Enrollment Changes and Your Financial Aid

How Enrollment Changes Affect Your Financial Aid

  • If you drop or withdraw from classes, your aid may be impacted (see below); it may also jeopardize future eligibility for student aid (including loans). 

  • If your enrollment falls below half-time, your financial aid awards may be adjusted, and the grace period repayment of loans will begin.

  • If you withdraw from your last ongoing class and didn't complete more than 60 percent of the semester, you may have to repay financial aid according to the Return of Title IV (federal) Funds Policy.

DROPPING OR WITHDRAWING

Tuition and financial aid may be adjusted any time a student reduces hours. However, withdrawing partial hours after the add/drop period does not typically affect current term aid; students will receive a grade of "W" for the withdrawn course(s). Receiving grades of "W" can impact future aid eligibility by lowering credit completion ratio. See the Standards of Academic Progress (SAP) Policy for more information about completion ratio requirements.

If enrollment hours are retroactively reduced resulting in a student not meeting minimum enrollment for aid programs received, tuition assessment and eligibility for financial aid may be affected. This can occur at any point during the term, as well as after the term has ended.

Unofficial Withdrawal



If you stop attending all classes during a semester and do not go through the universities withdrawal process, you are treated as an “unofficial withdrawal”. At the end of each semester, Dominican University identifies all students who did not pass at least one class. Your instructor documents your last date of attendance when they post your grade for the semester. Dominican University will use this date to review you under the Title IV Return of Funds calculation and may result in a portion of your financial aid being returned. This date will also be reported to the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) and your enrollment status will be updated.

Reduced Hours of Enrollment



The amount of your aid eligibility is dependent upon the number of hours in which you are enrolled and attend. This is normally established after the first week of school. However, prorated tuition adjustments are made into the fifth week of the semester. There are some exceptions to these general rules for students who are enrolled in courses that only meet for part of the semester (such as eight week courses) that start mid-semester. If a student reduces hours prior to the end of the add/drop period, financial aid will be adjusted accordingly. If a student receives a refund based upon higher enrollment, they may need to repay the funds after the adjustment.

Occasionally, a student who withdraws from Dominican University is entitled to a post‐withdrawal disbursement. We will complete the Return of Title IV calculation to determine if you are eligible for a post withdrawal disbursement of your Federal student loans or grants. We will notify you that you are eligible for the loan disbursement and give you 14 days to respond to the notification. It is your responsibility to respond back to the notification if you would like to accept or decline the loan. 

Please Note: This information assumes you have a completed financial aid file at the time of withdrawing or dropping from a class, or ceasing attendance entirely. In addition, resident students who drop below full time status must check with residence life regarding living on campus.

Please contact Stars Connect at starsconnect@dom.edu if you have questions.