Withdrawals, Refunds, and Repayments

General Information

If you receive federal or state grant funds, you must finalize your registration by the last day to receive a 100% refund. This is called our Census Date and the exact dates for each quarter are provided below. Up until the census date we adjust your grants to match your registration level. Federal and state rules do not allow us to adjust your Pell or Washington College grant after the census date.

Adding classes after the Census Date

We cannot increase your Pell or Washington College grant to reflect your actual registration after the census date.

Withdrawing from classes on or before the Census Date

Financial Aid recipients should finalize their quarterly class schedules before the Census Dates listed below to avoid financial aid repayments.  If you reduce your credits below the number we offered you aid for, we must adjust your grants down to reflect your reduced registration.

• You may owe a repayment if we already disbursed grant funds to you, and we notify you by mail (usually during the third week of the quarter).
• If dropping a class/es results in a refund, the refund is returned to the grant programs, and may reduce the amount you owe.

Refunds

Unless you withdraw from all your classes, financial aid students can generally expect to receive a refund of aid after a partial withdrawal.

Repayments

If you fail to complete any credits for a quarter in which you received financial aid, and you did not attend class up through the  60% of the quarter (see dates below), you may owe a repayment on some or all of the aid you received. A student has earned all of their aid after the 60% point of the quarter.  Instructors are required to report the Last Date of Attendance (LDA) for all students who receive a failing grade or stopped attending class. We use this date to determine if you owe a repayment, and the amount of the repayment.  This repayment requirement applies to all federal and state financial aid with the exception of Direct Student Loans in accordance with federal and state regulations and the college's refund policy.  For detailed information on the requirements related to repayments, see Withdrawing from Classes in the Financial Aid Forms Library.

Note:  If you stop attending class and/or attend class but earn no credits, the financial aid office must assume that you unofficially withdrew.  

If your last date of attendance is on or after the following dates, a financial aid repayment is not required:

Notification

We calculate repayments throughout the quarter as we become aware of withdrawals, and at the end of the quarter after grades are posted.  We send you a letter, which notifies you of the requirement to repay financial aid funds. You will receive a letter(s) from us notifying of any money you may owe to the U.S. Department of Education, WA State, or Shoreline Community College.