Withdrawal and Return of Aid
Students must attend classes at least 60% of the semester in order to be eligible to keep the financial aid they have received. Students who totally withdraw from classes prior to the dates indicated on the academic calendar may be required to repay funds. Special registration classes (classes that do not start on the regular term start date every semester) may have a different 60% date cutoff. If you are unsure, check with the Office of Financial Aid before withdrawing.
Program Objective Enrollment Compliance (POEC)
If a student ceases attendance (drops or withdraws) from all his or her Title IV eligible courses in a payment period or period of enrollment, the student must be considered a withdrawal for Title IV purposes. Regardless of the student's continued attendance in courses for which the student may not receive Title IV program assistance during that period, the student is, for Title IV purposes, no longer attending an eligible program.
Federal regulations require Title IV financial aid funds (grants or loans) to be awarded under the assumption that a student will attend the institution for the entire period in which federal assistance was awarded. Federal Student Aid is awarded for ONLY Title IV eligible courses—coursework that is taken for academic credit required for a financial aid eligible degree program. When a student withdraws from all Title IV eligible courses for any reason, including medical withdrawals, he/she may no longer be eligible for the full amount of Title IV funds that he/she was originally scheduled to receive. The return of funds is based upon the premise that students earn their financial aid in proportion to the amount of time in which they are enrolled. A pro-rated schedule is used to determine the amount of federal student aid funds he/she will have earned at the time of the withdrawal. Once 60% of the semester is completed, a student is considered to have earned all of his/her financial aid and will not be required to return any funds.
A student's withdrawal date is determined based on the following:
- The date the student officially withdraws from all classes
- The date the student unofficially withdraws (by stop attending and receive grades of I, F, W or U’s)
- The student's last date of attendance at a documented academically related activity
The percentage of Title IV Aid earned is calculated as follows: Number of days completed divided by the total number of days in the session enrolled is equal to the percentage of aid earned. Using this formula, the percentage of the semester completed is considered as the percentage of aid earned. The amount of financial aid earned will be applied towards your tuition and fees.
Unearned Aid
The student is responsible for repaying the amount of aid returned by Indian River State College. Unearned aid must be returned within 45 days from the date of determination for official withdrawals and 30 days from the end of the payment period (the semester/term or special registration period) for unofficial withdrawals. Unearned Title IV aid will be returned to the following programs in the following order (if applicable):
- Direct Stafford Loan (Unsubsidized)
- Direct Stafford Loan (Subsidized)
- Direct PLUS (Parent) Loan
- Pell Grant
- National SMART Grant
- FSEOG or TEACH Grant
Earned Aid
Any earned aid that has not been disbursed, will be disbursed within 7 to 10 days from when a student shows a credit balance.
Before withdrawing from class, all students are encouraged to speak with their assigned advisor, or to consult with Enrollment and Student Services or the Office of Financial Aid to see how their aid will be affected.
Indian River State College tuition/fee refund policy is separate from the federal regulations to repay unearned aid. Whether or not a student receives a tuition/fee refund has no bearing on the amount he/she must repay to the federal aid programs.
