Financial Assistance

Withdrawal after Receiving Federal Student Aid:

The federal regulation described below will help explain how a withdrawal not only affects a student academically, but potentially financially as well. The Office of Financial Assistance strongly encourages students to read all the information below and speak with a Financial Aid counselor prior to making a final decision.

Withdrawing and how it affects Federal Student Aid:

Federal regulations assume the recipient of federal student aid will attend and complete the entire period for which federal assistance was awarded. When a student withdraws from all courses in a term, for any reason, (including medical withdrawals) they may lose eligibility for some or all of the federal funds that were originally awarded and/or disbursed. A calculation must be performed to determine how much of the term was completed and how much of the aid awarded was earned.

This calculation is based on the premise that a student “earns” their financial aid over the course of the term in which they are enrolled, even though they have received the full disbursement at the beginning of the semester. Based on the date the student requests their withdrawal, the calculation is performed using a pro-rated schedule to determine the amount of federal student aid earned up to the date of the withdrawal. Once 60.01% of the semester is completed, a student is considered to have earned all of their financial aid. The student will not be required to return any funds, but the withdrawal and calculation are still required.

Federal law requires schools to calculate how much federal financial aid a student has earned if that student:

Completely withdraws
Enrolls in non-concurrent mini terms during a semester (to establish a half-time credit load) and then does not complete all mini terms
Stops attending before completing the semester

The withdrawal date is the date that the student informs a University official that they will be withdrawing from the term, semester, or University. This date should be recorded on the withdrawal request submitted to the Office of the Registrar, which will be forwarded to the Office of Financial Assistance and used to perform the Return calculation.

Federal Grant and Loan funds disbursed to a student’s account are considered in the calculation of aid earned. Federal Grant and Loan funds (for the semester from which the student is withdrawing) for which the student was eligible and that did not disburse, are also used in the calculation under certain conditions and may be offered as a Post Withdrawal Disbursement.

Important points to remember:

There are limits on receiving Pell Grant, Unsubsidized and Subsidized Direct Loan funds. Not earning credit and receiving these funds may result in inadequate funding being available at the end of your program.

Having unearned funds returned may result in a balance due from the student. This may result in future registration / transcript holds being placed on the account.

Neumann University’s tuition refund policy is separate from this federal regulation requiring the University to return unearned aid. Receiving a tuition refund is separate from and has no bearing on the amount of Federal Aid the school must return to the Department of Education.

If the student withdrawing has borrowed Federal Student Aid in the form of Federal Stafford and/or Direct Loans at any institution, there is federally required Exit counseling which must be completed at: https://studentaid.ed.gov/.

Contact the Business Office for questions regarding the tuition refund schedule.

Academic policies on term/semester/institutional withdrawal from Neumann University is available in the University catalog.

Additional information regarding Federal Student Aid programs can be found by visiting: https://studentaid.ed.gov/

WITHDRAWAL AFTER RECEIVING FEDERAL STUDENT AID