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Dropping or Withdrawing from Class

We understand that unexpected events occur that may cause you to need to drop or withdraw from some or all of your courses.

Before dropping or withdrawing, it is important for you to consider how the decrease in credits will affect your awards.

You may owe funds back to PCC and/or the U.S. Department of Education.

Dropping or withdrawing may also have a negative impact on your Satisfactory Academic Progress.

BEFORE DROPPING OR WITHDRAWING FROM A CLASS

It is strongly recommended that you speak with a Student Services staff member prior to dropping or withdrawing from courses.

It is important to consider how this action might impact prerequisite sequences and your graduation timeline. Because of this, we also encourages you to speak with an academic advisor.

Here's some useful information in determining how dropping or withdrawing from a class could impact your future.

PCC Policies

Refunds

PCC's tuition and fees refund policy is separate from the federal regulations. Whether or not a student can receive a refund of tuition and fees has no bearing on the amount an aid recipient must repay to the federal aid programs for failure to complete the number of courses which they were paid to attend.

Contact the Student Accounts Office regarding tuition and fees refunds.

Federal Policies

Satisfactory Academic Progress

A student must maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress in order to continue to receive federal assistance.

If you received financial aid and dropped classes or withdrew from the term in which assistance was awarded, you may not be eligible to receive future aid from PCC.

Loan Deferment Status

When a student is enrolled in six or more credits in each term, the Federal Stafford and private education loans are in deferment status.

If the enrollment decreases to less than half-time (six credits), the grace period for these loans begins.

If after six months, you still are not enrolled in six or more credits, the loan(s) will go into repayment. You must contact your lender to make payment arrangements to avoid default.

If loans go into a defaulted status, you are not eligible to receive any federal financial aid until the loans are back in good standing.

Return of Title IV Aid

Title IV programs that fall under the Return of Title IV Aid calculation are

  • Federal Pell Grant
  • Federal SEOG
  • Federal Perkins Loan
  • Federal Subsidized Stafford Loan
  • Federal Unsubsidized Stafford Loan
  • Federal PLUS loans.

Even though Federal Work-Study is a Title IV program, it is exempt from the Return of Title IV calculation. You are able to keep all Federal Work-Study earnings up to the time of withdrawal, but will be ineligible to work after the withdrawal date.

Under the other Title IV programs, a student can only be paid for courses that are successfully completed.

If you fail to complete the number of credits you were paid to attend, PCC is required calculate the amount of Title IV financial aid that you did not earn. Any aid not earned must be repaid if the student completely withdraws (officially or unofficially) from school.

If you stop participating in the classes you enrolled in and receive all F and W grades, this is considered to an unofficial withdrawal. When you withdraw (officially or unofficially) during an enrollment period, the amount of Title IV program assistance that you have earned up to that point is determined by a specific formula.

  • If you received more assistance than you earned, you must repay the excess funds and are either returned to the Department of Education by Pima or you.
  • If you have received less assistance than the amount you earned, you may be able to receive additional funds.

    The amount of assistance that a student has earned is determined on a pro rata basis. For example, if you completed 30% of the enrollment period, you earned 30% of the financial aid you were originally scheduled to receive.

    • If you did not receive all of the funds that you earned, you may be eligible for additional aid disbursement (this is called a post-withdrawal disbursement).
    • If the post-withdrawal disbursement includes loan funds, you may choose to decline the loan funds so that you do not incur the additional debt.
    • PCC may automatically use all or a portion of post-withdrawal disbursements (including loan funds, if you accepted them) for tuition and fees. For any other school charges, PCC needs your permission to use the post-withdrawal disbursement.
    • If you do not give permission, you will be offered the funds. However, it may in your best interest to allow PCC to keep the funds to reduce your debt at the school.

    There are some Title IV financial aid funds that a student cannot earn once they withdraw. For example, if you are a first-time, first-year undergraduate student and you do not complete the first 30 days of your program before you withdraw, you will not earn any Federal Stafford loan funds that you would have received had you remained enrolled past the 30th day.

    If you receive Title IV program funds that must be returned, PCC must return a portion of the funds equal to the least amount of these two choices:

    • your institutional charges multiplied by the unearned percentage of your funds, or
    • the entire amount of funds.

    PCC must return this amount even if it did not keep this amount of your Title IV program funds. In this event, your student account will be billed for the amount you must return to PCC.

    If PCC is not required to return all of the unearned funds, you must return the remaining amount to the U.S. Department of Education. Any loan funds that must be returned must be repaid under the terms of the promissory note. Generally, this means scheduled payments to the lender over a period of time.

    Any amount of unearned grant funds that you must return is called an overpayment. The amount of a grant overpayment that you must repay is half of the unearned amount.

    You must make arrangements with PCC or the U.S. Department of Education to return the unearned grant funds. Details on how to do this are included in the letter mailed to you after the calculation is made.

    The requirements for Title IV program funds when you withdraw are separate from the PCC refund policy. You may still owe funds to the school to cover unpaid institutional charges. PCC may also charge you for any Title IV program funds that the school was required to return.

    A notification letter outlining the amount repaid will be mailed to your permanent address on file. PCC will repay the owed amounts to the appropriate federal programs on your behalf and will bill your account. You will receive a statement reflecting these charges.