Revision Responsibility: Registrar

Responsible Executive Office: President

Purpose: To outline the policy for a program withdrawal from Platt College

Policy:

A. Official Withdrawal from the College

An official withdrawal is when the student notifies the Platt College Registrar in person or in writing that s/he not be returning to the program. To complete the official withdrawal from the College, the student completes a Request to Permanently Withdraw from the Degree Program Form and withdraw forms for each class currently attending (if applicable).  Forms are initiated by the College Registrar after written notification is received by the student.  The effective date of withdrawal is when the College Registrar receives notification from the student that he/she is not returning to the degree program.

B. Administrative Withdrawal/Termination from the College

When a student does not notify Platt College of his or her withdrawal, it is classified as an administrative withdrawal.  Examples of this would include but are not limited to (1) a student who fails to return from temporary suspension or leave of absence without notifying the college, (2) a student does not attend all enrolled classes for two consecutive weeks without notifying the Registrar, (3) a student is temporarily withdrawn from classes and/or is terminated from the college due to a college policy violation.  When a student is terminated, the Registrar completes a Termination from Platt College including Documentation for Refund Calculation Form, issued electronically to applicable college offices.  The date of termination for the student is the date Platt College terminates the student’s enrollment.

C. Student’s Withdrawal from the College and Refund

Platt College, for refund purposes, defines one quarter by 11 weeks.  Depending on which week of the quarter a student withdraws or is withdrawn from the program, the following chart outlines the amount of refund a student can expect less the application fee and any tuition and fees from any previous quarters. 

The calculation of weeks concludes each Sunday prior to 12 midnight MST.  In other words, if a student withdraws from the program on or before 11:59 pm MST during week 1 of the quarter, then s/her will be considered withdrawn during week 1.  

All students who withdraw from the college regardless of withdrawal type (i.e. official, administrative, termination, and/or student withdrawal) are accessed a $150.00 withdrawal fee.  

Once a Request to Permanently Withdraw from the Degree Program Form or Termination from Platt College including Documentation for Refund Calculation Form has been issued, the Registrar finalizes the needed documentation (i.e. last date of attendance, weeks completed, effective date).  This information is securely provided electronically to each applicable College department. 

The Financial Aid Department completes a Federal Return of Title IV Calculation and determines how much of the student financial aid (SFA) funds my be retained.  Refunds are completed 30 days from the date of determination, as confirmed by the College Registrar.

Though a student's aid is posted to his/her account at the start of each period, the student earns the funds as s/he completes the period. If a student withdraws during a payment period or period of enrollment, the amount of Title IV program assistance that is earned up to that point is determined by a specific formula. If a student received (or the College or a parent received on your behalf) less assistance than the amount that the student earned, s/he may be able to receive those additional funds. If the student received more assistance than earned, the excess funds must be returned by the College and/or you.

The amount of assistance that you have earned is determined on a pro rata basis. For example, if a student completed 30% of the payment period or period of enrollment, s/he earns 30% of the assistance originally scheduled to be received. Once a student has completed more than 60% of the payment period or period of enrollment, s/he earns all the assistance that is scheduled to be received for that period.

There are some Title IV funds that students are scheduled to receive that cannot be disbursed to them once they withdraw because of other eligibility requirements. For example, if a student is a first-time, first-year undergraduate student and s/he has not completed the first 30 days of the program before withdrawing, s/he will not receive any Direct Loan funds that s/he would have received had the student remained enrolled past the 30th day.

If a student receives (or the College or a parent receives on a student's behalf) excess Title IV program funds that must be returned, the College must return a portion of the excess equal to the lesser of:

1. institutional charges multiplied by the unearned percentage of the student's funds, or
2. the entire amount of excess funds.

Platt College must return this amount even if this amount of the Title IV program funds was not kept.

If the College is not required to return all of the excess funds, a student must return the remaining amount. For more information see Volume 5—Withdrawals and the Return of Title IV Funds from the Federal Student Aid Handbook.

Any loan funds that a student must return, the student (or his/her parent for a Direct PLUS Loan) must repay in accordance with the terms of the promissory note. The student makes scheduled payments to the holder of the loan over a period of time.

Any amount of unearned grant funds that a student must return is called an overpayment. The maximum amount of a grant overpayment that a student must repay is half of the grant funds s/he received or were scheduled to receive. A student does not have to repay a grant overpayment if the original amount of the overpayment is $50 or less. The student must make arrangements with Platt College or the Department of Education to return the unearned grant funds.

If a student does not receive all of the funds that are earned, s/he may be dues a post-withdrawal disbursement.  If the post-withdrawal disbursement includes loan funds, the College must get the students' permission before it can disburse funds.  Students may chooise to decline some or all of the loan funds so that the additional debt is not incurred.  The College may automatically use all or a portion of hte post-withdrawl disbursement of grant funds for tuition and fees (as contracted with the College).  Platt College must have a student's permission to use the post-withdrawal grant disbursement for all other College charges.  If a student does not give permission, the student will be offered the funds.  However, it may be in the student's best interest to allow the College to keep the funds to reduce the debt at the College.

The requirement for Title IV program funds when a student withdraws are separate from any refund policy that Platt College may have.  Therefore, the student may still owe funds to Platt College to cover unpaid institutional charges.  Platt College may also charge the student for any Title IV program funds that s/he is required to return.