Withdrawals and Return of Federal Aid
A ‘withdrawal’ is a change in registration after the official add/drop deadline for the course. Read and understand the College’s Withdrawal Process.
Withdrawals do affect the credit completion rate required for Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) to receive federal financial aid.
Treatment of Federal Aid When a Student Withdraws
The law specifies how GSC must determine the amount of federal aid that you earn if you withdraw from school. The Federal Programs that are covered by this law are: Federal Pell Grants, Iraq Afghanistan Service Grants, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (FSEOGs), and the Federal Direct Loan Programs.
When you withdraw from all your coursework during a term, the amount of federal aid that you have earned up to that point is determined by a specific formula. If you received (or your school or parent received on your behalf) less assistance than the amount that you earned, you may be able to receive those additional funds. If you received more assistance than you earned, the excess funds must be re¬turned by the school and/or you.
The amount of assistance that you have earned is determined on a prorata basis. For example, if you completed 30% of the term, you earn 30% of the assistance you were originally scheduled to receive. Once you have completed more than 60% of the term, you earn all the assistance that you were scheduled to receive for the term.
If you did not receive all of the funds that you earned, you may be due a Post-withdrawal disburse-ment. If your Post-withdrawal disbursement includes loan funds, GSC is required to get your permission before we can disburse them. You may choose to decline some or all of the loan funds so that you don’t incur additional debt. GSC may automatically use all or a portion of your Post-withdrawal dis¬bursement of grant funds for tuition and fees.
If you receive (or GSC or parent receives on your behalf) excess Title IV program funds that must be returned, GSC must return a portion of the excess equal to your institutional charges multiplied by the unearned percentage of your funds. GSC defines institutional charges as tuition and fees.
The student has the responsibility to return all excess loan funds, which you (or your parent for a PLUS Loan) repay in accordance with the terms of the promissory note. That is, you make scheduled payments to the servicer of your loan over a period of time.
Any amount of unearned grant funds that you must return is called an overpayment. The maximum amount of a grant overpayment that you must repay is half of the grant funds you received or were scheduled to receive. You do not have to repay a grant overpayment if the original amount of the over¬payment is $50 or less. You must make arrangements with your school or the Department of Education to return the unearned grant funds.
Written Confirmation of Intent to Return
Written confirmation of your intent to return during the same term is required to avoid a return calculation of federal aid if you are:
- withdrawing from all your current coursework in a term; and
- planning to return for late start coursework in the same term; and
- the official drop date for the late start course has not passed.
Written confirmation may be provided on the Course Withdrawal Form or by emailing the Office of Financial Aid at the time of you withdrawal.
You should always contact your advisor and the Office of Financial Aid before you withdraw from all your coursework to understand the impact your withdrawal in relation to Satisfactory Academic Progress and the balance that you may incur due to the return of financial aid funds.
