Withdrawing from Courses?

Dropping one, or all of your courses, may have an impact on your financial aid eligibility, as nearly all forms of aid include enrollment requirements. If you are considering withdrawing from a course, or completely withdrawing from all courses, please contact the Office of Financial Aid to determine the potential effects.

Repeat Coursework

Students should take extra caution when withdrawing from courses during a semester in which they are repeating a course. Federal financial aid cannot be applied for any previously passed course that has been repeated at least once. If a student is taking a “repeat course,” that course is not counted in the total hours for the semester. For example, if an undergraduate student is attending 15 credit hours in a semester but one class is a repeat course, that student could actually only be enrolled in 12 credit hours for financial aid purposes. If that student then withdraws from a class, they could actually drop from full-time status to part-time status and lose certain financial aid eligibility. If you are considering dropping a course, please contact the office of student financial aid to determine the potential effects.

• Repeat course policy
• Watch on Financial Aid TV: Can I use financial aid to pay for courses I repeat?
• Examples of Repeated Coursework Rule

Unofficial Withdrawal

Attendance Reporting

Per federal regulations, schools are required to review students who received federal financial aid but failed to earn passing grades. An assessment must be made to determine whether the student earned the non-passing grades while attending classes or stopped attending classes but did not officially withdraw. Students who stopped attending classes may be required to repay a portion of the federal financial aid for that semester. If it is determined that a student never began attendance in some or all classes, aid may be canceled completely. The review process must be completed within 30 days after the end of each semester. Any refund owed to a financial aid program is the student’s responsibility and will appear as a charge on the student’s next University invoice.   

Satisfactory Academic Progress

The Department of Education requires students to earn at least 67% of their attempted hours in order to remain eligible for Federal Financial Aid. When a student drops course(s) during the semester, after the drop/add date, they will have earned 0 credit hours the course(s). In this case, the student’s completion rate is lowered. If you are considering withdrawing, please contact the Office of Financial Aid to determine the potential effects on your aid eligibility.

Return to Title IV (R2T4)

60% Date for Title IV Purposes

If you are considering withdrawing from all your courses, the 60% date of the semester is typically the final date a student must attend courses to avoid a recalculation of financial aid. However, there could be other important impacts on Financial Aid in future semesters, such as the cancellation of scholarships or grants. Review the withdrawal section of our website for further details, and ensure you have a complete understanding of each type of Financial Aid you receive before you make the decision to withdraw. Note that dates may vary for Study Abroad and other special programs, so check with Financial Aid prior to withdrawing to avoid a recalculation.