Withdrawing from the University

Withdrawing from the University

If a student has registered for classes and decides not to attend UNTD, he or she must notify Student Financial Aid and Scholarships (SFAS) and the Registrar as early as possible.

If circumstances require that you withdraw from all classes, we strongly encourage you to contact your academic advisor and Student Financial Aid and Scholarships before making your final decision. The consequences of withdrawing from all classes can be explained and clearly illustrated.

If you’ve already made the decision to withdraw, you must begin the withdrawal process with UNTD’s Registrar’s office.. For information on how to drop a course or withdraw from UNTD, including official dates and deadlines, please visit the UNT Registrar’s Office’s Schedule of Classes.

Information for Students Enrolled in Sessions (Fall, Spring and/or Summer)

What is a session? A session is a short semester within a payment period (full term) that does not span the entire length of the payment period. It is also called a mini-term or module.

• Important Information for Sessions during Fall and/or Spring

  An example of sessions during the Fall and/or Spring semester is the Accelerated Online Programs (AOP). Any student considering dropping a class during a Session(s) or withdrawing from all classes during a Session(s) needs to review this important information regarding session withdrawal processing.

A student is considered to have Withdrawn from programs offered in a session of enrollment during the Fall and/or Spring term when the student ceases attendance at any point prior to completing the payment period unless the school obtains written confirmation at the time of the withdrawal that the student will attend a session that begins later in the same payment period. This confirmation must be obtained at the same time of the withdrawal even if the student has registered for subsequent courses.

Important Summer Information

The Summer semester is made up of multiple sessions in which students can choose to enroll. Examples include 5W1, 5W2, and 10W. Any student considering dropping a class or withdrawing from all classes during the Summer semester needs to review this important information regarding summer withdrawal processing.

Once You Decide to Withdraw from UNTD

If you officially withdraw, cease attendance, or are administratively withdrawn from UNTD, federal regulations require post-secondary institutions to calculate the amount of Federal Title IV funds (aid) earned during the term from which you withdrew.

Factors considered in this federally mandated calculation include:

• Number of days in the payment period
• Date of withdrawal/number of calendar days the student attends before total withdrawal as determined by SFAS (excluding scheduled breaks of at least 5 days in length)
• The total amount of Title IV aid eligibility, tuition and fee charges, on-campus room and board charges (if applicable)
• Class attendance.

The percentage of time spent in attendance is the percentage of federal funds the student has earned. Other funds received are unearned.

After Student Financial Aid and Scholarships personnel applies the federally mandated calculation, unearned Federal Title IV funds (aid) will be returned to the programs from which the money was paid to you (or your parent) in the following order:

• Unsubsidized Direct Stafford loans (other than PLUS loans)
• Subsidized Direct Stafford loans
• Parent Plus loans
• Direct PLUS loans
• Federal Pell Grants for which a Return is required
• Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant for which a Return is required
• Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant
• Other Title IV assistance
• State Tuition Assistance Grants  (if applicable)
• Private and institutional aid
• The Student

It is possible you will owe a repayment of unearned financial aid funds to the university if you cease attendance prior to the sixty percent (60%) completion point of any payment period for which you received financial aid funds. The completion point is based on the total number of class days in a payment period.

If circumstances allow you to remain in school past the sixty percent (60%) completion point of any payment period, then there is a definite advantage. No calculations are required for students who attend past the 60% completion point.

If it is determined that you owe a repayment of funds, you will receive notification from SFAS. You can also check your balance owed through the myUNT student portal. Students who owe a balance to UNTD from a previous academic year will not be disbursed aid until the balance owed is paid. Official transcripts are not released to any student who has an unpaid account or has defaulted on loans received from any university.

Outside of potentially owing a balance to UNTD, there are other consequences of withdrawal to consider. Withdrawing from classes will affect your future eligibility for financial aid and possibly affect future scholarship disbursements. You must meet Satiisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) requirements to maintain eligibility for financial aid as defined by Student Financial Aid and Scholarships.

Basic Example of the Federally Mandated Calculation

• Payment period is 109 calendar days. Student attends and participates in academically-related activities for 36 days and then withdraws.
• Student completed 33% of the number of payment period days. This results in 67% being unearned.
• Student tuition and fees for payment period totaled $3500.00.
• Federal Title IV funds (aid) disbursed to the student during the payment period:
  • $1,732.00 Subsidized Direct Stafford Loan and $1,500.00 Federal Pell Grant
  • $3,232 Total Aid Disbursed
  • 47.8% of Total Aid = $1,066.56 earned aid
• Since earned aid is less than the amount of disbursed aid, funds must be returned to the programs from which they were paid to the student (or parent).
• $3,232 disbursed aid - $1,066.56 earned aid = $2,165.44 unearned aid.
• It is assumed by federal regulations that Federal Title IV funds (aid) was used to pay for institutional charges (tuition/fees and room/board if applicable).
• The school pays the lesser of the total unearned aid or the unearned institutional charges
  • Unearned institutional charges = $3500 x 67% = $2345
  • $2,165.44 unearned aid < $2345 unearned institutional charges.
  • The University will have to return a total of $2,165.44 in unearned aid.

• The University must return the $1732 Subsidized Direct Stafford Loan to the lender since the loan funds are returned before grant funds.
• The University must then return $433.44 of the Federal Pell Grant to the U.S. Department of Education.
  • By federal regulation, 50% of all Federal Title IV grant aid disbursed plus Federal Title IV grant aid awarded that could have been disbursed is protected from reduction.

Unofficial Withdrawal from UNTD

Unofficial withdrawals encompass all other withdrawals where official notification is not provided to UNTD. Students who do not officially withdraw through the Registrar’s Office/cease attending class are also subject to the federally mandated calculation described above.

If it is determined that you never attended any of the classes for which you (or your parent) were paid, then you never earned the funds (aid). As a result, all funds (aid) will be canceled and returned to the programs from which they were awarded. You will then owe a complete repayment to the university.

Unofficially withdrawing from classes, not beginning attendance, or failing to complete and pass registered hours may affect your future eligibility for financial aid. You must meet Satisfactory Academic Progress requirements to maintain eligibility for financial aid as defined by Student Financial Aid and Scholarships.

All Failing Grades Received

Financial aid is awarded to students with the expectation that they will attend classes for the entire payment period and that they will make progress toward a degree. If a student who began attendance, does not officially withdraw, and subsequently receives all failing grades (any combination of F’s, W’s, WF’s and NP’s) during a term, SFAS is required to calculate the amount of Federal Title IV funds (aid) earned during the term in which all failing grades were received.

For this group of students, the institution must still determine the amount of Title IV grant or loan assistance that the student earned up to the date of withdrawal. For these unofficial withdrawals, commonly known as dropouts, the withdrawal date is the midpoint of the payment period (or the equivalent date for summer sessions of enrollment as applicable) or the last date of the student’s attendance in an academically related activity, as documented to SFAS by the course’s instructor of record.

If all failing grades are earned, you will be required to have at least one of your instructors e-mail us with your last date of attendance in an academically-related activity. If your instructor provides SFAS with your last date of attendance by the prescribed deadline, then SFAS will use this date as your withdrawal date in the federally mandated calculation described above. If your last date of attendance in an academically-related activity is unknown to the school by the prescribed deadline, then your last date of attendance used in the federally mandated calculation will be the midpoint of the payment period (or the equivalent date for summer sessions of enrollment).

For full policy information, please view (Consumer Information for Return of Title IV funds).