Financial Aid Policies

Federal Return to Title IV Refund Policy

The Federal Return to Title IV Policy shall apply to all students who withdraw officially, or “unofficially,” or are dismissed from the University and receive Title IV financial aid. Under this policy, students earn financial aid in proportion to the time they are enrolled up to the 60% point of the semester. If you drop some but not all of your classes, this policy does not apply to you.

Any aid in excess of the amount earned is considered unearned and must be returned to the respective federal student aid program. You will be notified in writing showing the portion of unearned aid the school will refund and the portion you are responsible for paying. Once the calculation is complete, the Financial Aid Office will send written notification to the student informing the student of the amount owed, no later than 30 days after the date the Financial Aid Office is notified that the student withdrew.

Financial Aid funds will be returned in the following order:

Unsubsidized Federal Direct Stafford Loans
Subsidized Federal Direct Stafford Loans
Federal Direct PLUS Loans
Federal Pell Grants
Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant
Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG)
Federal Teach Grant

Official Withdrawal

When a student officially withdraws from all courses on or after the first day of classes, the Financial Aid Office will use the withdrawal date to determine the portion of the Federal Title IV aid earned (or that could have been earned) to be used to pay institutional charges (such as tuition and fees).

Students that have attended through 60% of the semester are considered to have earned 100% of their federal financial aid. If the withdrawal calculation results in a Title IV credit balance, the funds will be disbursed no later than 14 days from the date the Financial Aid Office performs the R2T4 calculation.

If there is no credit balance on the account, the University will make a payment (return portion of grant) on the student’s behalf and create a debit on the student’s account. Thus, the student would no longer be considered to have a Title IV grant overpayment and as such no reporting to NSLDS and no referral to Debt Resolution Services for collection is required. However, any debt created by the University returning a portion of your aid to the Federal programs is due and payable by the student to the University.

Unofficial Withdrawal

A student is considered an unofficial withdrawal when they stop attending without officially withdrawing, and receive all failing grades, such as: “W,” “F,” FN’s or “I” at the end of the term. The Financial Aid Office reviews the last date of attendance records for students who did not officially withdraw. If the date is earlier than the 60% point of the semester, that date will be used in the Return of Title IV funds calculation.

Timeframe for R2T4 calculation

As federal regulations require, the University calculates the Return to Title IV refunds within 45 days of determining an official or unofficial withdrawal date.

Post Withdrawal Disbursement

If at the time of withdrawal, a student did not receive all the federal funds that they were awarded, the student may be eligible for a post-withdrawal disbursement. The Financial Aid Office will perform a calculation to determine if the student is eligible to receive all or a portion of non-disbursed federal grant or loan funds.

For Pell grant eligibility only, the earned portion of the grant is disbursed to the student account and a letter is sent to student to notify them of their eligibility and right to return funds within 45 days on the date letter was issued.

For loan eligibility, a notice is sent to the student before any funding will be processed. The student must tell the University if they want funds disbursed to them directly or to their student account. Post Withdrawal disbursements of Federal Direct Loans will be made within 180 days after the determination of the withdrawal.

For any amount of a post-withdrawal grant disbursement not credited to the student’s account to cover allowable charges, the school must make the disbursement as soon as possible but no later than 45 days after the date of the school’s determination that the student withdrew.

Satisfactory Academic Progress

Johnson C. Smith University has the following Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy for students who receive financial aid. These standards require that a student make progress toward an undergraduate degree during all periods of enrollment, including periods when a student did not receive financial aid.

Financial Aid Satisfactory Academic Progress

Requirements are as follows:

• Maintain required cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA) based on matrix below, or higher (a qualitative measure) and

Undergraduate Students:

Graduate Students:

• Successfully complete at least 67% of the cumulative attempted credit hours (a quantitative measure) and
• Make positive progress toward a program of study within 150 percent of the average published program length

• Eligible – Student is meeting the minimum academic standards or has no academic history. Fully Eligible for financial aid.
• Warning – Student did not meet minimum standards for cumulative GPA and/or 67% completion rate in the previous evaluation period. Student is Eligible for financial aid, but must reach all minimum standards by the end of the next evaluation period to maintain eligibility.
• Ineligible – Student has had two consecutive evaluation periods below minimum standards for cumulative GPA and/or 67% completion rate. Student is Ineligible for financial aid.
• Timeframe – Student has attempted at least 180 credit hours toward a Bachelor’s Degree. If a student exceeds these credit hour limits, they are not making progress toward a degree within the 150% federal requirement. Student is Ineligible for financial aid.
• Graduate students must earn their degree within the timelines set by the Graduate School per their graduate program.

