schedule), and the OSFA prorates your financial aid.

When you withdraw, stop attending classes, or are dismissed by the university, you will be billed for any amount of your federal/state aid that is considered an advanced payment. In addition, if you are due a refund of tuition and fees, a portion of that refund may be retained to repay the federal aid accounts on your behalf or to serve as a prepayment on your loan(s). If you have questions about how changes in your enrollment can affect your current or future financial aid eligibility, contact the OSFA.

If your withdrawal takes place before completing 60 percent of the term, the OSFA will calculate an earned aid percentage based upon the number of days attended, divided by the total number of days in the term. This percentage will be multiplied by the total amount of federal aid received. The result is the amount of aid you earned before withdrawing and are, therefore, allowed to keep. The difference between the federal aid disbursed to you and the amount of aid you are entitled to must be returned to the federal programs in the following order:

If you have received funds from the state or an outside agency, or if you received institutional funds, the OSFA must follow the guidelines specified by those organizations regarding withdrawals. For most aid types a prorated return is required.

Unofficial Withdrawal

If you stop attending all classes during a semester and do not go through the University's withdraw process, you are treated as an "unofficial withdrawals". At the end of each semester, OSFA identifies all students who did not pass at least one class. OSFA will work with the colleges to document your last date of attendance. Using that information, you will be reviewed under the Return of Funds calculation.

Reducing Hours

Reducing hours can have serious impact on your financial aid.

Reducing hours during the add/drop period can affect both your tuition assessment and your aid eligibility for the current term.

Reducing hours after the add/drop period (provided you don’t fully withdraw from the university) will not affect your current term aid, but could impact your future eligibility by lowering your completion ratio. See the SAP Policy for more information about completion ratio requirements.

If you have questions about how changes in your enrollment can affect your current or future financial aid eligibility, contact the OSFA.