Financial Aid Withdrawal

If a student completes 20% of the semester, the student will earn 20% of the aid he/she was originally scheduled to receive. This means that 80% of the aid is unearned and must be returned to the U.S. Department of Education, leaving the student with an outstanding balance at the college. Students will not be able to register for future classes or receive a college transcript until the balance is paid in full.

Federal financial aid includes:

• Federal Pell Grant
• Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG)
• Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant
• Federal Direct Loans (subsidized and unsubsidized)
• Federal Direct Plus Loans

A student’s withdrawal date is defined as the last date of attendance or academically related activity (LDA) in class. In circumstances where the LDA cannot be determined, the official withdrawal date will be the date the student began the official withdrawal process or provided official notification to the institution of his or her intent to withdraw.

A federal financial aid recipient who does not officially withdraw from the college and no official LDA can be determined will be considered as having completed 50% of the semester for calculating the amount of aid to be returned to the federal government and will not be eligible for a refund based on the college’s refund policy.

A return of federal financial aid calculation will also be processed for students who receive all or any combination of Fs, WFs, WPs or Ws as a result of non-attendance. A student’s federal financial aid eligibility must be recalculated for students who withdraw, drop out or are dismissed prior to completing 60% of a semester, as determined by the withdrawal date.

Unearned funds must be returned no later than 45 days from the determination of a student’s withdrawal date and will be returned in the following order:

• Unsubsidized Direct Loans
• Subsidized Direct Loans
• Direct Plus Loans
• Federal Pell Grants
• Federal SEOG
• Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant

Unearned military tuition assistance funds are returned on a proportional basis through at least the 60% portion of the term regardless of the reason for withdrawal (service-related or otherwise). Any unearned TA funds will be returned directly to the military, not to the service member. The return of unearned aid applies to the TA portion only and is calculated subsequently to calculating the return of federal financial aid to the U.S. Department of Education.

For example: Military tuition assistance. If a student received $250 TA and earned 10% ($25) of the TA funds that was scheduled to be disbursed, the unearned 90% ($225) of funds would be returned to the military department.

Once a student has attended at least 60% of the period for which federal financial aid and/or TA funds were approved, the student is considered to have earned 100% of the funds.

The debt from a financial aid recalculation must be paid in full before you are allowed to register for future semesters or seek other resources from the college. If this debt is not paid to the college within 45 days from the date of the notification to the student, the college will report it to a national database. This will prohibit the student from receiving federal or state financial aid at any other college of university in the United States until the full balance is paid to OCtech. The student must then submit a copy of the receipt showing the balance paid in full to the OCtech Financial Aid Office for the debt to be removed from the national database. The college will place a hold on the student’s records until the payment is received. The same policy will apply to students who receive all or any combination of Fs, WFs, WPs or Ws as a result of non-attendance.