When is Academic Progress Evaluated?

A student’s satisfactory academic progress will be evaluated at the end of each academic semester (i.e., fall, spring, and summer semesters).

Successful completion of a class

Successful completion of a class is defined as earning a grade of A, B, C, D, or Pass. Unsuccessful grades are F, W, Fail, NP, or Incomplete.

Transfer Students and Transfer Credit Hours: Students transferring to JCSU are required to have all prior college transcripts evaluated for transfer credits. All credit hours accepted by JCSU will be used to determine the 67% completion rate and maximum timeframe of 150%.

Remedial/Repeat Courses: All remedial and repeat courses will be used in determining completion rate and timeframe. Actual letter grades are not included in the cumulative GPA.

Audited Credit Hours: Courses taken on an audit basis are not counted when determining the completion percentage or for purposes of determining your cumulative GPA.

How to Re-establish Eligibility?

• A student must bring his/her GPA and completion rate up to the minimum standards of the required cumulative GPA, per matrix, and 67% completion rate. A student will be Ineligible for financial aid and cannot be reimbursed during this time. If a student believes they have re-established eligibility, they MUST inform the Office of Student Financial Aid to review their academic history and re-instate their financial aid eligibility.
• Mitigating Circumstances: If a student has experienced mitigating circumstances (illness, job related, family illness, change of major) during the most recent evaluation period, they may submit an Appeal to reinstate financial aid eligibility. Appeal forms are available on the JCSU Financial Aid website. The student must also submit supporting documentation with the appeal form. If the request is granted, the student will be placed on one of two Financial Aid Eligibility Statuses:
  • Probation – The student is expected to improve to minimum standards by the end of the next evaluation period. The student is Eligible for financial aid,but must meet minimum standards by the next evaluation period. A student cannot be on probation for two consecutive semesters.
  • Academic Success Plan – The student cannot be expected to improve to minimum standards by the next evaluation period. The student and JCSU have agreed to a success plan to allow the student to meet minimum standards within a fixed number of evaluation periods. The student is fully Eligible for financial aid as long as they are strictly following the success plan. If at any time the student stops following the success plan and they are not meeting minimum standards they will become Ineligible for financial aid. If a student meets minimum standards at any time while on a success plan their Financial Aid Eligibility Status will be updated to Eligible.

If the request is not granted, the student will remain Ineligible for financial aid until they meet all minimum standards.

• Timeframe Mitigating Circumstances: If a student has not completed their program of study within the 150% timeframe and there are mitigating circumstances (illness, job related, family illness, change of major), they may submit an Appeal to reinstate financial aid eligibility. If this application is granted, the student will be placed on the following Academic Eligibility Status:
  • Timeframe Academic Success Plan – The student and JCSU have agreed to a success plan. The student is fully Eligible for financial aid, as long as they are strictly following the success plan. If at any time the student stops following the success plan, they will become Permanently Ineligible for financial aid.

If the request is not granted, the student will be Ineligible for financial aid. All students are limited to one Timeframe Academic Success Plan.

Tuition Refund Policy

It is to the financial advantage of students withdrawing, dropping to a part-time status or reducing credit hours, to do so as early in the semester/session as possible. No adjustments to tuition, meals, and/or room charges will be made after the fourth week of classes each semester. The percentage of the credit which will be applied to the student’s account is listed in the following chart:

Traditional Students

Master of Social Work Program and Metropolitan College Students

No adjustments to tuition, meals, and/or room charges will be made after the 2nd week of classes each semester. The percentage of the credit which will be applied to the student’s account is listed in the following chart: