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Refund Schedule
A student is considered to be in class attendance until a request for withdrawal is initiated with the student's academic dean. It is the responsibility of the student to officially withdraw by contacting his/her dean. The date of this notification becomes the "official date of withdrawal" when calculating refunds of tuition and fees.
Students who drop courses after the schedule adjustment period for the semester will be charged for the dropped course.
The refund policy is summarized below and applies to students who withdraw from classes or from the University. The policy is mandated by the Board of Governors of the State System of Higher Education.
| Withdraw From Class | Refund Percentage |
| 0 - 1 class days |
100% |
| Week 1 | 90% |
| Week 2 | 80% |
| Week 3 | 70% |
| Week 4 | 60% |
| Week 5 | 50% |
| Over 5 Weeks | 0% |
Room and board charges are prorated through the 10th week. Unspent flex dollars, less a $10 administrative charge, are refunded through the 10th week.
The refund schedule assumes that the student account is paid in full and that the percentages are not being applied to a partial payment of tuition. The application fee and orientation fee are not refundable.
Return of Title IV Funds
The law specifies how universities must determine the amount of Title IV program assistance that you earn if you withdraw from school. The Title IV programs that are covered by this law are: Federal Pell Grants, Stafford Loans, PLUS Loans, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (FSEOG) and Federal Perkins Loans.
When you withdraw during the semester, the amount of Title IV program assistance that you have earned up to that point is determined by a specific formula. If you received (or your school or parent received on your behalf) less assistance than the amount that you earned, you may be able to receive those additional funds. If you received more assistance than you earned, the excess funds must be returned by the school and/or you.
The amount of assistance that you have earned is determined on a pro rata basis. For example, if you completed 30% of the semester, you earn 30% of the assistance you were originally scheduled to receive. Once you have completed more than 60% of the semester, you earn all the assistance that you were scheduled to receive for that period.
If you did not receive all of the funds that you earned, you may be due a post-withdrawal disbursement. If the post-withdrawal disbursement includes loan funds, you may choose to decline the loan funds so that you don't incur additional debt. The university may automatically use all or a portion of your post-withdrawal disbursement (including loan funds, if you accept them) for tuition, fees, room and board charges (as contracted with the school). For all other school charges, the school needs your permission to use the post-withdrawal disbursement. If you do not give your permission, you will be offered the funds. However, it may be in your best interest to allow the school to keep the funds to reduce your debt at the school.
There are some Title IV funds that you were scheduled to receive that you cannot earn once you withdraw because of other eligibility requirements. For example, if you are a first-time, first-year undergraduate student and you have not completed the first 30 days of your program before you withdraw, you will not earn any FFEL or Direct loan funds that you would have received had you remained enrolled past the 30th day.
If you (or the university or your parent) received more Title IV funds than you earned, the university must return a portion of the excess equal to the lesser of: your institutional charges multiplied by 1) the unearned percentage of your funds, or 2) the entire amount of excess funds. The school must return this amount even if it was originally refunded to you.
Refunds to those programs are required by law to be the first priority and must be returned in the following order:
- Federal Unsubsidized Stafford Loan
- Federal Subsidized Stafford Loan
- Federal Perkins Loan
- Federal PLUS Loan
- Federal Pell Grant
- Federal ACG Grant
- Federal Smart Grant
- Federal SEOG
If the university is not required to return all of the excess funds, you must return the remaining amount. Any loan funds that you must return, you (or your parent for a PLUS Loan) repay in accordance with the terms of the promissory note. That is, you make scheduled payments to the holder of the loan over a period of time.
Any amount of unearned grant funds that you must return is called an overpayment. The amount of a grant overpayment that you must repay is half of the unearned amount. The university will return these funds on your behalf, and you will owe this amount to the school.
The requirements for Title IV program funds when you withdraw are separate from the university’s refund policy; therefore, you may still owe funds to the school to cover unpaid institutional charges. The university will also charge you for any Title IV program funds that the school was required to return.
In many cases the student will owe a balance to the university after federal Title IV aid is returned.
If you have questions about how your aid will be affected if you withdraw, please contact the Student Accounts or Financial Aid Offices for assistance.
If you have questions about your Title IV program funds, you can call the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 1-800-4-FEDAID (1-800-433-3243). TTY users may call 1-800-730-8913. Information is also available on Student Aid on the Web at www.studentaid.ed.gov.
Refund polices are subject to change by the State System of Higher Education.
Shippensburg University