Financial Aid Policies

Attendance and Withdrawal Policy

Your financial aid is dependent on the number of credit hours you enroll in and attend.  If you change the number of credit hours you are enrolled in, it may affect your aid.  We recommend contacting the Financial Aid Office in Kettler Hall 102 before you change your enrollment.

Professors will report your attendance to the Registrar's office. If you stop attending a class without officially withdrawing, your enrollment hours are reduced. If you fall below 6 credit hours, the Financial Aid Office may return your financial aid and you will owe a balance to IPFW. Your lender may also notify you that you must start paying your loans back.

Do not make the mistake of believing that if you don't attend a class it means you will not have to pay for the class. This is not the case. Once you register for a class, you must complete an official withdrawal through myIPFW or at the Registrar's office or you will be charged for that class.

If you paid for a class using Perkins or Stafford loan funds, you will still have to pay that loan back.

Your attendance may affect your Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP). If you withdraw from a class or stop attending a class, it will affect your course completion rate. If you do this often enough, you will not complete the minimum requirements for the 67% Rule and/or the GPA Rule and you will lose your eligibility to receive federal and state financial aid until you successfully appeal the suspension.

Audit vs. Withdrawal

 As defined by the Registrar’s Office an Auditor is a student who enrolls in a course, attends class, and pays full fees, but does not receive a grade or credit for the course.  The Financial Aid Office is providing the following information to help understand the impact an audit will have on financial aid eligibility.

Even though an audited class will no longer receive a grade at the end of the enrollment period the student is still expected to continue to attend the class and have the opportunity to learn the information.  Students who have no intention of continuing a class should withdraw from that class.  If the intent is to finish the class to gain information and re-take the class next semester (as most students do) then the student would want to audit the class.

For financial aid purposes, an audited class will follow the same policies as classes that are being processed as a withdrawal for the student.  Thus, changing all graded classes to an audit status will cause financial aid awards to be re-calculated based on the same policies and procedures as if withdrawing from all classes.  An audited class (or classes) will also affect Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP).

Warning: There can be a loss of financial aid in changing a graded class to audit during the tuition and fee refund period.  If total graded enrolled credit hours drops below full-time (at least 12 credit hours) for an undergraduate student during the refund period then 100% of the state grants(Frank O’Bannon Higher Education Award or 21^st Century Scholars ) awards will be canceled.  The student would then be responsible for payment of the amount due on tuition and fees as the paid out funds will have been pulled back.

For a course that is registered for as an audit (NC) at the beginning of an enrollment period the credit hours will not be included as credit hours enrolled in determining eligibility for Financial Aid federal or state funding. If the enrollment status is full-time at 12 credit hours and 6 credit hours are courses being audited the funding will be based on eligibility as a half-time student and not full-time.

Continue reading the policies for withdrawing and/or auditing below to understand how this decision may affect financial aid funding now and in the future.

Are you considering withdrawing from one or more classes, but staying enrolled in at least one class?

If your circumstances change during the semester and you need to withdraw from some or of your classes, your financial aid will be impacted.

How long into the semester you drop classes will affect what happens to your financial aid funds.

• If you withdraw during the 100% Refund period, the amount of your Pell grant will be reduced. For some students, they may lose their eligibility for the Pell grant and it will be removed entirely. If your Pell grant already paid out, you will have to repay that money to IPFW.

• If you drop below 12 credit hours before the 5th week of classes, you will loseyour Indiana state aid programs.  This includes both Frank O'Bannon Higher Education Award and 21st Century Scholar funds. The funds will be returned to the state and you will have to pay that money back to IPFW.
• If you drop below 6 credit hours, the grace clock for your loans begins to tick. On Stafford loans, if not enrolled at least half time within 180 days the loans go into repayment and the student will be notified to do an exit interview. For Perkins loans, if not enrolled at least half time within 270 days the loans go into repayment and the student will be notified to do an exit interview. Additional information on Stafford and Perkins loans is available in the loan section of our web page.

• If you withdraw from one or more of your classes during the refund period, refunds are issued for withdrawing from a class.

• If you change a class from Pass/Fail to Audit, you will not receive a refund.

• If re-enrollment occurs in less than 180 days, student's grace clock will be reset to 0 and deferment re-established.

• If you withdraw from all classes or audit all classes, a Return of Title IV calculation is completed.

Are you thinking of withdrawing from or auditing all of your classes?

If yes, the following information provides a general overview of the withdrawal process as it relates to financial aid.

Please read the following closely before you act so that you understand the consequences of your action.

It is strongly recommended that you contact the Financial Aid Office and your academic advisor to find out the consequences and your options before you withdraw from one or more classes. You must also complete an official withdrawal through myIPFW or at the Office of the Registrar.

While the University understands that there may be extenuating circumstances leading to your withdrawal from the University, there are no circumstances that allow the Financial Aid Office to exempt any student from the Return of Title IV Funds process.

If, after reading this, you have additional questions, please contact the Office of Financial Aid.

Policy for Full Withdrawal

Once classes begin and financial aid has been applied to your account, you must complete more than 60 percent of the semester or you may be required to repay all or part of the financial aid disbursed to you for the semester.

