When a Student Fails to Earn at Least One Passing Grade

As per U. S. Department of Education, students who do not earn at least one passing grade in a period, are considered to have withdrawn from school. Note that the earning of a passing grade in a minimester does not always mean that a Return to Title IV calculation will not be performed.

Non-passing grades for financial aid purposes are: Withdrawn courses, Failed courses, courses with Incomplete grades, NP grades, IP grades and courses with No grades.

For example: if a student attempts three courses, withdraws from one course with a “W” and earns “Fs” for the other two courses, or if student earns all “Fs”, the Student Financial Services Office must assume that the student withdrew from school. The Student Financial Services Office is required to re- calculate their eligibility and remove some of the financial aid funds that were disbursed on their student account. In most cases, students will end up owing South Texas College hundreds of dollars.

At South Texas College, the withdrawal date for students who do not earn at least on passing grade is the 50 percent point of the period, if a last date of attendance was not provided by any of the instructors. If a last date of attendance was provided by at least one instructor, we will use the latest date of attendance to calculate the days completed and divide that, by the total days in the payment period. The result will be the Earned Percentage that we will use to recalculate eligibility, (please see examples below).

For students in this situation, the only relief available is related to the date when they stopped attending school classes. If the student participated in a verifiable, academically-related activity past the 60 percent point of the semester (check with the Student Financial Services Office for dates) and proof of this can be collected from the school, then the student would have earned 100 percent of the funds that student was scheduled to receive.

The U. S. Department of Education has defined acceptable academically- related activities as class attendance, examinations or quizzes, tutorials, computer-assisted instruction, academic conferences, completing an academic assignment, paper, or project, or attending a school-assigned study group. Students may not provide documentation of these activities; documentation must come from the instructor.

Online Classes (Distance Education/Distance Learning)

In a distance education context, documenting that a student has logged into an online class is not sufficient, by itself, to demonstrate academic attendance by the student; a definition of attendance for financial aid purposes is provided under the Regulations section of our website at https://studentservices.southtexascollege.edu/finaid/attendance_definition.html.

Notification of Return of Title IV Funds Calculation Results

When a Return of Title IV funds calculation is performed for withdrawals, either official or unofficial and for non-passing grades, the Student Financial Services Office will send a letter to students, informing them of the calculation, consequences and their responsibilities.

Return of Title IV Funds Calculation – When Money is owed to the School

If students withdraw or are withdrawn from all of their classes after the 20th class day of a regular semester/period or the designated end of the refund period of a minimester or summer session, South Texas College will not adjust the cost of tuition and fees, (please reference the Tuition Refunds Policy discussed previously).

When a Return of Title IV funds calculation is performed and the school is not required to return funds, the student may be required to return an amount. Any amount of unearned grant funds that student must return is called an overpayment. The maximum amount of a grant overpayment that student must repay is half of the grant funds that student received or were scheduled to receive. Student does not have to repay a grant overpayment if the original amount of the overpayment is $50 or less. South Texas College will notify student if they must repay part of the grant; after notified, student will have 45 days to make payment arrangements with the school. If the school is unable to collect the funds owed, the overpayment will be referred to Department of Education for collection.

Overpayments

Students who have grant overpayments may contact Default Resolution Group by calling 1-800-621-3115 or by writing to Default Resolution Group at the following address:

U.S. Department of Education
Default Resolution Group
P.O. Box 5609
Greenville, Texas 75403