Return of Title IV Refund Policy

Federal student aid funds are awarded to you, a student, under the assumption that you will attend school for the entire period for which the assistance is awarded. When you withdraw, you may no longer be eligible for the full amount of federal aid that you were originally scheduled to receive. The federal aid programs that are covered by this law are: Federal Pell Grants, Stafford loans, PLUS loans, and Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants.

When you withdraw or stop attending classes during your enrollment (payment) period, the amount of federal aid that you have earned up to that point is determined by a specific formula. If you received less aid than the amount you earned, you may be able to receive those additional funds. If you received more aid than you earned, the excess funds must be returned. You are responsible for the amount of aid the College is required to repay under the Federal Refund provisions, and will not be eligible for future aid until arrangements have been made to pay.

The amount of aid that you earned is determined on a pro-rated basis. For example, if you completed 30% of your payment period (or period of enrollment), you earn 30% of the aid you were originally scheduled to receive. Once you have completed more than 60% of the payment period (or period of enrollment), you earn all the aid that you were scheduled to receive for that period.

If you did not receive all of the aid that you earned, you may be due a post-withdrawal disbursement. If the post-withdrawal disbursement includes loan funds, you may choose to decline the funds, so you do not incur additional debt. The College will automatically use all or a portion of the post-withdrawal disbursement to cover any unpaid charges on your student account.

Official Withdrawals

If you officially withdraw from all classes, the Financial Aid Office will use the date of the withdrawal in the Federal Refund Calculation. If you withdraw from classes at different times, the Financial Aid Office will use the withdrawal date of the last class from which you withdrew. The Federal Refund Calculation will determine how much of your financial aid must be returned to the Department of Education.

Unofficial Withdrawals

If you receive all “F” grades, or a combination of all “F”, “W”, or “NP” grades, the College must assume that you have unofficially withdrawn from the College. Instructors are required to enter a last date of attendance when submitting these grades. The latest last date of attendance for the “F”, “W”, and/or “NP” grades will be used in the Federal Refund Calculation.

Once it is determined how much federal aid must be returned, the funds will be returned in the following order as required:

• Federal Unsubsidized Stafford Loan
• Federal Subsidized Stafford Loan
• Federal PLUS Loan
• Federal Pell Grant
• Federal Supplemental Opportunity Grant
• Iraq Afghanistan Service Grant

If you have questions about withdrawing from the College and the impact on your financial aid you are encouraged to contact the Financial Aid Office at the number listed below.

Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy for Financial Aid

The Office of Financial Aid is required by federal regulation to monitor each student's progress toward completion of a degree. Each student must maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) in order to be eligible for financial aid. Being eligible to enroll in classes does not mean the student has an eligible Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) status for financial aid.

Academic records are reviewed for all students receiving financial aid or being considered for financial aid from the following sources:

• Federal Pell Grant
• Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant
• Federal Work Study Program
• Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Gran
• Nebraska Opportunity Grant
• Federal Direct Loan Program (Subsidized and Unsubsidized)
• Federal Direct Parent PLUS Loan
• Other programs as determined by the Office of Financial Aid

The review of a student’s SAP status is based on the entire academic record, even if the student did not receive financial aid for previous terms of enrollment. This includes developmental courses taken at SCC, incomplete courses, withdrawals and repetitions.  Transfer credit hours accepted by the college will be brought into the SAP calculation as completed credits.

After each term ends, a student’s Satisfactory Academic Progress is calculated and posted as a notification on his/her HUB account. Students are notified via their SCC email account if they are not meeting minimum SAP requirements.

Students will be considered to have an eligible SAP status if they have a:

• a cumulative grade point average of 2.0 or higher,
• a cumulative completion rate (pace) of at least 66.7% of total credit hours attempted (see chart A), and
• have not exceeded 150% of attempted credits required for program completion (see chart B).

Financial Aid Satisfactory Academic Progress Statuses –

Financial Aid Warning

A student who has not completed at least 66.7% of the total attempted credit hours(see Chart A), or is below the minimum 2.0 cumulative grade point average (CGPA) is placed on Warning. The student has one term to correct the deficiencies in SAP. The student continues to be eligible for financial aid and is encouraged to seek tutoring or other support services for help.

Chart A

The total number of attempted credit hours are multiplied by 0.667 to obtain the minimum hours that the student must have completed successfully. For example:

Based on this chart, if a student has attempted 24 credit hours he/she must have successfully completed at least 16.01 credits. This cannot be rounded to 16 credits.

If a student does not attain SAP during the warning term, the student will be suspended from financial aid.

Maximum Timeframe

To remain eligible for financial aid, a student must make sufficient progress to graduate within 150% of the attempted credit hours required for their program (see Chart B).

