Santiago
Canyon College (SCC) & Santa Ana College (SAC) are schools that are
not required to take attendance therefore; students who cannot continue
in a course have an obligation to withdraw officially. Students are
encouraged to consult with instructors concerning class withdrawals.
Students may officially withdraw on the web through the last day of the
12th week of instruction or 75 percent of the class meetings, whichever
is less, and receive a transcript grade of “W".
A student who
withdraws from classes after receiving Title IV Aid may owe back some of
the funds regardless if they are a partial withdrawal or a full
withdrawal.
The Santiago Canyon College Financial Aid Office
(SCC FAO) has set a “census date" to establish a time frame to add or
drop courses to determine a student's enrollment status for Title IV
Awarding. (See disbursement schedule for these dates by term.)
Partial Withdrawals
Students
who partially withdraw from classes after receiving a Pell Grant or
FSEOG, prior to the set census date, may owe back some of the funds.
This is considered an overpayment. Failure to pay back the funds
directly to Rancho Santiago Community College District within 45 days
will result in the overpayment being reported to the Department of
Education for collections. It is crucial that students contact our
office before dropping any classes to determine how it may affect them.
Full Withdrawals
The calculation for the R2T4 federal financial aid funds is based on whether a full withdrawal is classified as official or unofficial.
Official withdrawal
is initiated by the student and is determined by the student's
withdrawal date. Also, the last date of an academically related
activity that the student participated in may be used as the student's
withdrawal date. This withdrawal is not considered a “W" due to
excessive absence. Therefore, the withdrawal date is based on the date
that the college becomes aware that the student has ceased attendance.
Unofficial withdrawal
occurs when there is no notification or official withdrawal by the
student; or a student receives all “F" Grades or a combination of “F"
Grades, “NP", and “W"s due to excessive absences. If the student does
not officially drop classes and receives a combination of “W"s, “NP",
and “F"s for all courses in a term, it will be considered an unofficial
withdrawal, even if the student was enrolled in the course for the
entire term. Therefore, the withdrawal date is considered 50% of the
enrollment period and half of the student's Title IV Aid for the term.
Because SCC & SAC are not required to take attendance, a student who
does not officially withdraw may receive an “F" grade. It is the
student's responsibility to notify and prove to the SCC FAO when they
completed a class and earned the “F" grade no later than 14 days after
the grade has posted.
On-Line/Distance Learning Students who enrolled only
in online/distant learning courses and then become full drops are
subject to a financial aid calculation. The Financial Aid Office will
contact the instructor(s) to determine the last academically related
activity date, which serves as the “Official Withdrawal" date. If no
response is provided to the Financial Aid Office within a 14 day period,
the 50% Mid-Point Rule will serve as the “Unofficial Withdrawal" date.
Examples of acceptable academically related activities:
- Student submission of an academic assignment
Student submission of an exam
- Student submission of an exam
- Documented student participation in an interactive tutorial or computer-assisted instruction
- A
posting by the student showing the student's participation in an online
study group that is assigned by the institution
- A
posting by the student in a discussion forum showing the student's
participation in an online discussion about academic matters
- An
e-mail from the student or other documentation showings that the
student-initiated contact with a faculty member to ask a question about
the academic subject studied in the course
Calculation of R2T4 & Formula
When
a student officially or unofficially withdraws from all courses,
regardless of any reason, he/she may no longer be eligible for the
entire amount of Title IV aid originally awarded. The return of funds to
the Federal Government is based on the premise that a student earns
financial aid in proportion to the length of time during which he/she
remains enrolled.
Santiago Canyon College (SCC) is required to
perform this calculation within 30 days of the date the school learns
that a student has completely withdrawn. The school must return the
funds within 45 days of the date of determination. R2T4 calculations
are completed by the Financial Aid Office on a regular basis.
In
accordance with the Return of Title IV guidelines as mandated by the
U.S. Department of Education the R2T4 calculation process will calculate
the prorated amount of financial aid a student has earned based on the
percentage of time he/she remained enrolled in a class.
- For official withdrawals,
the amount of earned Title IV Aid will be prorated based on the
withdrawal date prior to 60% of the semester. Once the 60% point of the
semester has occurred, a student is considered to have earned all of
the financial aid originally awarded and will not be required to repay
any funds as a result of withdrawal.
- For unofficial withdrawals
the withdrawal date is the midpoint (50%) of the payment period or
semester. A student may have to repay a portion of the funds they
received.
As part of the R2T4 calculations, institutional
charges will be included. Institutional charges generally are defined
as the charges for tuition and fees and other educational expenses that
are paid to the school directly. The R2T4 calculation formula is as
follows:
