How withdrawing from classes affects your financial aid
Students who stop attending classes or if something prevents you from withdrawing in person, you should contact the Redhawk Student Central by phone at 219-981-5626.
If you stop attending your classes but do not officially withdraw, your 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.
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 published . If a student does not withdraw officially by notifying the university, the student will be considered to have “unofficially withdrawn” for financial aid purposes. Per federal regulation, your financial aid eligibility will be recalculated based on the midpoint of the semester or your last documented date of attendance for an in-person course or the last date of an academically related activity for an online course. 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 even though an “F” grade will appear on your transcript.
Students who formally withdraw from the university before the end of the semester may also be required to repay federal or state financial aid funds received for that semester. The amount of the repayment depends upon when the student withdraws. The withdrawal date is the date the student began the university’s official withdrawal process or the date the student notified the university of their intent to withdraw.
If you are switching classes, try to do this during the first week of the semester. Dropping after this 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 a “Withdrawal.”
Repayment of federal financial aid
If you withdraw from all classes after the semester 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 (R2T4) 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 postwithdrawal disbursement of the earned aid that was not received. For post-withdrawals disbursements, grants must be disbursed within 45 days and student loans must be offered to the student within 30 days, allowing the student at least 14 days to respond to accept or decline the student loan funds.
All post-withdrawal disbursements are applied to the student’s account first. If the postwithdrawal disbursement results in a credit balance once the student’s institutional charges are paid, the credit balance will be disbursed the following Friday and no later than 14 days after the calculation of the R2T4.
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). The percentage of the semester completed determines the percentage of financial aid earned. Unearned financial aid 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)
When you withdraw from all classes, your tuition and fees for the semester or session will be adjusted according to the Fee Appeal Policy. Then, if you received money from one or more of the federal aid programs, 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, will be calculated.
- The Financial Aid Office 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 Northwest charges unpaid, generating a bill with the Bursar’s Office.
- 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.
- 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 last 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 Academic Progress Policy.
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:
- A student completely withdraws during the ICHE census period.
- A students stays enrolled but drops below full-time during the ICHE census period.
