Per federal regulations, schools are required to review students who received federal financial aid and did not pass any courses. An assessment must be made to determine whether the student earned the non-passing grades while attending courses, or stopped attending courses, but did not officially withdraw. Students who stopped attending courses may be required to repay a portion of the federal financial aid for that semester. If it is determined that a student never began attendance in some or all courses, financial aid may be canceled. The review process must be completed within 30 days after the end of each semester.
Federal financial aid recipients who are not attending a course are identified on the mid-semester course list by course instructors. If a student is identified as not attending one or more courses, they will receive an email from the Office of Student Financial Aid outlining the University's policy on official and unofficial withdrawals. Students no longer attending a course are encouraged to officially drop individual semester-length courses or withdraw entirely through the Office of the Registrar.
If a student follows University procedures and withdraws, they will have an official withdrawal date and their financial aid refund calculation will be completed according to the Federal Return of Title IV Funds Refund Policy.
At the end of each semester, all federal financial aid recipients who receive no passing grades (any combination of F, U, N, or W) will be reviewed to determine if the non-passing grade was earned while attending or due to no longer attending a course. The Office of Student Financial Aid will contact each course instructor to determine the last date of attendance or academic activity. In cases where students had a consortium agreement to complete coursework at other institution(s), the instructors at the other institution(s) will not be contacted.
The midpoint of the semester is used to calculate the amount of federal financial aid refund the student owes unless a later date of academic activity can be verified by the instructor. If no attendance or academic activity can be verified by the instructor, it will be assumed that they did not ever attend the course. If half-time attendance or academic activity cannot be verified, all aid may be canceled.
If academic activity beyond the midpoint of the semester can be verified in even a single course by the student or an instructor and the student began attendance in all courses, the amount of financial aid the student is required to repay may be reduced. If academic activity beyond the 60% point of the semester can be verified in even a single course by the instructor and the student began attendance in all courses, the student may not need to repay any financial aid.
If a student unofficially withdraws, they will not receive a downward adjustment in contracted University charges. Therefore, any refund owed to a federal financial aid program is the student's responsibility and will appear as a charge on the student's next University bill. Students with outstanding balances on their Ubill are unable to use their ID card for charging, cannot register for courses, and cannot receive official UI transcripts.
This policy is in accordance with Federal financial aid regulations published in the November 1, 1999 Federal Register, volume 64, number 210, section 668.22 and DCL GEN-04-03 Revised published November 2004.