Withdrawals and Repayment of Federal and State Aid

Important Note About Withdrawing From Classes

Failure to pay your bill does not withdraw you from classes. Should you decide not to attend IU South Bend, you must either withdraw from your classes via One.IU or notify the Office of the Registrar prior to the first day of classes. If you do not withdraw, you risk receiving grades of F in your classes. If you do not take action, you remain registered in your classes and you are responsible for all class fees, plus any applicable late fees, through the time you complete a total withdrawal. You will owe all or a portion of the fees if your withdrawal is processed after the 100 percent refund period.

You must officially withdraw from canceled classes. The university does not do this for you.

Students who stop attending classes or who formally withdraw from all their courses during a term or semester may be subject to a Return of Title IV Funds calculation. These students may be required to repay some or all of their federal grants and/or loans based on the results of the calculation.

1. Withdrawing

Unofficial vs. Official Withdrawals from the University

If you decide to leave the university, you must follow the official withdrawal process. Details on this procedure are available at the Office of the Registrar. If a problem prevents you from withdrawing in person, you should contact the Office of the Registrar for procedures to drop by phone (574-520-4451).

If you simply cease to attend your classes but do not officially withdraw, you will be considered to have "unofficially withdrawn" for financial aid purposes. Per federal regulation, your financial aid eligibility will be based on your last documented date of attendance. If no documentation of attendance exists, you will be considered to have never attended. Students who unofficially withdraw may be billed in accordance with federal regulations despite the fact that an "F" grade will appear on your transcript.

Withdrawing or Ceasing to Attend Class

Students who withdraw from the university before the end of the semester may be required to repay federal or state financial aid funds received for use during that semester. The amount of the repayment depends upon the point in the semester at which the student withdraws. Students who cease to attend but fail to withdraw may also be subject to repayment of financial aid. Contact the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships for further information.

Switching Classes and Partial Withdrawal

If you are switching classes, try to do this during the first week of the semester (census). Some aid program award amounts are determined based on an enrollment census date. Dropping after the census date will show as a withdrawal and count against your "Satisfactory Academic Progress". Even if you do not withdraw from all of your classes, any classes dropped after the first week will be recorded as a "Withdrawal" and may impact your eligibility for certain types of aid.

Students considering a complete or partial withdrawal from classes at IU South Bend should review the following information:

• Bursar Fee Refunds
• The following Repayment section which includes the Return of Title IV Funds policy

2. Repayment of Financial Aid

If you withdraw from all classes after the semester or session begins and you have received aid from a federal program, federal regulations require that part of the money you received be returned. Schools are required to complete a Return of Title IV funds calculation as soon as possible but no later than 45 days after the date the school determined the student withdrew. If a recipient of Title IV grant or loan funds withdraws from a school after beginning attendance, the amount of Title IV grant or loan assistance earned by the student must be determined. If the amount disbursed to the student is greater than the amount the student earned, unearned funds must be returned. If the amount disbursed to the student is less than the amount the student earned, and for which the student is otherwise eligible, he or she is eligible to receive a Post-withdrawal dis­bursement of the earned aid that was not received. If you have not attended more than 60% of the semester or session, a percentage of your federal aid must be returned to the appropriate federal aid program(s). Funds are returned in the following order:

• Unsubsidized Federal Direct Loan
• Subsidized Federal Direct Loan
• Direct Grad PLUS Loan
• Direct PLUS Loan
• Federal Pell Grant
• Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG)
• TEACH Grant
• Iraq & Afghanistan Service Grant

When you withdraw from all classes, your tuition and fees for the semester or session will be adjusted according to IU South Bend’s Fee Refund Policy. Then, if you received money from one or more of the federal aid programs, the IU South Bend Office of Student Financial Aid & Scholarships will calculate the amount of money that must be returned to the federal aid program(s), based upon how much of the semester or session you attended.

1. The Office of Financial Aid & Scholarships will return a portion of the federal aid used to pay institutional charges on your account (tuition, fees, and University housing). Sometimes this will leave a portion of your IU charges unpaid, you will be billed for this amount.
2. You may have to return all or a portion of any federal aid refund you received. The amount will appear on your bursar account immediately after the repayment has been completed.
3. You might be classified as an "unofficial withdrawal" if you receive all ‘F’ grades or all ‘F” and ‘W’ grades at the end of a semester or session. The latest date of attendance recorded by your instructors will be used to calculate the amount of federal aid that needs to be repaid. If you do not satisfactorily complete all coursework, you may also have future aid eligibility suspended. Please refer to the Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy

Examples of Refund and Return of Title IV Funds Calculations

Tom's Story:

Tom was registered for 12 credit hours and started classes on August 24th for the fall semester. He has an EFC of 0 and received an award package for fall that included a $2,675 Pell grant; he also accepted a subsidized loan for $988. Tom completely withdrew on September 25th and therefore only completed 31% of the semester. After the Return to Title IV calculation was performed, $683.23 of his Pell Grant and the entire amount of his subsidized loan was returned.

Sarah's Story:

Sarah was registered for 6 credit hours and started classes on August 24th. She has an EFC of $5,329 and received an award package that included $1,750 in a subsidized loan and $1,000 in an unsubsidized loan. Sarah completely withdrew from her classes on August 31st. Because she only completed 8% of the semester, some of the awards that she already received had to be returned. After the Return to Title IV calculation was performed, $995 of her unsubsidized loan and $115.35 of her subsidized loan were returned to the lender.

Ryan's Story:

Ryan was enrolled in 6 credit hours and started classes on August 24th. He has an EFC of 0 and received an award package that included a $1,338 Pell grant, a $250 SEOG grant and a $750 Subsidized loan. Ryan completely withdrew from all of his classes on October 9th and only completed 45% of the semester. Upon completing the Return to Title IV calculation, $591.49 of his Subsidized loan was returned to the lender.

Return of State Funds

• The Indiana Commission for Higher Education (ICHE) return of funds period applies to all student financial aid administered by the former State Student Assistance Commission of Indiana (SSACI).
• State grants are awarded to eligible students based on the assumption that they will attend full-time each semester. If you are enrolled less than full-time, you cannot receive any of the listed state grants: Frank O’Bannon, Academic Honors, Core 40, 21st Century Scholars. If you drop classes or withdraw from school, your state grant can be reduced or canceled, even after the grant has been credited to your bursar account.
• The measure of whether or not you are enrolled full-time is taken at the end of the ICHE census period, the end of the 4th week of classes for an individual semester. If you drop classes and are enrolled less than full-time or withdraw completely before the end of the ICHE census period, you are ineligible to receive any of the listed state grants. You must be full-time at the end of the ICHE census period (the end of the 4th week of classes for an individual semester).
• There are two general cases in which all or a portion of an offered award might have to be returned to ICHE:
  1. A student completely withdraws during the ICHE census period.
  2. A students stays enrolled but drops below full-time during the ICHE census period ("withdraws from a class").