If the degree is not completed within the timeframe allowed, the student becomes ineligible for federal financial aid.

Example: A student’s program requires 90 credit hours to complete. The student has attempted 135 credit hours but still has 12 credit hours to take before completing the program. The student will not be eligible for federal student aid for the remaining 12 credit hours.

Financial Aid Suspension

If a student has not corrected all the deficiencies in SAP after one term of warning, or if a student has reached the maximum timeframe, the student becomes ineligible for financial aid.

Reinstatement of Financial Aid / Right to Appeal –

A student who is ineligible for financial aid can become eligible for financial aid again by fulfilling one of the following conditions:

• Achieve a cumulative grade point average of 2.0 or higher, and/or obtain a cumulative completion rate of at least 66.7% of total credit hours attempted.
• Successfully appeal the ineligible status by demonstrating unforeseen, documentable extenuating circumstances and detailing why he/she failed to maintain SAP and what has changed in his/her situation allowing him/ her to achieve SAP at the next evaluation.

A student with unforeseen, documentable, extenuating circumstances who has been denied financial aid may appeal in writing by obtaining a SAP Appeal Form from the Financial Aid Office or online. The student must submit the appeal and documentation explaining why the SAP standards were not met. The appeal and supporting documentation must be submitted before the appeal deadline for that term. The Financial Aid Office will respond to the student via his/her SCC email account regarding the appeal. Only information submitted with the initial appeal will be considered.

For those students who are appealing because they have exceeded the maximum timeframe, the appeals committee will consider classes taken toward a second Associate’s degree, transfer credits and developmental courses.

The decision made by the Appeals Committee is final. There is no provision for a secondary appeal.

Financial Aid Probation

If a student’s appeal is approved, he/she will be placed on financial aid “Probation”. While on Probation, the student may receive financial aid for one payment period. In order to be eligible for subsequent payment periods, the student must meet the terms of the appeal. For all Probation students this includes:

• Successfully completing all the courses attempted during the enrollment period with no withdrawals from classes.
• Maintaining a term GPA of 2.0 or higher.
• Follow the academic plan that was submitted with his/her appeal.

In addition, for students who are on Probation due to the maximum timeframe rule, the student must:

• Complete the degree within four periods of enrollment;
• Follow the academic plan that was submitted with his/her appeal.

Additional requirements may be listed on the appeal approval notice.

Reinstatement of Financial Aid / student does not file an Appeal or Appeal is denied

Students who are ineligible can become eligible for financial aid by eliminating all academic deficiencies in their Satisfactory Academic Progress. These requirements are:

• Achieve the required cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of 2.0 or better, and
• Satisfactorily complete enough credit hours to have a pace of completion of 66.7% or higher (see Chart A)

Students will be monitored at the end of each enrollment period for minimum SAP requirements and will have their SAP set to satisfactory status once these requirements have been met. Students will be notified via their SCC email account and are encouraged to apply for federal aid.

Subsequent periods of Financial Aid Warning, Appeal and Financial Aid Probation

Currently, SCC policy allows students to appeal financial aid suspension more than once.  The subsequent appeal must be based on extenuating circumstances preventing the student from being successful and the extenuating circumstances must be different from prior appeals.

Other Factors that may Affect Financial Aid –

Developmental Hours

A student is limited to taking 45 developmental credit hours while receiving federal financial aid. Federal financial aid programs will not cover any developmental courses taken after reaching the maximum 45 hours. These courses include but are not limited to any course level beginning with a zero, i.e. MATH-0900, MATH-0950, ENGL-0850, and ENGL-0950. Development courses that are no longer available are still included in determining the 45 developmental credit hour limit.

Repeated Courses

Students may receive financial aid for repeating courses. However, if retaking a previously passed course, financial aid can only be used for one repeat of the course even if the second attempt results in a lower grade. Any courses that are repeated will be used in the calculation of a student’s Satisfactory Academic Progress status. Each repetition will count towards the attempted hours; however, only the course(s) being counted in the CGPA calculation will be counted in completed hours for SAP. Limits on repeated courses are outlined in the college catalog.

Consortium Agreement

Credits earned at another institution under a Consortium Agreement will be used to determine enrollment status for the awarding of federal financial aid. Such courses will be treated in the determination of academic progress as if they were transfer credits. In the case of a Consortium Agreement, the SAP evaluations are performed based on SCC’s schedule instead of the schedule of the host school.

Transfer Credits

Transfer Students – when a student transfers credit from another school to a SCC program, all credits transferred in will be considered for SAP

All information is subject to change based on changes to federal law, regulation, or college policy and procedure. If changes are made, students must abide by the new policy.