Withdrawing from School
Return of Title IV Funds
Federal regulations require CCA to have a fair and equitable refund policy for students receiving federal financial aid, who officially or unofficially withdraw from all of the courses in which they are enrolled. See the CCA Financial Aid Handbook for this policy.
Federal law requires that, when you withdraw during a semester, the amount of federal financial aid that you have earned up to that point is determined by a specific formula. You earn financial aid over the course of a semester by attending and participating in the courses in which you are enrolled. You cannot earn all of your financial aid unless you maintain attendance and class participation for more than 60 percent of the term.
If you received (or the College received on your behalf) less aid than the amount that you earned, you will be able to receive those additional funds. If you received more aid than you earned, the excess funds must be returned to the U.S. Department of Education or the student loan lender.
This procedure, called the Return of Title IV Funds, only applies if you withdraw before completing 60% of the semester for which you received federal funds or have been awarded funds. Federal funds that may have be returned are Federal Pell Grant, Federal SEOG, Federal Stafford and/or PLUS Loans.
Official Withdrawals
An official withdrawal is an instance in which you notify the CCA Admissions Office either in person and complete an add/drop form, by phone, through an academic advisor, or on-line and withdraw from a course or courses.
When a student officially withdraws from all courses for the semester, the CCA Financial Aid Office will perform the Return of Title IV Funds calculation. This calculation will determine the portion of financial aid grants and loans funded, excluding Federal work study, which must be returned to the U.S. Department of Education or a student loan lender. This calculation involves the following steps:
- Determine how much aid the student is entitled to use or has earned by attending classes. The date that the student notified the CCA Admissions Office either in person and completed an add/drop form, by phone, through an academic advisor, or on-line and withdrew from all of their courses, is the official withdrawal date. This is the date that will be used to calculate the percentage of the enrollment period earned. This is done by dividing the number of days attended by the number of days in the term (including weekends and holidays). The amount of aid the student is entitled to receive or earned includes funds actually disbursed plus those funds authorized but not disbursed at the time the student withdrew.
- Determine how much of the federal aid must be returned. The earned percentage is subtracted from 100% and determines the unearned amount of federal aid.
- Determine who must return the unearned aid. This could be the College, the student, or, in some cases, both the College and the student. The unearned percentage is also used to determine, if necessary, how much the College must return of the federal funds it received as payment for tuition, institutional fees, and any bookstore charges.
Once it is determined how much must be returned, the federal funds must be returned in an order specified by law. This order is:
- Federal Unsubsidized Stafford Loan
- Federal Subsidized Stafford Loan
- Federal PLUS Loan
- Federal Pell Grant
- Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant
- Other
Federal work study earnings are not affected. If the student must repay a grant program under these provisions, the Financial Aid will reduce the grant repayment by half in accordance with the federal requirements. After all funds have been returned, the student may owe the college for charges no longer paid by financial aid.
Students are notified in writing showing the portion of unearned aid the school will refund from institutional costs and the portion the student will be responsible to repay.
Students have 45 days from the date of this bill to pay in full the amount shown, or make arrangements with the CCA Business Office for a payment plan. If you fail to pay the amount shown, or if you make arrangements for a payment plan but do not make your payments as scheduled, the balance will be turned over to collections.
Unofficial Withdrawals
An unofficial withdrawal is when you stop attending your courses and drop out of school without notifying the institution. A student who receives all F grades or a combination of F and W grades is considered to have unofficially withdrawn from their courses.
A student receiving federal financial aid funds who drops out without notifying the institution is considered to have withdrawn at the midpoint of the payment period, unless the institution can document a later date. The Return of Title IV Funds calculation will use 50% as the unearned percentage to determine the amount of federal funds that must be returned by the institution and the student.
Financial Aid Overpayments
A financial aid overpayment may occur as a result of additional resources, such as scholarships, tuition waivers, agency benefits, or third party payments. In addition, a financial aid overpayment may occur due to dropped courses that result in a reduction of tuition charges or for students who received funds from more than one institution. In these cases your financial aid may be reduced.
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