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Right to Know - Academic Policies

Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy

Students must earn a Cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA) of 2.00 and a minimum number of credits to receive financial aid funding. Additionally, they must have a minimum 2.00 cumulative level GPA at the end of their sixth quarter of attendance, regardless of enrollment status. Students who fail to meet this requirement will be placed on Financial Aid Warning or Suspension. We will notify you by email if your financial aid status is on warning, suspension, or maximum time frame.

View the full Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy for All Financial Aid Recipients in the attachment of Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy CCS 43-152

Dropping a class or Withdrawing from a Quarter

SCC’s Important Dates Calendar has important dates and deadlines for dropping and withdrawing from classes and any associated refund periods. Classes can be dropped by completing the online Add/Drop form or by logging into your Student Homepage. Dropping a class or withdrawing may affect your financial aid. See repayment information below.

Repayment of student aid funds

  • We are required to calculate a repayment of student aid funds if you completely stop attending all your classes for any reason prior to the 50% of the quarter for state aid and 60% point of the quarter for federal student aid. This repayment is prorated based on the amount of aid you received and the number of days you attended. You can avoid this repayment by attending at least 50% of the quarter for state aid and 60% for federal student aid.

  • We are required to calculate a repayment of federal and state student aid funds for any classes you fail to begin attending one or more classes that changes your enrollment level. This is reflected by an Instructor Initiated Withdrawal and is issued by the instructor of the class you did not attend. It can also occur if you drop a late start class, such as a math course. This repayment is the difference in award amounts based on your former and current enrollment level. Double-check your registration the first two weeks of each quarter to be sure you are attending all your classes, particularly if you are on the waitlist for classes. You can avoid this repayment by attending all your classes for the first 10 days of the quarter.

  • We are required to calculate a repayment of federal student aid if you drop one or more classes on or before the 10th day of the quarter and it changes your enrollment level. This repayment is the difference in award amounts based on your former and current enrollment level. You can avoid this repayment by not dropping any classes the first 10 days of the quarter.

If you owe a repayment of student aid funds, the Finance Office will apply all credits on your account, such as tuition refunds to reduce the amount you must repay. Repayments can never be waived by the college for any reason.

Withdrawal Disclosure

How Withdrawing From a Quarter Affects Financial Aid

Students who received (or who are eligible to receive) federal financial aid and who withdraw from all classes for the quarter are subject to a return of funds recalculation (called R2T4) of their awards based on the amount of aid earned. The R2T4 calculation is required to be performed within 30 days of the date the school determines a student has withdrawn. A separate calculation will be performed for state grant aid to determine if the student owes a repayment of state grants.

Unearned aid is calculated by dividing the number of days the student was enrolled by the number of days in the quarter. Any unearned funds will be returned by SCC to the appropriate federal aid program(s). This may result in the student owing a balance due to SCC.

The Financial Aid Office will email the student the R2T4 calculation results, showing what the school and the student are required to return to the federal program(s). A separate email will notify the student of a change in eligibility. The R2T4 and return of state aid calculations are required based on federal and state regulations and are not subject to appeal.

Post Withdrawal Disbursements

Occasionally, a student may have undisbursed aid they have earned. In these situations, the student will be notified within 30 days of the R2T4 calculation. If the student has current outstanding charges, the school may automatically apply the post withdrawal disbursement to unpaid charges per the student’s authorization granted on the Terms and Conditions form. 

Where is My Refund?

Refunds for students who do not have financial aid will be issued according to SCC’s refund policy as stated on CCS’s refund page.

Students with federal aid might not receive a refund. Financial Aid will calculate unearned financial aid using federal and state formulas. Unearned financial aid will be returned to the federal program(s). Any tuition refund may be used to offset the amount the student owes to the school or to the federal or state program(s). If the refund exceeds what must be returned to the federal or state program(s), the remaining balance is refunded to the student.

When a student fails all classes (unofficial withdrawal)

If a student remains enrolled to the end of the quarter but ceases attending or fails to earn grades in any classes, the R2T4 calculation will be performed according to the instructors’ reported last dates of attendance to determine unearned aid that must be returned to the federal programs. Separate state return of funds calculations will be performed at this time to determine if the student owes a repayment of state grants.

Withdrawal Process

Request an official withdrawal form from Bigfoot Central (the front desk) in Building 15, and return the completed form to Bigfoot Central staff. Alternately, you can withdraw through the ctcLink Student Center through the published last day to withdraw.

Sample Withdrawal

Sandy Smith received Title IV aid for the Summer Quarter. The following aid was disbursed to her prior to her withdrawal from all classes:

$1850 Pell Grant
$1075 Unsubsidized Loan
$1609 Subsidized Loan 
Total: $4534

There are 46 days in the quarter. Sandy withdrew on the second day of the quarter. 
2 / 46 = 4.3% is the percentage of financial aid she earned by attending 2 days.

Aid received:    $4534 
Percent earned:    4.3%
$4534 x 4.3% = $194.96 (amount of financial aid Sandy earned for two days of attendance)

We are required to return the lesser of unearned tuition or unearned federal financial aid:

Unearned financial aid
Sandy was eligible to receive $194.96
$4534 (total aid received) – 194.96 (aid earned) = $4339.04 (amount of unearned aid)

Unearned tuition
Sandy’s tuition was $1151.48. She earned 4.3% of that, leaving 95.7% unearned. 
$1151.48 (tuition) x 95.7% (percentage unearned) = 1101.97 (amount of unearned tuition)

The amount of unearned tuition is less than the amount of unearned aid, so the school returned $1102 (rounded up from $1101.97) to Sandy’s Unsubsidized student loan (Unsubsidized is always returned first)

We are required to determine the amount of unearned aid that must be returned by Sandy.

$4339.04 (unearned aid) - $1101.97 (unearned tuition) = 3237.07 (unearned aid not yet returned)

Loans
$2684 (disbursed from loans to Sandy) – 1101.97 (amount the school is returning) = $1582.03 (amount of loans Sandy must repay when student loans go into repayment)
$3237.07 (unearned aid) – 1582.03 (loan amount Sandy is responsible for) = $1655.04 (unearned aid remaining)

Federal Grants
$1850 Pell Grant received x 50% grant protection = $925
$1655.04 (unearned aid remaining) - $925 (grant protection) = 730.04 (amount of Pell Grant for Sandy to return, rounded down to $730)