Due to circumstances beyond my control, I may have to drop out of school for this semester only. I received a subsidized and an unsubsidized loan for this semester.

If I do have to withdraw I am wondering if I will have to pay back the amount I received for this semester. I have talked with my financial aid officer and he say I will have to go through repay/recalculation, which is a federal regulation depending on when I drop the classes.

I really need some advice.

Thanks

Your FA officer is right on. It depends on how long your are there before dropping the classes. Essentially they pro-rate your aid and a certain amount will get sent back. There is a point at which you've earned 100% of your aid, but I am not sure exactly how long that is. You might searching the DoE site which probably describes the procedure for determining how much aid you get if you withdraw at a given point.

I did some quick searching and it seems to earn 100% of aid you typically have to stay enrolled for 60% of the semester. Any less than that, and you only earn a percentage equal to the ratio of number of days enrolled versus number of days in the semester. So if you attend 40% of the semester, they send back 60% of your aid, and so on. Once you pass 60% of the semester, you get to keep it all though.

I haven't found a definitive link from DoE to confirm this, but this is consistently what I've found on various school financial aid pages...


ETA: I found a link (chopped up a bit, still not sure if it is safe to post links. just remove spaces.):
http:// studentaid. ed. gov/ PORTALSWebApp/ students/ english/ leaveearly.jsp?tab=attending

If you have to withdraw, stay in your classes until your school's '60% date' which is usually just after your midterms. Ask your financial aid office for the date, they are required to tell you.

If you stay in until the 60% date, the feds say you have gotten enough out of your classes to have earned your aid. Be careful not to do this too many times as you may end up with a Satisfactory Progress issue. You are federally required to complete 67% of your classes each term.

Thanks everyone for the replies. I will ask about the 60% date. I only have six more classes until I graduate, so hopefully I won't have to do this again.

Keep in mind that you may well end up with a tuition account balance with our school due to the FA being withdrawn since you are more than likely past the date to get any refund for your tuition. This account will have to be paid in full before you are permitted to register for classes again.

All I have is a Stafford loan. The loan for this semester has been fully disbursed. I am past the due date for a tuition refund. If I don't withdraw until after the 60% date, how could I have a tuition balance?

It really depends on when you withdraw and whether or not you want the "W" on your transcript. It you withdraw early and your FA is returned, yet you are past the tuition refund date, your student account can end up in the hole. If you wait for the 60% or more date and then withdraw, you get stuck with a notation on your transcript plus you have used up that portion of FA for whatever grade level you are at.

No matter when I withdraw I will get a "W". Only during the first week are we allowed to withdraw with no penalty.

I actually had a similar situation last semester, and I receive student loans also. It became evident early in the semester that I would have to withdraw. After finding out about the 60% rule, I just stopped going to classes and officially withdrew on the last day to withdraw. I didn't have to pay anything back immediately. I did, however, have to file an appeal with my financial aid office to get loans again for this semester, as it did cause a problem with satisfactory progress.

The only bad thing about it is now I have to pay back the loan for a semester I got nothing out of. It was basically wasted money.

Good luck to you.

That's why I would suggest that if there is ANY way the OP can avoid withdrawing, s/he should do whatever it takes. I'd hate to know that the money wasn't working for anyone.

Yeah, it makes me sick every time I think about it. I wish I could have avoided it.

I've tried to work it out. Believe me. My father recently passed away and I am the Executrix and I just have so much to do. I was already pushing it by going to school full time and working full time. This just put me over the edge. There aren't enough hours in the day. My professors have given me extra time to complete the work but I have two exams that are due by Saturday and there is no way I'm going to pass them. I'd rather pay the loan back than get a low grade in the class. I am a senior and only have 8 more classes to go (including the three I am dropping). Right now I have a 3.7 GPA and I plan on going to grad school next year. I can explain the W's but it would be much harder to explain the drop in my GPA.

Thanks to everyone for their help.

Yeah no kiddin' ASK ME how I know


*mutters to self: angel WTF did you go back to school sooooo soon??? TOTALLY f'ed up your GPA..Now there's no hope...well, there's hope to graduate with a 3.0, but NOT a 3.7!!!!

I sooooooooooooo feel yer pain, Angle. My GPA has CRATERED.

Rofl, don't talk to me girl. You gotta 3.95!!

I KNOW!! THE INHUMANITY!!!

Ya kinda remind me of Chicken Little "The sky is falling, the sky is falling, the SKY IS FALLING!!!!!!"

I remember college. Sitting on those stone chairs with tablets and chisels....playing spades in the SUB.

You said it, not us