What is an official withdrawal from school?
Students are considered officially withdrawn from the campus when they complete the Withdrawal Process designated by the Registrar. An official withdrawal occurs when the student begins the Campus’ withdrawal process or provides official notification of their intent to withdraw from the college.
Official college withdrawals are processed through the Registrar's Office and a copy of the official form is given to Student Accounts. Student Accounts then adjusts the bill and informs Financial Aid so that Return of Title IV (Federal) aid can be calculated. The official date of withdrawal used in this calculation is either the date the student begins the withdrawal process or the date the student provides the notification to the Campus. When both circumstances exist, the campus will use the earlier withdrawal date.
What will be affected if I withdraw from school?
Withdrawing from school may affect a student's ability to receive federal or state aid in the future. Please look at and discuss with a Financial Aid counselor the Satisfactory Academic Progress Guidelines for financial aid.
This may affect your ability to keep all of the financial aid you received for the current semester. Please see the Return of Title IV (Federal) Aid procedure below. If you did not complete 60% of the semester the Financial Aid Office will be required to return some portion of you federal aid, this would include loans.
Withdrawal may also impact the charges on you bill. Please see the Refund Policies on the Financial Aid site.
What is an unofficial withdrawal from school?
An unofficial withdrawal occurs when the student fails to provide an official notification of their intent to withdraw from the college. Students determined to have unofficially withdrawn from college are identified at the mid-term and end of the semester. Information used to calculate last date of attendance is obtained from the instructors of record. In the event no attendance records are available the 50% date is used to calculate the Return of Title IV (Federal) Aid. To assist in getting a good end date SUNY Cobleskill has established a criteria that a last date of attendance needs to be included when an F, W or U grade is posted.
What will be affected if I unofficially withdraw from school?
When the last date of attendance is reviewed, if the last date is the same as the first day of classes, meaning that the student never attended that class, those credits will be removed from the student's attempted credits.
If this causes the student to fall below full time status all federal and state aid will be adjusted to reflect this. A student must be enrolled and must attend at least the first day of each class in order for it to count in the evaluation process. Once the adjustments are made then the student will be reviewed to see how much Title IV (Federal) Aid they would be eligible for.
Withdrawing from school may affect a student's ability to receive federal or state aid in the future. Please look at and discuss Satisfactory Academic Progress Guidelines with a Financial Aid counselor.
This may affect your ability to keep all of the financial aid you received for the current semester. Please see the Return of Title IV (Federal) Aid procedure below. If you did not complete 60% of the semester the Financial Aid Office will be required to return some portion of you federal aid, including loans.
If a student unofficially withdraws there will be no adjustments to the semester bill no matter when in the semester it is determined that they left. If the student feels they should not be charged some portion of room, meal plan, tuition or fees based on the Refund Policies they will need to contact the school to see what their options are.
Students will be notified in writing of the results of all findings and will be given the opportunity to dispute any changes they may disagree with.
What is the difference between withdrawing from modules and withdrawing from a full term?
There are many variables that must be taken into account when determining the actual withdrawal date for students that are enrolled only in modules. Just like the above withdrawal criteria student federal and state aid is determined by how far into the module the student decides to withdraw. Aid is also affected by the number of credits the student actually started.
How can withdrawing from classes affect my financial aid?
All financial aid is based on not only the student's GPA, but the number of credits a student is taking. Dropping a class could put a student at risk of losing some or all of their state and/or federal aid.
What will be affected if I withdraw from a class?
If a student falls below full time the financial aid awards may need to be adjusted to appropriately reflect the number of credits a student is taking.
Withdrawing from a class may affect a student's ability to receive federal or state aid in the future. Please look at and discuss with a Financial Aid counselor the Satisfactory Academic Progress Guidelines for financial aid.
Under Federal Financial Aid rules, the college recalculates Federal financial aid eligibility for students who withdraw, drop out, are dismissed, or take a leave of absence prior to completing 60% of a semester. Federal financial aid includes the Federal Pell Grant, SEOG grant, Perkins Loan, Direct Student Loans, and Direct PLUS Loan.
RECALCULATION OF TITLE IV FUNDS
A recalculation of Title IV Aid will be processed for any student who leaves the college at any time during the academic term before the last date of that term. The percentage of financial aid the student is eligible for will be determined by the date the student left campus, either officially or unofficially, and what percentage of the term that date represents. Once 60% of the semester is completed, a student is considered to have earned 100% of the financial aid package and will not be required to return any funds. Recalculations are processed within 30 days from the date the Campus determines the student has withdrawn. All Federal funds that the student is not eligible for will be returned to the federal government within 45 days from the date the Campus determines the student has withdrawn.
Recalculation is based on the percent of earned aid using the following formula:
Percent earned = Number of days completed up to the withdrawal date** divided by the
total days in the semester (including weekends and breaks under 5 days).
Federal financial aid is returned to the federal government based on the percent of unearned aid using the following formula:
Aid to be returned = (100% - percent earned) X the amount of aid disbursed toward institutional charges.
When aid is returned, the student may still owe a balance to the college. The student should contact the Student Accounts Office to make arrangements to pay the balance.
**Withdrawal Date is defined as the actual date the student began the institution's withdrawal process, the student's last date of recorded attendance, or the midpoint of the semester for a student who leaves without notifying the college.
REPAYMENT OF UNEARNED AID
Federal regulations and Campus policy require that the following aid programs be subject to the repayment calculation if the student fails to attend 60% of the term:
Federal Direct Loans – Subsidized and Unsubsidized
Federal Perkins Loans
Federal Direct Parent PLUS Loans
Federal Pell Grant
Academic Competitiveness Grant (ACG)
National SMART Grant
Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG)
A notification letter outlining the amount returned to the Federal and Campus programs, along with the Federal government’s repayment worksheet and a bill if the refund of monies creates an open balance, will be sent to the student’s permanent address. The Campus will return funds on the student’s behalf to the appropriate Federal aid programs and subsequently bill the student’s account. A statement reflecting these charges will be submitted to the student. Federal Student Aid may not cover all unpaid institutional charges due to the institution upon the student’s withdrawal. Therefore, the student is responsible for all charges and overpayments resulting from a Title IV recalculation.