Student Financial Services

Financial Aid Policies

Academic Progress
Withdrawal from Course (Refund Policy) 
Withdrawal from College (Refund Policy)
Dependency Appeal or Special Family Circumstances
Change in Financial Status After FAFSA has been Filed

Academic Progress

Statement of Policy

Federal and state regulations, as well as institutional policy, require that a student maintain satisfactory academic progress and remain in good academic standing in order to receive financial aid.  To comply with these regulations, Cedar Crest College has established the following Academic Progress Policy:

ACADEMIC PROGRESS

Quantitative Standards At the end of each academic year full-time students, those attempting at least 12 credits per semester, must have successfully completed a minimum of 24 credits. At the end of each academic year part-time students aided as three-quarter-time (those attempting 9 to 11 credits per semester) must complete a minimum of 18 credits; half-time students (those attempting 6 to 8 credits per semester) must complete a minimum of 12 credits; and less-than-half-time students (those attempting 3 to 5 credits) must complete a minimum of 6 credits.

• Grades of a “D” or higher are counted towards successfully completed credits.

• Repeat courses are not eligible to be counted as credits earned toward academic progress.  Repeat courses are defined as courses for which a student has already received academic credit.

Qualitative Standards To remain eligible to continue receiving federal and institutional financial aid, student must have a cumulative GPA of 2.00 at the end of the first academic year and maintain a cumulative GPA minimum of 2.00 thereafter.  Individual academic/merit scholarships have additional requirments for renewal.  Please consult scholarship requirements for indivicual renewal information. 

Evaluation Procedure
A student’s eligibility for financial aid will be reviewed after the end of each academic year.   The Student Financial Services Office will notify the student in writing of the decision to deny eligibility for aid as soon as the information needed to measure academic progress is available.  Full or part-time students are not required to maintain continuous enrollment to remain eligible for financial aid; however, students returning after a period of time will be reviewed for eligibility before financial aid is granted.

Options
A student who does not complete the required number of credits within the academic year, or does not attain the required cumulative GPA, has the following options:

• Complete the required number of credits and/or achieve the minimum GPA during a regular semester without receiving additional financial aid;

• Submit in writing an appeal to the academic progress and good standing requirement.  Appeals must be submitted in writing to the Director of Student Financial Services and will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.  Appeals can be submitted online at my.cedarcrest.edu.

*Please note that any appeal granted by Cedar Crest College to its Academic Progress and Good Standing Policy is not applicable to the Pennsylvania State Grant program.  A separate appeal process must be completed directly with the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency State Grant Division.

Maximum Time Frame
A student may receive aid for the equivalent of a maximum of eight full-time semesters while attending Cedar Crest College.  Special circumstances may be reviewed on a case-by-case basis in the event of extended study beyond the eighth semester.  The maximum time frame for receipt of federal Title IV funds is the equivalent of twelve semesters.  The Pennsylvania State Grant program has a maximum time frame of the equivalent of eight full-time semesters.

Withdrawal
Students who withdraw and are subject to a Title IV aid refund calculation and received overpayment are subject to the aforementioned progress requirements.  
 

Withdrawal from Course

Financial Refund Policy for Students Withdrawing from Course(s)
Full-time traditional students who drop below12 credits after the end of the drop/add period, based on enrollment in a course or in an accelerated course and failure to attend, will receive no adjustment to the full-time tuition charge and may be subject to an adjustment to financial aid and other charges. Lifelong Learning or part-time traditional students who drop during the drop/add period without replacing an equal number of credits in the same period, or who withdraw from courses after the end of the drop/add period, will receive an adjustment of tuition, fees (if applicable), and financial aid as required, based on the date of withdrawal, according to the following schedule:

Course Withdrawal Financial Refund Schedule
Students must use the College’s published requirement for notification of withdrawal in order to be subject to the College’s refund policy regarding tuition/fees/other charges. Information about withdrawal procedures can be found in the Academic Policies and Services section of the catalog or by contacting the Registrar’s office or Student Financial Services.

For Non-accelerated Courses

For Accelerated Courses: 6-9 Class Meetings

4-5 Class Meetings

2-3 Class Meetings

Withdrawal from College

Financial Refund Policies for Withdrawal/Separation from the College or Courses
It is a student’s responsibility to notify the College when it is necessary to withdraw from course enrollment (from individual courses or from all courses) for any reason. Withdrawal or Leave of Absence Notification can be made through the Registrar’s link at My.CedarCrest.edu on the College’s student web information system. Students must have a valid User ID and password to access this function. For additional information regarding Withdrawal or Leave of Absence procedures, please refer to the Academic Policies and Services section of the catalog. Students who withdraw from all courses during a semester or session, either by official notification to the College, or by failing to remain enrolled in courses as expected without notification to the College are considered to have Withdrawn/Separated from the College and are subject to the Financial Refund Policy for Students Withdrawing/Separating from the College.

