Reductions in charges and financial aid, including federal student aid
The policies in this document are for federal aid eligible programs and are not applicable for non-eligible programs such as Professionals, Certificates, ESL, Non-Degree guest students, or programs delivered at foreign sites.
Credit load reduction
Semester charges and aid (including federal aid) are adjusted according to the new semester credit load:
- if courses are dropped or added before the student stops participating in a previously scheduled semester course, or
- if a student successfully completes semester credits totaling at least ½ time (6 credits for undergraduates / 4 credits for graduate programs), or
- one course is successfully completed which is more than 49% in length of the semester, or
- the student is graduating at the end of the semester
If this criterion isn’t met, see Semester Withdrawal (below).
Example: An undergraduate student enrolls for 18 semester credits and, while participating in scheduled courses, drops future courses totaling 12 credits:
| Scheduled: 18 credits | Revised: 6 credits | |
|---|---|---|
| Tuition | $9,000 | $3,600 |
| Federal Grants | -$3,700 | -$1,850 |
| Scholarship | -$2,000 | 0 |
| Federal Loans | -$6,000 | -$4,450 |
| Refund | $2,700 | $2,700 |
- Tuition has been reduced according to the Program Charges itemization for 6 undergraduate credits.
- A federal Pell Grant must be reduced via the schedule for enrollment intensity (6 credits are 50% of the full-time award).
- The institutional scholarship is only available with full-time tuition.
- Federal loans are disbursed based on original scheduled credits and then not subsequently reduced except by student convenience to match the cash refund already received.
Semester withdrawal
If the above criteria are not met, a semester withdrawal will take place. The semester charges (tuition, fees, housing, and meals) are reduced or recalculated (as is financial aid, including federal aid) in proportion to the remaining credits and the earned federal aid.
Example: A student is scheduled to attend courses for the entire semester (18 credits) but only participates in two courses (6 credits):
- The charges and aid (except disbursed loans) are first recalculated to the 6-credit level (like the above credit load reduction)
- The remaining federal grants and loans are then reduced to the percentage earned.
- The earned percentage is the fraction of the number of days from the first day of the first scheduled course to the last date of participation (for example, 28 days) divided by the scheduled length of the two courses (for example, 74 days).
- The earned federal aid is 37.8% of the combined federal grants and loans; the federal unsub loan is reduced first, sub loan second, Pell Grant third, and FSEOG grant last.
- After 60% participation, 100% of federal aid is earned.
| Scheduled: Full Time | Revised: 6 Credits | 37.8% Earned Federal Aid | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuition | $9,000 | $3,600 | $3,600 | |
| Scholarship | -$2,000 | 0 | 0 | |
| Federal Grants | -$3,700 | $1,850 | $1,850 | $1,850 |
| Federal Loans | -$6,000 | -$6,000 | -$1,117 | -$1,117 |
| Refund: $2,700 | Due: $633 |
NOTE: The initial cash refund of $2,700 was received by the student for scheduled semester enrollment. However, the withdrawal causes a cancellation and reduction in loans resulting in a semester payment. The student must return the $2,700 refunded as well as pay the $633 balance due, a total of $3,333 to MIU Student Accounts.
Ceasing participation
The semester withdrawal process begins when:
- A student ceases to attend a course before completing that course, or
- A student fails to begin attendance in a course for which the student was scheduled where there was no prior notification about changing the scheduled semester courses and credits.
The Registrar’s Office monitors student attendance through regular reports by professors and course administrators for students who are scheduled to attend a course and are not present. Both the professor or course administrator and the Registrar official will attempt to contact the student about the student’s intent for that course and for the rest of that semester. Unless the student provides written intent to continue to attend a later course which starts within 45 days that semester, the student’s status becomes “semester withdrawal:”
- The last date of participation is the official withdrawal date.
- The last date of participation must be documented by the University from its own records of any academic participation (a student’s statement of intent to withdraw or about the last date of attendance is not sufficient).
The Registrar official provides documentation, along with any relevant communication with the student and professor, to the Director of Financial Aid for the withdrawal calculation (potential reductions in charges and financial aid, including federal aid):
- The Financial Aid Office first reduces the charges and aid (except federal loans) to the level of the credits for the courses in which the student participated for the semester.
- The percentage of earned federal aid is calculated.
- The number of days in the enrollment period is determined by the number of days in the scheduled length of the courses in which the student participated.
- The days completed are determined as the number of calendar days from the start of the first course for that student in that semester to the last day completed (if multiple sequential blocks are started and stopped, those unattended days are also excluded).
- The days completed are divided by the length of the enrollment period to determine the percent of earned federal aid.
- The total federal aid is reduced to the percent earned; federal unsub loans first, sub loans second, and federal grants last.
The Financial Aid Office produces the adjusted itemization of cost and aid to deliver to the student with clear instructions for any balance due to MIU Student Accounts.