Return of funds
Policy on return of Title IV funds
Federal regulations require the college to have a fair and equitable refund policy for students receiving financial aid who officially or unofficially withdraw from all classes. See PCC’s refund policy for more information. Withdrawing (or stopping attendance) may result in financial debt for you and may also make you ineligible for future financial aid (including loans). We strongly urge you to consult with an academic advisor or counselor to help you with decisions about withdrawing.
Return of funds policy is not applicable to students eligible for financial aid based on ORSAA.
Financial consequences of withdrawal or passing no classes
Federal regulations assume that you earn financial aid over the course of a term by attending and participating in classes. You cannot earn all of your funds unless you maintain attendance and class participation for more than 60 percent of the term. This calculation counts all calendar days including the first and last day of each term, weekends and holidays. “No passed classes” is defined at PCC as W, NP, F, AUD and drops.
Attendance summaries by award year
The portion of financial aid grants and loans funded, excluding Federal Work Study, which must be returned to the financial aid accounts will be based on your:
- Date of withdrawal as determined by the college based on one of the following:
- The date that you complete and return the add/drop form, or
- The midpoint of the term, if you don’t officially withdraw, or
- A date documented by the college
- Percentage of the enrollment period earned:
- Divide the number of days attended by the number of days in the term (including weekends and holidays).
- Calculation of the portion of financial aid earned up to the 60 percent point in time:
- Subtract the percentage earned from 100 to determine the percentage unearned.
- If withdrawal occurs after the 60 percent date, you will have earned all of the financial aid received and no refund will be required.
- Multiply the total federal financial aid by the calculated percentage unearned. This reflects the total amount of unearned federal aid.
- Subtract the unearned amount of institutional costs from the total amount of unearned aid, and this will equal the amount of federal financial aid you will be responsible for repaying.
You will be notified by email showing that portion of unearned aid the school will refund from institutional costs and that portion you will be responsible to repay.
You will have 30 days from the date of this bill to pay in full the amount shown, or make arrangements with the Student Account Services for a payment plan. If you fail to pay the amount shown, or if you make arrangements for a payment plan but do not make your payments as scheduled, the balance will be turned over to collections.
Unearned financial aid will be applied in the following order.
- Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford Loan*
- Federal Direct Subsidized Stafford Loan*
- Federal Perkins Loan*
- Federal PLUS Loan*
- Federal Pell Grant**
- Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant**
- Other**
*Student repayment according to terms of the loan
**No more than fifty percent of the amount received by the student
Policies are applied to all students receiving Title IV (Federal Student Aid) funds.
Financial consequences of financial aid overpayments
A Financial Aid Overpayment may occur as a result of additional resources, such as scholarships, tuition waivers, agency benefits, or third party payments. In addition, a financial aid overpayment may occur due to dropped classes that result in a reduction of tuition charges. In these cases your financial aid may be reduced.