If a student is withdrawing from individual courses during a semester, but will continue to be enrolled in remaining courses, or receives a letter grade for any course that session, they are not considered to have withdrawn or separated from the College and may be subject to a refund of individual course charges under the Financial Refund Policy for Students Withdrawing from Course(s). Assistance with the withdrawal process can be obtained through Academic Advising, the Registrar’s Office or Student Financial Services. Resident students must notify the Director of Residence Life whenever they plan to vacate a residence hall prior to the end of their contract period. Students who are withdrawn from the College or from housing for disciplinary reasons are not eligible for any refund, except pro-rated board, unless required by federal, state, or other regulations.

Financial Refund Policy for Students Withdrawing/Separating from the
College
Students withdrawing from the College (or from all classes) after the first day of the semester, but prior to the 60% point of the semester, will have all tuition, fees designated as refundable, and financial aid (federal Title IV funds, state funds and institutional aid) pro-rated based on the number of calendar days remaining in the semester. Calendar days are calculated as the number of calendar days completed out of the total number of calendar days in a semester, excluding scheduled semester breaks of five days or more. After the 60%point of the semester, no adjustment to tuition, fees or financial aid will be made. Resident students will receive a 90% refund if terminating their housing contract within the drop/add period (first week of the semester). After the close of the drop/add period, no refund of room charges will be made. Board charges (meal-plans) will be pro-rated to the 60%point of the semester and a pro-rata refund will be issued to the student. There is no refund of the Resident Communication Fee after the semester begins. Title IV financial aid recipients will have the unearned portion of financial aid (grants and/or loans) returned to the Title IV funding source, in accordance with the federal Return of Funds policy governing Title IV assistance.

Recipients of Title IV financial aid who are subject to a calculation of eligibility after withdrawal will have funds returned to Title IV programs in the following order, as applicable: Unsubsidized FFEL/Direct Stafford Loan, Subsidized FFEL/Direct Stafford Loan, Perkins Loan, FFEL/Direct PLUS (Graduate Student), FFEL/Direct PLUS (Parent), Pell Grant, Academic Competitiveness Grant (ACG), National SMART Grant, FSEOG, TEACH Grant, other Title IV assistance. Detailed Title IV policy regarding the adjustment of federal financial aid funds is available by request through Student Financial Services.

Dependency Appeal or Special Family Circumstances

Statement of Policy
Student Financial Services will review requests, from otherwise dependent applicants, to be considered independent for federal and institutional assistance on a case-by-case basis.

Federal Requirements for Independent Status
Federal regulations require that a student be able to answer “yes” to one of the following questions found on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) in order to be considered independently of parental information when applying for financial aid:

• Will you be 24 prior to January 1 of the current award year?
• Are you a veteran of the US Armed Forces?
• Will you be enrolled in a graduate or professional program (beyond a bachelor’s degree) in the coming academic year?
• Are you married?
• Are you an orphan or ward of the court, or were you a ward of the court until age 18? 
• Do you have legal dependents (other than a spouse)?  Please note:  In order to be considered as your dependent, you must provide more than half of the support for that person(s).

If a student does not meet one or more of the above mentioned requirements, an appeal must be filed with Student Financial Services.  The following circumstances are applicable for professional judgment and will be reviewed upon receipt of an appeal:

Living Circumstances

• Student has voluntarily or involuntarily been removed from the parents’ home due to an extreme situation that threatens the applicant’s health and/or safety.
• Incapacity of parent(s) in cases such as imprisonment, mental or physical illness or the inability of the applicant to locate parent(s).
• Other extenuating circumstances that can be sufficiently documented.

Federal Regulations specifically prohibit financial aid offices from approving dependency appeals for students on the basis of self-sufficiency alone.

Change in Financial Status After FAFSA has been Filed

If you or your family’s personal circumstances change please contact Student Financial Services to speak with a counselor.   The following are examples of circumstances that can be considered:

• Loss of Employment/Reduction of Income
• Loss of untaxed income or other benefits (i.e. child support, social security)
• Deduction of one-time payment (i.e. pension, IRA, annuities, settlement, etc)
• Separation or Divorce

Examples of income reduction that cannot be considered:

• Unusual expenses related to personal living (e.g. wedding expenses, credit card bills, home mortgage or school loan payments, car payments, legal expenses, other miscellaneous consumer item expenses).
• One year bonus incomes such as lottery or gambling winnings, pension payments.