After the Office of the Registrar has processed your withdrawal form, your academic record is updated and the Financial Aid office will complete a Return of Title IV calculation. You will be charged up to the date of your official withdrawal.

"Earned" vs "Unearned" Financial Aid

Your financial aid awards pays out for the entire semester. For the period of time before you withdrew or stopped attending, you earned the aid that paid out.

For the period of time after you withdrew or stopped attending, the aid that paid for the rest of the semester is considered unearned.

Once the Return of Title IV calculation has been completed, the Financial Aid office will determine how much of your financial aid awards that you earned. Any unearned aid will be returned to the program it came from.

If you withdraw from all  or audit all of your semester courses:

• All or part of your financial aid may be reduced or canceled.

• You may have a balance due on your account because your financial aid award will require adjustment.

• A hold will be placed on your academic records until you repay the amount owed to IPFW as a result of your withdrawal.

• You will not be able to register for subsequent semesters at IPFW or get a copy of your academic transcript.

• If your account is not paid, it will be sent to a collection agency and reported on your credit history.

• You may not meet the satisfactory academic progress (SAP) requirements for continued financial aid eligibility, so future aid eligibility may be jeopardized.

• You may have to begin repaying your student loans if you remain out of school longer than six months.

• Repeated withdrawals may cause you to reach loan aggregate limits more quickly and result in your ineligibility to borrow in future years.

Unofficial Withdrawals

Some students stop attending their classes during the semester without completing an official withdrawal. As a result, they are given an W, F, or I. If a student has all W, F, or I grades at the end of the semester, the Financial Aid office uses information from instructors to determine the student's last date of attendance.

If it's found that student stopped attending, a Return of Title IV calculation is completed using federal guidelines and information from professors to set the withdrawal date and any aid that the student didn't earn is returned.

IPFW Return of Title IV Funds Policy

There are circumstances which require IPFW to reduce the amount of Financial Aid that was disbursed to your account. These circumstances are often the result of a student dropping classes, not-attending classes or not performing well in classes.

When this occurs, the Financial Aid Office reduces the award which results in these funds being pulled from your Bursar Student Account and sent back to the students’ loan or grant.

If a refund of excess Financial Aid has already occurred, you will be notified of the need to pay these funds back to the university. This notification will be made electronically in the form of an eBill and may also be made in the form of a letter from Financial Aid Office, Bursar Office, or both.

Federal financial aid, such as the Pell grant and Stafford loans, are officially known as Title IV Funds.  If you withdraw from all of your classes, the Financial Aid Office is required by law to complete a Return of Title IV calculation and any aid that you didn't earn will be returned to the state or federal aid program.    This is called Return of Title IV Funds.

"Earned" vs "Unearned" Financial Aid

Your financial aid awards are meant to pay for an entire semester.

For the period of time before you withdrew or stopped attending, you earned the aid that paid out.

For the period of time after you withdrew or stopped attending, the aid that paid for the rest of the semester is considered unearned.

How will we calculate the amount to be paid back?

We will compare the number of days of you were enrolled to the number of days in the semester/summer session. Example: If you withdrew from all classes when 30% of the term had been completed, 70% of your aid will have to be paid back.

Once the Return of Title IV calculation has been completed, the Financial Aid office will determine how much of your financial aid awards that you earned. Any unearned aid will be returned to the program it came from.

If you owe a balance after funds are returned, the university may use a collection agency or file a claim in Small Claims Court to recover funds you owe.

If you withdraw from all classes before 60% of the semester has been completed, you must pay back some of the financial aid you received.

If you withdraw from all classes early in the semester/summer session and receive a full or partial refund of fees, the amount you are required to pay back will be adjusted.

If you withdraw from all classes after 60% of the semester has been completed, you will not have to pay back funds.

If you are required to pay back financial aid, it will be repaid to the following programs in this order:

• Federal Unsubsidized Stafford Loan
• Federal Subsidized Stafford Loan
• Federal Perkins Loan
• Federal Parent Loans for Undergraduate Students (PLUS loan
• Federal Pell Grant
• Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG)
• Academic Competitiveness Grant (ACG) or SMART Grant
• Other Title IV grant programs
• Institutional or State Funds

Repeat Coursework

The following is a recent change to federal regulations governing federal student aid programs. This change may have an impact on your federal student aid when you repeat coursework.

Policy

• A student may receive aid when repeating a course for the first time whatever the outcome of the prior attempt.
• A student may receive aid when repeating a course that was previously withdrawn or audited, regardless of the number of times the course was attempted.
• Once a student has completed any course twice with a passing or a failed grade, he/she is no longer eligible to receive aid for that course.
• The federal regulation change applies whether or not the student received aid for earlier enrollments in the course.

The following action with occur following the add/drop period of each term:

• If a student is registered for a course that is not aid eligible, a recalculation of aid will be done to exclude the credits for the repeated course.
• Not all aid will require adjustment. Students may see the adjustment on their aid offers by viewing awards in myIPFW.
• Adjustments to financial aid and notification of such will occur at the point of disbursment. This may result in the student repaying part of their federal aid. Students will receive notification if they are aid applicants and attempt to repeat coursework beyond the limits.