Withdrawal and Refund Policy
What happens if I drop, withdraw or stop attending?
Refunds for Reduction of Class Loads
Non-Attendance and Unofficial Withdrawal Policy
Repayment of Financial Aid Due to Withdrawal from All Classes
What happens if I drop, withdraw or stop attending?
Dropped classes or withdrawals may result in suspension of your financial aid (see below). Class attendance is monitored at the beginning of each term; students who never attend class(es) or stop attending will be considered unofficially withdrawn. You may be required to pay back all or a portion of your aid if you withdraw, officially or unofficially, from your classes. If you receive financial aid for classes later dropped or cancelled, you may owe money back to financial aid programs. Repayment may be required with funds other than financial aid. If this occurs and the bill remains unpaid for more than 120 days, a third party collection agency will be used and the debtor will also become liable for any collection costs.
Check with the Office of Student Financial Aid before dropping classes to determine how the drop or withdrawal may affect your financial aid. The complete financial aid withdrawal policy is available in the Office of Student Financial Aid and in the Dalton State College catalog.
Refunds for Reduction of Class Loads
There are no refunds for course reductions (dropping classes) by the student after the official Drop/Add period.
Refunds are calculated on hours registered and paid for, and are processed during, but no later than, the end of the term, provided no unusual circumstances have occurred. Students suspended for disciplinary reasons are not entitled to refunds. For assistance, contact your academic advisor, the Office of Enrollment Services, or the Business Office.
Refunds result from actions initiated by students. Official, complete withdrawal from all classes will result in the refund calculation as detailed below. Tuition refunds may also result from the cancellation of classes by college officials.
Refunds for withdrawal are processed by executing a Schedule Adjustment Form, indicating withdrawal from all courses.
Refunds before the end of the Drop/Add period are 100%. The refund amount for students withdrawing from the Institution will be based on a pro rata percentage determined by dividing the number of calendar days in the semester that the student completed by the total calendar days in the semester. The total calendar days in a semester includes weekends, but excludes scheduled breaks of five days or more days and days that a student was on an approved leave of absence. The unearned portion will be refunded up to the point in time that the percentage of the term attended equals 60%.
Students who withdraw from the Institution when the calculated percentage of the term completed is greater than 60% are not entitled to a refund of any portion of Institution charges.
The refund of tuition and other mandatory fees in the event of the death of a student during the academic session is processed upon notification.
Non-Attendance and Unofficial Withdrawal Policy
Students receiving federal financial assistance, who do not pass any courses and who do not officially withdraw from the College are considered "unofficially withdrawn." The following procedures are used to determine if students never attend class and/or withdraw unofficially, and to determine repayments due back to aid programs.
Beginning of each term:
Faculty members are reminded by the Registrar to check class rosters at the end of the initial A, B and C session drop/add periods. Faculty report changes to their class rosters, including students who have never attended class.
Financial aid is held, if not already released to the student, for students not attending one or more classes. Students are notified that financial aid is on hold until class attendance can be verified.
After all faculty members have reported to the Registrar, federal aid awards are recalculated for students not attending class(es). Federal awards are adjusted to pay only for classes the student is attending. This adjustment could result in the reduction of aid awarded and/or the loss of grant, scholarship or loan funds. If attendance rosters indicate the student never attended any classes, all federal financial aid is cancelled.
The college returns aid to the financial aid programs and bills the student for funds received for classes never attended. Repayment may also be required with funds other than financial aid. If this occurs and the bill remains unpaid for more than 120 days, a third party collection agency will be used and the debtor will also become liable for any additional collection costs.
End of each term:
The Registrar creates an exception report of all federal financial aid recipients with al "F", "U", "W", "WF", and/or "NR" grades, and notifies the Financial Aid Office of students who have unofficially withdrawn.
If no last date of attendance is known, it is assumed to be the 50% point of the session(s) - A, B or C (as allowed by federal regulations). Exception: students reported on the non-attending list are dropped at 100% from those classes.
Once the withdrawal date is determined, the Financial Aid Office calculates the amount that must be returned to federal aid programs by the college and the student, in accordance with federal regulations and college policy. For details see the Return of Title IV Funds policy which follows.
Repayment of Financial Aid Due to Withdrawal from All Classes
Return of Title IV Funds Policy for Students Receiving Federal Financial Aid
The Higher Education Amendments of 1998 and the Higher Education Reconciliation Act of 2005 set forth regulations governing the treatment of Title IV funds (Federal Pell Grant, SMART Grant, Academic Competitiveness Grant (ACG), Federal Supplemental Education Opportunity Grant (SEOG), Federal Subsidized Stafford Loan, Federal Unsubsidized Stafford Loan, and Federal PLUS) when a student withdraws completely from an institution.
When a student withdraws during a period of enrollment in which he/she has begun attendance and has received federal Title IV financial aid, Dalton State College is required to determine the amount of earned and unearned Title IV aid. A student is eligible to retain the percentage of Title IV aid disbursed or that could have been disbursed that is equal to the percentage of the enrollment period completed by the student (calculated daily). Scheduled breaks of five or more consecutive days are excluded. The unearned Title IV aid must be returned to the appropriate federal aid program(s). If the student has completed more than 60% of the enrollment period, no Title IV aid needs to be returned.
The following steps are followed when determining the amount of Title IV aid to be returned upon the student's withdrawal.
- Determine institutional charges and the amount of Title IV (federal aid) disbursed to the student for the semester. Institutional charges include tuition, fees and bookstore charges.
- Determine the percentage of the enrollment period completed by the student. Divide the number of days attended by the number of days in the enrollment period (excluding scheduled breaks of five or more consecutive days). If the calculated percentage exceeds 60%, then the student has earned all the Title IV aid for the enrollment period.
- Calculate the amount of earned and unearned Title IV aid based on the percentage of the enrollment period attended by the student.
- Return of Title IV funds by the Institution and the student. Dalton State College will return unearned Title IV aid up to an amount that is equal to the total allowable institutional charges for the payment period multiplied by the percentage of the Title IV aid that was unearned. If the student received only federal Stafford Loans, no student repayment of unearned federal aid will be required, as the terms and conditions of the original loan repayment agreement will apply. Students with unearned federal Pell Grant, SEOG, SMART Grant, or Academic Competitiveness Grant must repay the portion of the original grant overpayment that is in excess of half of the total Title IV grant funds received by the student. If this amount is not repaid to the college within 45 days of notification, the overpayment will be referred to the United States department of education for collection, and the student will forfeit future eligibility for Title IV or Georgia State financial aid. At this point, the student must work with the Department of Education to resolve the overpayment.
- Dalton State will return unearned Title IV funds to federal programs in the following order:
- Federal Unsubsidized Student Loan
- Federal Subsidized Student Loan
- Federal PLUS Loan
- Federal Pell Grant
- Academic Competitiveness Grant
- National SMART Grant Federal SEOG
- For further information about the Return of Title IV policy, please contact the Office of Student Financial Aid and Veteran Services at 706-272-4545.