Students who change their enrollment or residency plans may be eligible for a refund of tuition, fees, room, or board charges. The following refund policy outlines the circumstances under which a refund is applicable and the steps a student must follow to secure a refund. Full or partial refunds may be given to students who do not enroll, drop courses, withdraw from the University, or change to commuter status.
In 2000, the University of Indianapolis adopted the following refund policy for students who totally withdraw from the University. The policy conforms to the Federal Return of Title IV Funds (Section 668.22) regulations of the 1998 changes to the Higher Education Amendments. Title IV funds refer to the following federal financial aid programs: subsidized and unsubsidized Stafford Loans, Federal Perkins Loans, Federal PLUS Loans, Federal Pell Grants, and Federal SEOG. Federal work-study funds are excluded from the refund calculation.
If a student finds it necessary to completely withdraw from the University before the end of a semester, the withdrawal process begins in the Office of the Registrar, where an official date of withdrawal is determined for refund purposes. This policy refers only to students who withdraw from all classes. The section titled "Students Who Drop Courses" is included for students who drop or withdraw from one or more courses but do not withdraw from all classes.
A student's withdrawal date is considered to be:
The University of Indianapolis can determine a withdrawal date related to extenuating circumstances for a student who (a) left without notification because of extenuating circumstances, or (b) withdrew because of extenuating circumstances but another party gave notification on the student's behalf. Extenuating circumstances include illness, accident, grievous personal loss, or other such circumstances beyond the student's control. The registrar makes the determination in such matters.
When a student completely withdraws after the first week of the semester, any refund for tuition, activity fees, supervised student teaching fees, physical therapy or occupational therapy fees, BUILD fees, nursing, music, laboratory fees, art fees, room and meal charges, and cable TV fees will be determined on a per diem basis. The amount charged is based on the percentage of enrollment completed and is calculated by dividing the number of calendar days completed by the total number of calendar days in the semester. A calendar is developed each year and maintained in the Accounting Office that outlines the percentage of charges assessed each day during the first 60 percent of the term. There are no refunds (or Return of Title IV funds or nonfederal funds) after the 60 percent point. Title IV aid and all other aid is considered to be 100 percent earned after that point.
The University of Indianapolis refund policy treats all students the same, whether Title IV Federal Aid is involved or not. The University's refund policy has been established to be consistent with the federal Return of Funds policy and after the 100 percent refund period (the first week of each semester) calculates institutional charges on a per diem basis up to the 60 percent point in the semester. Federal regulation mandates that during the first 60 percent of the term, a student incrementally "earns" Title IV funds. Financial aid that is considered "unearned" is returned to the appropriate source. The University policy treats nonfederal financial aid (including state, institutional, and outside scholarships that are disbursed through the Office of Financial Aid) in the same manner. To receive a 100 percent refund a student must withdraw by the end of the first week of the semester.
In 2002, the State Student Assistance Commission of Indiana (SSACI) implemented new refund policy guidelines for students receiving the Higher Education Award, Freedom of Choice Grant, 21st-Century Scholar Award, and part-time grant funds. To be eligible for these awards, a student must be enrolled at the end of the first four weeks of a semester. Hence, if a student completely withdraws from the University before the end of this four-week period, the student is not eligible for the state award and the University must return 100 percent of the semester's award to SSACI. If a student totally withdraws after the first four weeks of the semester, the University will determine how much, if any, of the state grant funds are "unearned" at the time of withdrawal and return the unearned funds to the state grant programs.
To summarize: When a student totally withdraws from the University it will be determined how much, if any, of the institutional charges will be refunded. Then it will be determined what amount, if any, of this refund must be returned to the federal Title IV financial aid programs. After the appropriate amount of funds are returned to the federal aid programs, it will be determined how much of the remaining refund, if any, must be returned to state, institutional, or private aid sources and/or the student.
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