Dropping courses, especially after the last day of drop/add can affect many parts of Financial Aid.
There are time limits associated to how long a student is eligible to receive Pell grants and loans. Dropping courses will eventually cause you to be ineligible for federal aid. When a recipient of Title IV funds (Federal Direct Loans, Pell, FSEOG, etc.) withdraws from school or stops attending class before more than 60% of the course has been completed without notifying the institution (which ever date is earliest), the school is required to determine the actual amount of Title IV funds the student has earned based on the student's withdrawal date or last date of attendance/participating in the course(s). Students should always contact the Office of Financial Aid & Scholarships before withdrawing from a class to see how this might affect their financial aid along with reviewing both the Return of Title IV Funds policy and Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) policies as this will impact both.
Included below is more information of how your aid may be affected in this situation:
Satisfactory Academic Progress
Dropping a course or withdrawing from all of your courses after the end of the 100 percent refund period will result in a ‘W’ grade on your transcript for that particular term. This will negatively affect your completion rate (67% Completion Ratio). Financial Aid expects that you will satisfactorily complete the courses for which aid was provided. A dropped or failed course adversely affects your pace percentage because it is an attempted course, but not completed.
See the SAP Policy at: wichita.edu/finaidforms.
Pell, TEACH and Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity (FSEOG) Grants
Federal student aid regulations for the Pell Grant, the TEACH Grant, and the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG) require recipients to begin attendance by establishing academically related activity in all courses for which Wichita State University disbursed these federal grant aid funds.
If the Office of Financial Aid is unable to verify that you began attendance in one or more of your scheduled courses, or if we receive notification from your instructor(s) that you did not attend, we are required to reduce or cancel applicable federal grant funds to remain in compliance with federal regulations.
If you believe you academically engaged in the course(s), you must ask the instructor for each affected course to provide confirmation to our office. Once attendance or academic engagement is confirmed, we will review your eligibility and reinstate any federal grant funds.
Loans
Dropping or withdrawing from a course(s) may also reduce your federal loan eligibility if your enrolled hours fall below full-time status.
Scholarships
Most scholarships require full-time enrollment of 12 credit hours to maintain eligibility. Students who drop below full-time enrollment will have their scholarships automatically withdrawn.
If your scholarship was awarded through your academic college and you had extenuating circumstances, please contact your Scholarship Coordinator. You will find a list of Scholarship Coordinators by Academic College here.
If you received a merit scholarship and had extenuating circumstances beyond your control that may hinder your abilities to meet the scholarship requirements, please contact the Office of Financial Aid.
VA Benefits
Please refer to wichita.edu/veterans to find forms needed by Wichita State University’s Military & Veteran Services office for more information about how your aid may be affected by dropping a class when using VA Benefits.
Be certain that you have exhausted all tutoring opportunities that our school provides you before you drop a class that financial aid has helped you pay for. Occasionally dropping a course is reasonable, but consistently taking this action in consecutive terms will cause you to fail Financial Aid Satisfactory Academic Progress and will put you on a path of warning and ultimately suspension from receiving financial aid. You will have an opportunity to appeal; however, this is usually stressful and not something you want to pursue.
Students are always encouraged to speak with both an Academic Advisor and the Office of Financial Aid prior to dropping a course or withdrawing from all their classes to identify how this will impact them both financially and academically.
Additional information regarding withdrawing or dropping classes can be obtained at wichita.edu/finaidforms or in the Office of Financial Aid & Scholarships.
For more information and to familiarize yourself with our Financial Aid Terms & Conditions, including withdrawal information, please view the Withdrawal Policy at https://www.wichita.edu/administration/financial_aid/FinaidWithdrawalPolicy.php.