Student withdrawals may occur:
- officially when the student contacts the Office of the Registrar or goes to the Registrar's Service Center or
- unofficially when the student stops attending classes but does not formalize the withdrawal through the Office of the Registrar. To understand the impact of an unofficial withdrawal, view the Unofficial Withdrawal Policy.
Students who withdraw from the University may experience a reduction in their financial aid and may be required to refund or repay a portion of their financial aid. For additional information on how a student withdrawal may affect current financial aid, view the Federal Return of Title IV Funds Refund Policy.
Students who withdraw from the University with a reduced tuition rate who received grants, scholarships and/or federal aid will often have to repay financial aid because the federal aid, grants, and scholarships will be adjusted. Grants and scholarships includes institutional funds (UI Academic Success Scholarship, UI Tuition Scholarship, National Scholars Award, etc.) and non-institutional funds (Vocational Rehabilitation, etc.). Some funds (private scholarships, State of Iowa Guard, etc.) must be totally returned to the donor in the case of a student withdrawal.
If a student with current or past loans withdraws, the Office of Student Financial Aid is responsible for notifying the student's Federal loan lender of the date of the withdrawal. The student is responsible for notifying the private or alternative loan lender of the date of the withdrawal. The grace period for Federal Unsubsidized and Subsidized Stafford Loans, Perkins Loans, and HEAL Loans will begin on the day of the student's withdrawal from the University. Questions regarding grace periods or repayment status should be directed to the lender.
A student who withdraws while on Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) probation will not meet their probationary requirement and will become ineligible for future financial aid without an accepted SAP appeal.
Students who enroll for both semesters of an academic year but withdraw during one of the semesters must still fulfill the minimum semester hour requirement as stated in the SAP Standards.
A student withdrawal will result in the loss of employment under both the Work-Study and part-time hourly employment programs. Exception: registration is not required in the summer for part-time hourly employment.