After You've Been Awarded

Are you Registered for the Right Number of Credits?

Students must be registered for the appropriate number of credits each quarter in order to receive their financial aid funds. What is the appropriate number of credits? All initial financial aid awards are based on full-time enrollment of 12 or more credits.

Students who do not plan to take 12 or more credits should contact the Financial Aid Office immediately after they have finished their registration to inform us that they will be taking fewer than 12 credits. We will then review your aid award to determine if we are required by Federal and/or state regulations to reduce your aid to reflect your reduced credit level.

Students who register for fewer than 12 credits and do not contact the Financial Aid Office immediately after registration are likely to experience delays in receiving their financial aid funds.

Financial Aid Enrollment Cutoff Date

Your enrollment level on the 5th class day will be your financial aid enrollment level. Example: if you drop from full time to less than fulltime within the first 5 class days, without replacing the credits, your aid will be reduced to your enrollment level at the end of the 5th class day. A drop in enrollment level will result in your owing a repayment of federal and/or institutional funds.

Will You Owe Any Money Out-of-Pocket for your Tuition & Fees?

In accordance with federal regulations, financial aid pays students' accounts no earlier than 10 days prior to the beginning of a quarter. Because you are an awarded financial aid student you will receive a hold on your classes within 5 calendar days after you have registered. You will not be dropped for non-payment, unless the total of your grants are less than tuition & fees and you do not pay the balance.

If the total of your grants is less than your tuition and fee charges, you must pay the difference to the cashier by the tuition due date.

If the total of your grants is greater than your tuition and fee charges, you will receive a Financial Aid check for any Financial Aid funds that remain after your tuition and fees are paid.

Work-study funds are not available at the beginning of the quarter. They must be earned. See the description of the work-study program under "Types of Aid Available."

If you have an outside scholarship, a private educational loan, or an educational loan from your home state that you are counting on to pay all or part of your tuition, and the funds do not arrive by the tuition due date, please contact the Financial Aid Office for assistance.

Financial Aid Check Disbursement

Students who are eligible for financial aid checks (i.e., students whose financial aid grants exceeds their tuition and fees costs) can receive their checks on the second day of each quarter provided they:

1. Registered for a full-time credit load at least one week prior to the first class day. OR
2. Registered for less than a full-time credit load and notified the Financial Aid Office at least one week prior to the first day of classes.
3. Were awarded financial aid at least one week prior to the first class day.
4. Met all Satisfactory Academic Progress requirements during their last quarter of attendance.
5. Have photo I.D.
6. Have an Attendance Verification form signed and dated by all of their instructors. Attendance Verification forms are available in the Financial Aid Office.

Students who do not meet all of the above conditions may experience a delay in receiving their checks. These students should contact the Financial Aid after they have completed their registration to inquire about when their checks will be ready.

If you are a distance learning student who does not attend any classes on the Seattle Central campus and are eligible to receive a financial aid check, please contact Yongja Fischer, Program Coordinator, at (206) 587-3865 or at yfisch@sccd.ctc.edu so we can arrange for you to receive your check.

Repayment of Financial Aid Funds

Students who formally or informally withdraw from all of their classes on or after the first day of the quarter, and students who complete zero credits, may owe a repayment of a portion of the financial aid funds they received for the quarter. This policy does not apply to work-study earnings.

How the Date of Withdrawal is Determined

The date of withdrawal used to determine whether or not a student owes a repayment of financial aid funds, and the amount of the repayment, is determined by:

For students in programs in which an outside entity requires attendance to be taken:

• The last day the student attended a class

For all other students:

• The date the student notified the Registrar's Office of the intent to withdraw OR
• If the student did not notify the Registrar's Office of the intent to withdraw, the last date of attendance is determined as follows:
1. If no instructors reported a last day of attendance to the Registrar's Office, it will be assumed that the student completed 50% of the quarter.
2. If all instructors reported a last day of attendance to the Registrar's Office, the latest date a student attended a class will be used as the last date of attendance.
3. If one or more, but not all, instructors reported a last day of attendance to the Registrar's Office, the latest date of attendance reported will be used if that date is past the 50% point of the quarter. If the latest date is not past the 50% point of the quarter, the 50% point will be used as the last date of attendance.

Institutional Refund Policy

When students completely withdraw from their classes during the 100% or 50% refund period, tuition and allowable fees are reduced by the amount of the institutional refund. For example, if a student makes a complete withdrawal during an 50% refund period, the student's tuition and allowable fees are reduced by 50%.
Institutional refunds will be used to repay financial aid funds in the following order: 1) Pell Grant, 2) Academic Competiveness Grant, 3) Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant, 4) Tuition Waiver Grant, 5) Washington State Need Grant, and 6) SCCC Grant.

How the Repayment Amount is Determined

Under the federal government's new "Return of Title IV Funds" policy, students are considered to have "earned" the percentage of their Title IV aid (e.g., Federal Pell Grant, ACG, and Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant) that equals the percentage of the quarter completed in calendar days. For example, if a student completely withdraws from classes after completing 10% of the quarter, that student has "earned" 10% of the Title IV aid that was used to pay tuition and fees. The other 90% of the financial aid is considered "unearned."

