Withdrawals & Return of Funds

Withdrawals & Return of Funds

Students receiving Federal Financial Aid who withdraw, stop attending, or receive all W, F's or I's may be required to return a portion of Aid received. Federal Financial Aid funds are awarded with the expectation that students will complete the entire period of enrollment.

Students earn a percentage of the funds they are disbursed with each day of class attendance/participation. If a student withdraws or stops attending classes, whether any credits have been awarded for the term or not, a portion of the aid received is considered to be unearned and must be returned to the Title IV program(s) from which it was received.

Students who wish to withdraw from all enrolled classes need to initiate a Total Drop/Withdrawal by submitting the electronic Total Drop/Withdrawal Form in their iCloud account. 

The Financial Aid Office will receive an e-mail notification with the Total Drop/Withdrawal Form Attached. 

Student Records is the office designated to accept and process the submitted electronic Total Drop/Withdrawal Forms from iCloud and should be contacted with any questions at studentrecords@cloud.edu.

Withdrawal Date

For Title IV purposes, the date of last attendance or withdrawal date is one of the following: 

• The date the student submitted the Total Drop/Withdrawal Form. 
• If the student did not officially withdraw, the midpoint of the payment period for which financial aid was disbursed or a later date documented by the student’s instructor(s). 
• The last date of documented academic engagement such as attending a class or completing academic related activity.  (i.e. submitting an assignment, taking a test, participating in a discussion board or interactive tutorial). Logging into a class's CANVAS shell alone does not constitute academic engagement. 

Post-Withdrawal Disbursements

If the student withdraws prior to Federal Financial Aid being disbursed to the student account, CCCC will complete a Post-withdrawal calculation and will notify the student of the amount of aid earned.

Title IV grant funds from a post-withdrawal disbursement will be credited to the student account to pay for tuition, fees, books, course materials, supplies, equipment, food, and housing unless specifically requested otherwise.

Written confirmation will be required from a student before making any disbursement of loans funds available from a post-withdrawal calculation.

Returning Unearned Funds

Return of Unearned Federal Financial Aid Funds - The school must return the lesser of the following:

• The amount of program funds that the student does not earn; or
• The amount of institutional costs that the student incurred for the payment period or period of enrollment multiplied by the percentage of funds that was earned.

The student (or parent, if a Federal PLUS Loan) must return the unearned funds for which they are responsible to loan programs in accordance with the terms of the loan, and to grant programs as an overpayment. Grant overpayments are subject to repayment arrangements satisfactory to the school, or overpayment collection procedures prescribed by the U.S. Department of Education.

Order of Return of Federal Financial Aid Funds

The school will return unearned Federal Financial Aid for which the school is responsible by repaying funds to the following sources, in order, up to the total received from each source until the total amount of the school’s responsibility has been satisfied:

• Unsubsidized Stafford loans
• Subsidized Stafford loans
• PLUS loans
• Federal Pell Grant
• Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (FSEOG)
• Other Title IV assistance (not including FWS)

If a student attends through the 60% point of the term, all Title IV financial aid is considered earned for the semester. However, withdrawing from classes may affect a student’s Satisfactory Academic Progress and eligibility for future Financial Aid. Please contact the Financial Aid Office before completing a Total Drop/Withdrawal for more information.