To see the full written policy, please go to Financial Aid Form (through Quick Links to the left).

In basic terms, a student is required to complete the semester for which s/he is enrolled. If the student completely withdraws from the university and receives financial aid, an adjustment must be made to the financial aid based on the percentage of time the student was enrolled.

If the student withdraws before 60% of the semester has been completed, then federal financial aid (including Federal Pell Grant, Federal SEOG, Academic Competitiveness Grant, National SMART Grant, Federal Perkins Loans, Federal Stafford Loans and Federal PLUS Loans, but not Federal Work-Study) must be adjusted.

If the student completes at least 60% of the semester, s/he is said to have earned 100% of the financial assistance that was received, so no adjustments are made to federal financial aid. For the Fall 2009 semester, the date that your financial aid will no longer be adjusted is November 5, 2009. If you withdraw from the University (either officially or unofficially) before November 5, 2009, you may have to repay some of the federal monies that were already disbursed to you. Please note that withdrawing from the university will have an effect on your future financial aid eligibility. See the previous section on Maintaining Financial Aid Eligibility.

Your withdrawal date will be determined by the University as:

1. The date you began the University’s withdrawal process (as described in the Schedule of Classes) or the date you officially notified the Registrar of your intent to withdraw;
2. The midpoint of the semester if you withdraw without notifying the University; or
3. Your last date of attendance at an academically-related activity as documented by the University.

The Registrar’s Office notifies the Office of Financial Aid of the official withdrawal date.

Financial aid which must be returned is calculated and then appropriated the following way:

1. Unsubsidized Federal Stafford Loan*
2. Subsidized Federal Stafford Loan*
3. Federal Perkins Loan
4. Federal PLUS Loan
5. Federal Pell Grant**
6. Academic Competitiveness Grant (ACG)
7. National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent (SMART) Grant
8. Federal SEOG Grant**
9. Other Federal Aid
10. PHEAA Grant
11. Other Aid

*Loan amounts are returned in accordance with the terms of the promissory note signed by the student

**Amounts to be returned by the student to federal grant programs will receive a 50% discount.

Once the withdrawal has taken place and a date is entered by the Registrar’s Office, the Office of Financial Aid will process the calculation necessary to determine the amounts of aid to be returned (if the date is before the 60% date). The Office of Financial Aid cannot estimate if the student will owe money back to the university. We must wait until the student withdraws and once that withdrawal date is entered, we process the calculation.

In general, if financial aid fully covered a student’s billed charges at the university and no adjustments are made to his/her bill at the time of withdrawal and money needs to be returned, then the student will owe money back to the university.

If the student had to make a payment to cover the remainder of the bill or receives a percentage of his/her billed charges (tuition, fees, room, meal plan), then s/he may or may not owe money back to the university.

To determine if there will be adjustments to charges for the semester in which the student withdraws, please see the Bursar’s Office webpage regarding Refunds.

Our recommendation is that the student can contact the Office of Financial Aid usually about 2 weeks after s/he has officially withdrawn from the university to check on the amount of financial aid that was returned and if there is a balance due to the university.

If a balance is owed to the university, the Bursar’s Office will send a bill to the student requiring payment. The student will not be permitted to re-register with the university until the balance has been paid. For questions about billing or payments to the university because of withdrawing, the student should contact the Bursar’s Office directly at 717-872-3641.

The following policy applies for those students who receive a PA State Grant and change enrollment status [full-time (12 or more credits), part-time (6-11 credits), or less than half-time (1-5 credits)] or completely withdraw from the University during the first 5 weeks of classes:

If a student initially enrolls in classes but withdraws, drops credits, takes a leave of absence, or is terminated (suspended or dismissed) prior to the end of the term, a refund to PHEAA of all or a portion of the PA State Grant may be required.

When a student (full-time or part-time) withdraws or drops to less than half-time (or otherwise ceases to be eligible for State Grant aid) before the end of the term and before State Grant funds have been credited, the student is not eligible for any portion of the term disbursement, regardless of the date on which the student withdrew. Similarly, an increase in the award for the term cannot be credited after the student has withdrawn or dropped to less than half-time status during the term.

When a student drops from full-time enrollment (12 or more credits) to part-time (6-11 credits) after State Grant funds have been credited and during the drop period, the PA State Grant must be adjusted to the part-time award amount. The overpayment of the State Grant must be returned to PHEAA by the University.

If State Grant funds have not been credited, then the amount of the award will be based on the enrollment at the time the funds are awarded.

When a student drops from part-time (6-11 credits) to less than half-time (1-5 credits) or completely withdraws from the University after State Grant funds have been credited and during the drop period, a percentage of the monies must be returned to PHEAA based on the following refund calculations:

If a student changes enrollment status or completely withdraws from the University on or after October 2, 2009, the PA State Grant (PHEAA) will not be adjusted. Please note that changing enrollment status or withdrawing from the university will have an effect on your future financial aid eligibility for the PA State Grant. See Maintaining Financial Aid Eligibility.