Students who complete zero credits but did not formally withdraw from their classes are considered to have earned 50% of their Title IV aid.

Students who complete 60% or more of the quarter prior to withdrawing are considered to have earned 100% of their Title IV aid, and therefore no repayment amount is calculated.

Total Repayment Amount

Percentage of "Unearned" Aid X The Amount of Title VI Aid Received =>Total Repayment Amount

The total repayment amount is determined by multiplying the percentage of "unearned" aid by the amount of Title IV aid received.

Once the total repayment amount has been calculated, the next step is to determine the following:

• The school's share of the repayment amount
• The student's share of the repayment amount
• The amount a student must pay to Cashiering for tuition and fees as a result of the school's share of the repayment

School's Share of the Repayment

The Lesser Of: (Percentage of "Unearned" Aid X Tuition and Fee Charges)OR(The total Repayment Amount)

The school's share of the repayment is determined by multiplying the percentage of "unearned" aid by the amount of the student's tuition and fee charges for the quarter.

If the school's share of the repayment is equal to or less than the amount of Title IV aid used to pay tuition and fees, the repayment will be made using the Title IV funds that paid tuition and fees. If the school's share of the repayment is greater than the amount of Title IV aid used to pay tuition and fees, any amount owing in excess of the Title IV aid that paid tuition and fees will be paid by the school using institutional funds.

Student's Share of the Repayment

Title IV grant funds initial repayment amount - Title IV grant funds initial repayment amount - The schools share of the repayment - 50% X Title IV grant aid that was and could have been disbursed = Student's Share of the Repayment

The student's share of the repayment is determined by subtracting the schools share from the total initial repayment amount. Then determining the Title IV grant protection by finding the total federal aid that was and could have been disbursed and multiplying by 50%, then subtract the protected amount. From your previous calculation to determine the students share of the repayment.

Students who owe a "student's share of the repayment" will receive a bill from the Financial Aid Office and must make their payment to the Financial Aid Office. Until the bill is paid or satisfactory payment arrangements are made, the student will not be allowed to register for classes. After 45 days without either a full repayment or a satisfactory repayment agreement, the debt will be reported to a federal financial aid data base.

Students May Owe a Balance at Cashiering

School's Share of the Repayment = Institutional Refund - Balance Owed at Cashiering

If Title IV aid paid all or a portion of tuition and fees and the school's share of the repayment is greater than the amount of the institutional refund, the student will owe a balance at Cashiering.

Students who owe a balance to Cashiering for their tuition and fees will be billed by the Business Office. Until the bill is paid, students will not be able to register for classes or obtain copies of their academic transcripts.

If Title IV aid paid all or a portion of tuition and fees and the school's share of the repayment is less than or equal to the amount of the institutional refund, the remainder of the institutional refund will be used to repay other financial aid funds in the following order: Tuition Waiver Grant, Washington State Need Grant, SCCC Grant.

Repayment of Washington State Need Grant (WSNG)

School's Share of the Repayment

The school will make a repayment to WSNG if WSNG was used to pay all or a portion of tuition and fees and the school's share of any Title IV repayment is less than the amount of the institutional refund.

Student's Share of the Repayment

The student repayment amount for WSNG funds is determined by subtracting the student's share of the Title IV repayment and the amount the student owes to cashiering for tuition and fees from the amount of aid "unearned" for non-institutional costs, then multiplying the answer by 50%.

The amount of aid "unearned" for non-institutional costs is determined by multiplying the percentage of the enrollment period the student did not complete by the "cost of attendance" figure used by the school for room/board, books/supplies, transportation, and personal expenses. "Cost of attendance" figures are available in our financial aid application packets and on this website

Exception to the "Repayment of Financial Aid Funds" Policy

If a student whose tuition and fees are paid in full withdraws from all of his/her classes after 60% of the quarter (in calendar days) has passed, the "Return of Title IV Funds" policy does not apply. The student will not owe a repayment to the Financial Aid Office, nor will he/she owe the Cashiering for a portion of tuition and fees.

For the 2007-2008 year, the first day financial aid recipients can make a complete withdrawal and not owe a repayment of financial aid funds is:

Post-Withdrawal Disbursements

Students who are eligible to receive Title IV aid, but who did not receive their aid prior to making a complete withdrawal, may be eligible to receive a disbursement of financial aid funds, even though they have withdrawn. This is referred to as a "post-withdrawal disbursement." To be eligible to receive a post-withdrawal disbursement, students must have a complete financial aid file in the Financial Aid Office and meet all eligibility requirements. Students who are eligible to receive a post-withdrawal disbursement will be notified in writing by the Financial Aid Office and will have 14 days to respond to the notice.

Examples

Examples of repayment calculations for both Title IV aid (Pell, ACG, and SEOG) and Washington State Need Grant (WSNG) are available in the Financial Aid Office.