If you are receiving federal financial aid and withdraw from or stop attending all courses, you may be required to return all or a portion of the financial aid you've received. If you officially drop all of your classes during the first week of the term, it will be as though you never registered. If you have charged any books, it will be your responsibility to pay those charges.

LBCC's Financial Aid Office begins to disburse funds the second week of each term. If you are not registered, you will not be paid any financial aid.

Federal regulations (HEA Section 484B, 485(a)(1)(F), 34 CFR 668.22 and referred to as the Return of Title IV Funds Policy) require LBCC to calculate a refund and repayment of federal aid received by students who withdraw prior to the 60% point of a term for which they have received federal aid. The Title IV programs under this policy are: Federal Pell Grant, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (FSEOG), and Federal Direct Loans (Subsidized, Unsubsidized, and PLUS). According to the policy, the student is allowed to retain only the amount of Title IV financial aid that was earned. If a student withdraws or stops participating in classes, a portion of the aid received is considered to be unearned and must be returned to the Title IV programs from which it was received. If the calculation results in unearned aid that must be returned, both the school and the student are responsible for returning funds.

 

Process

When you withdraw during the payment period (term of enrollment), the amount of Title IV program assistance that you have earned up to that point is determined by a specific formula. If you received (or the college or your parent(s) received on your behalf) less assistance than you earned, you may be able to receive those additional funds. If you received more assistance than you earned, the excess funds must be returned. This also applies if you receive incomplete grades (F, I, NP) in all attempted classes in the term.

LBCC processes these calculations as soon as possible, but no later than 45 days after determining a student has withdrawn.

 

Leave of Absence

LBCC does not have a leave of absence policy.

 

Earned vs Unearned F Grades

If you earned zero credits at the end of a term, this is considered an unofficial withdrawal. If you received an F grade, the we review the last date of attendance to determine if you attended through the final two weeks of the term. If so, you are considered to have “earned” the F grade, and therefore, no calculation is completed. If you did not attend the last two weeks of the term, this is an “unearned” F and the calculation is performed.

 

Determination of the Withdrawal Date

For this purpose, the last date of academic attendance is one of the following:

• The date a student initiates the college’s withdrawal process; or
• The date a student otherwise gives officials notice of intent to withdraw (e.g., letter, withdrawal form, in-person)
• The midpoint of the period for a student who leaves without notifying the institution; or
• A student’s last date of attendance at a documented academically-related activity (e.g. documented attendance in a class, lab, or submission of an assignment in an online course).
  

 

Date of Determination

For official withdrawals, the date of determination is the date the student dropped all their classes.

For unofficial withdrawals, the date of determination is the last date of the term.

 

Determination of the Amount of Aid the College Must Return

Unearned Title IV aid shall be returned to the following programs in the following order:

1. Direct Unsubsidized Loan
2. Direct Subsidized Loan
3. Direct Parent PLUS Loan
4. Federal Pell Grant
5. Federal SEOG
6. Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant

A student who has not participated or attended any classes during the term will be required to repay 100% of all financial aid funds disbursed to them. Students receiving non-completion grades may be required to repay funds if they cannot establish that they have attended class during the term. Students must provide documentation of class attendance within a given time frame. Acceptable forms of documentation of class attendance include exams, records of attendance, or computer-assisted instruction.

 

Determination of the Amount of Aid the Student Earned

The amount of assistance that you have earned is determined on a prorated basis. For example, if you completed 30% of the payment period, you earned 30% of the assistance you were originally scheduled to receive. Once you have completed more than 60% of the payment period or period of enrollment, you earn all of the assistance that you were scheduled to receive for that period.

Below are the dates by which you will have reached more than 60% completion for that term:

Summer 2024	Fall 2024	Winter 2025	Spring 2025
August 3, 2024	November 14, 2024	February 20, 2025	May 15, 2025

If you did not receive all of the funds that you earned, you may be due a post-withdrawal disbursement. If your post-withdrawal disbursement includes loan funds, LBCC must obtain your permission before disbursing them. You may choose to decline some or all of the loan funds so that you do not incur additional debt. LBCC may automatically use all or a portion of your post-withdrawal disbursement of grant funds for tuition, fees, and other charges on your student account. Post-withdrawal funds are disbursed using our normal disbursement methods. Additionally, if you are due a post-withdrawal disbursement of grant aid, disbursement will occur 45 days from the date of determination. If you are due loan funds, notification will be sent to you within 30 days, allowing the student at least 14 days to respond to LBCC. If you accept the post-withdrawal of loan funds, they will be disbursed no later than 45 days after the date of determination.

If the calculation results in a post-withdrawal disbursement that creates a credit balance on your account, the Business Office will send all or a portion of that refund to you as soon as possible, but no later than 14 days after the calculation.

There may be some Title IV funds that you were scheduled to receive that cannot be disbursed to you once you withdraw because of other eligibility requirements. For example, if you are a first-time, first-year undergraduate student and you have not completed the first 30 days of your program before you withdraw, you will not receive any of the Direct Loan funds that you would have received had you remained enrolled past the 30th day.

If you receive (or the college or your parent(s) receives on your behalf) excess Title IV program funds that must be returned, LBCC must return a portion of the excess equal to the lesser of:

1. Your institutional charges multiplied by the unearned percentage of your funds, or
2. The entire amount of excess funds.

LBCC must return this amount even if it didn’t keep this amount of your Title IV program funds.

Bills will be sent to your LBCC email account. LBCC does not mail bills unless you opt out at a registration location.

You are responsible for any portion of your institutional charges that are left outstanding after funds are returned to the Title IV account. Failure to pay in full within 45 days will result in LBCC reporting your account to the National Student Loan Database (NSLDS). This action will result in you not being able to receive federal student aid until you settle your outstanding balance with LBCC.