College of Western Idaho (CWI) students receiving federal financial aid who withdraw from all of their classes may need to repay some of the financial aid funds they received. Review the information below to learn more about withdrawals and returning of federal funds.
Always contact Financial Aid before withdrawing to confirm how it may affect your financial aid.
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Earned vs. Unearned Aid
The Department of Education provides financial aid to students on the condition they earn it over the course of the semester by participating in their classes. You earn all of your financial aid by attending or academically participating 60% or more of the semester. The semester calculation includes all calendar days, including weekends and holidays. If you withdraw from all of your classes or stop attending before 60% of the term has passed, you have not earned all of your financial aid funds and may need to pay some back.
The earned and unearned portions of financial aid are determined by the date a student stopped attending or participating in classes, known as the withdrawal date. A student must attend up to 60% of the semester in order to have "earned" 100% of their financial aid. If a student fully withdraws before attending at least 60% of the semester, CWI must calculate the unearned portion of financial aid, which must be returned.
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Withdrawal Date
To calculate how much financial aid needs to be returned, CWI must determine the student's withdrawal date. There are two categories of withdrawals: official withdrawals and unofficial withdrawals.
Official Withdrawal
A student is considered to be officially withdrawn on:
- The date the student begins the official withdrawal process (submits a signed complete withdrawal form), or
- The date the student otherwise provides official notification of intent to withdraw.
Official dates and deadlines for withdrawing are specified in CWI's Academic Calendar.
UNOFFICIAL WITHDRAWALS
Unofficial withdrawals encompass all other withdrawals where the student stopped attending but official notification was not provided to CWI. If a student does not officially withdraw and subsequently fails to earn a passing grade in at least one class offered during the semester, CWI considers the student to have unofficially withdrawn.
For a student who unofficially withdraws, the withdrawal date is entered as whichever is the latest:
- The midpoint of the enrollment period or the last date the student participated academically (as reported by instructor), or
- The date CWI determines is related to circumstance that was beyond the student's control, if withdrawal is due to said circumstance.
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Academic Participation Requirements
Financial aid is earned for each day a student participates in their classes.
Academic participation includes:
- Attending a class, lecture, or lab either physically or online.
- Submitting an academic assignment.
- Taking an exam or assessment.
- Participating in a school-assigned online discussion, study group, or group project.
- Interacting with a faculty member regarding the class subject.
Academic participation does not include:
- Logging into an online class without active participation.
- Attending academic advising or other school service.
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Return of Funds Calculation
When a student is determined to have withdrawn, either officially or unofficially, CWI will use federal regulatory rules to make determinations and complete the following activities:
- Determine the amount of the student's institutional charges.
- Determine the amount of federal financial aid disbursed to the student.
- Determine the federal financial aid that could have been disbursed to the student (if any).
- Determine the student's withdrawal date.
- Calculate the amount of the student's earned and unearned financial aid.
- Calculate the amount of financial aid CWI must return.
- Calculate the amount of financial aid the student must return.
- Notify student of the determinations and calculated values used in the calculation.
- Notify the student of the resulting balance owed to CWI and/or the Department of Education.
ORDER OF RETURN
When returning federal financial aid funds to the Department of Education, CWI returns the funds in a specific order per federal regulations. The order is as follows:
- Unsubsidized Direct Loans
- Subsidized Direct Loans
- Parent PLUS Loans
- Pell Grant
- Supplemental Education Opportunity Grant (SEOG)
- Iraq/Afghanistan Service Grant (IASG)
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
- Amounts required to be returned to the Department of Education by CWI become debts immediately due and payable to CWI upon completion of the return of funds calculation. The amount will be billed to the student.
- Amounts billed to the student must be paid directly to any of the CWI One Stop Student Services locations. Do not send payments to any other department or agency.
- CWI reserves the right to refer the debt to a collection agency for servicing.
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Post-Withdrawal Disbursements
If a student's earned financial aid is greater than what was disbursed to the student by the date the College determined the student had withdrawn, the difference must be disbursed.
Federal loan post-withdrawal disbursements require the student (or parent, if a Parent PLUS loan) to accept the loans to receive the post-withdrawal disbursement. The letter of acceptance will be sent to the student's assigned CWI email or the parent's email provided on the loan application. The acceptance letter will need to be returned to the Financial Aid office. If no action is taken, the funds will be canceled.