Withdrawing from classes and/or from school may have impacts with regards to charges, institutional aid and federal aid. The purpose of this section is to help you understand the difference between the institutional and federal policies and the consequences withdrawing may have upon your account and financial aid.

APU Institutional Withdrawal and Tuition Refund Policy

APU’s institutional withdrawal policy is independent of, and in no way contingent upon, the federal government’s policy that must always be considered when a student totally withdraws from classes. 

Students Making Class Changes

Students may add and/or drop classes until the last day to add or drop; these dates are listed on the Academic Calendar. After the final drop deadline, there will be no refunds given for class withdrawals.

APU realizes that extenuating circumstances may sometimes impact a student’s ability to complete the semester. After a student begins attendance in a term and then stops attending all of his or her classes during the term, depending on the circumstances, it may be classified as a “withdrawal,” “leave of absence,” or “dismissal” from the university. For the purpose of charges assessed and financial aid eligibility listed below, a leave of absence and a dismissal will be handled the same as a withdrawal from the university. 

Official Process: Withdrawal or Leave of Absence

Contact the Student Services Center. Before ceasing attendance during the term, students are advised to consider how much they might be charged, how much financial aid they might receive, and how not completing courses might impact their ability to receive financial aid in future years (see the Satisfactory Academic Progress policy). 

The Student Services Center (SSC) Registrar’s office is responsible for the official withdrawal and leave of absence process from APU. Students with financial aid will have the opportunity to talk with a Student Account Specialist regarding the effect withdrawing will have upon their current aid eligibility. The process begins by completing the entire Leave of Absence or University Withdrawal Form, also available at APU’s Student Services Center (SSC), and securing all the necessary signatures requested.

Withdrawal- Tuition Refund Calculation

Students may drop a class until the last day to register or add/drop classes to receive 100% tuition refund. In the event a student officially withdraws from a class, APU’s refund of tuition will be made as follows (exceptions noted in separate tables):

Graduate and Professional

• Through the last day to register or add/drop - 100% refund
• After deadline, up to 24% of session - 90% refund
• 25-29% of session - 50% refund
• 40-59% of session - 25% refund
• 60% of the session or greater - 0% refund

Note: Tuition deposits and application fees are not refunded under any circumstances.

For students who are residing in the state of Oregon while enrolled in a program via distance education, refund of tuition will be made as follows:

Note: Tuition deposits and application fees are not refunded under any circumstances.

Traditional Undergraduate

If a student drops a class on or before the drop deadline, no tuition will be charged for that class. After the drop deadline, if a student withdraws from one or more classes but is still attending other classes, the student will be charged tuition for all classes (including the withdrawals). However, in the event a student officially withdraws from all classes after the drop deadline, charges and financial aid will be calculated as follows:

Tuition

Other charges

• Fees: not refundable

• Room: prorated weekly, based on the 16-week term

• Board (meal plans): prorated weekly, based on the 16-week term

Withdrawals and Institutional Financial Aid

Traditional Undergraduate

• Prior to 60% of the term: prorated per day (assuming the student has completed all requirements, the admission file and financial aid file are complete, and all loan application steps have been completed prior to the last date of attendance). On extremely rare occasions, the university will decide to reduce or remove a student’s tuition. When this happens, the university also reserves the right to reduce or remove the institutional aid that was awarded.

• On or after 60% of the term the student will receive full institutional financial aid (assuming the student has completed all requirements, the admission file and financial aid file are complete, and all loan application steps have been completed prior to the last date of attendance). On extremely rare occasions, the university will decide to reduce or remove a student’s tuition. When this happens, the university also reserves the right to reduce or remove the institutional aid that was awarded.

All Careers

Departmental Scholarships / Grants:  When a student withdraws, institutional financial aid may be adjusted at the discretion of the departments awarding the scholarship funds. If a student believes that extenuating circumstances warrant an exception from published policy, the student must submit a written appeal to the Student Services Center.

Return of Financial Aid—Federal Government Policy

The federal government awards Title IV financial aid with the assumption that a student will complete the courses for which aid is received. If a student receives a federal aid disbursement but fails to begin at least half-time attendance for the term, the student is not eligible for the aid. If a student withdraws or stops attending all courses in their term or does not complete all the sessions of a modular course schedule (e.g. Fall 1 and Fall 2), in some cases the student only earns a portion of the financial aid already received. APU is required by federal regulations to use a prescribed formula to calculate the earned and unearned portion of financial aid received, and then return the unearned aid back to the federal government.

The following formula is used to determine earned and unearned aid:

Percent earned = number of calendar days completed up to the withdrawal date divided by total calendar days in the term (less any scheduled breaks that are at least 5 days long)

Percent unearned = 100% minus percent earned as calculated above

If the student has attended long enough to earn 60% or more of the aid, no further calculation is needed and all the aid for the term is retained. If less than 60% was earned, APU is required to return a percentage of the unearned aid.

Modular Term Return Policy

The U.S. Department of Education has specific regulations that govern the return calculation for students enrolled in modular courses. Modular courses are defined as those that do not span the entire length of the term and are offered sequentially rather than concurrently (although it is possible for modules to overlap). At APU, Fall 1 and Fall 2 sessions, and others similar in structure, would be considered modules for financial aid purposes.

Regulations require the entire period and combination of modular courses to be considered when determining the portion of financial aid that has been earned by a student who withdraws. The student is considered withdrawn when they fail to complete the scheduled enrollment. At this point, the percentage of completion is calculated by dividing the number of completed days by the number of days the student was scheduled to attend. Scheduled breaks of at least five days are omitted from the calculation. The fact that a student completes at least one course is not a valid reason for bypassing the calculation.

A student who withdraws from a current module but provides written confirmation of plans to return and attend a future module that begins within 45 days of the end of the current module is considered to still be enrolled.

If the student provides written confirmation but then fails to attend a future module, the student is considered withdrawn from the initial date of the original module.

If the student withdraws without a written confirmation to attend in the future but returns during the same period, the student is able to receive all funds for which the student has eligibility according to their current enrollment status.

Return of Aid Withdrawal Exceptions

In some cases, a student who has withdrawn (officially or unofficially) may qualify for a Return of Aid Withdrawal Exception in the following scenarios. Adjustments to Pell Grant and other institutional aid may still be required based on actual enrollment.

• A student completed all the requirements for graduation from their program before the term ended

• A student enrolls in the 8-week 1 and 8-week 2 modules (sessions) for a given term. They earn (a) passing grade(s) in 8-week 1 module but withdraw or fail to attend 8-week 2 module

• A student successfully completed coursework equal to half time for the term and withdrew or failed to attend the other courses

In some cases, if a student withdraws from all courses in a traditional 16-week term or doesn’t complete all the sessions of a modular (sequential) course schedule, the student only earns a portion of the financial aid already received. APU is required by federal law to use a prescribed formula to calculate the unearned portion of the financial aid received and return it to the federal government’s Title IV programs.

Treatment of Unofficial Withdrawals

If a student fails to officially withdraw and receives a combination of all Fs, FNs, INs, and NCs as grades for the semester, the U.S. Department of Education considers the student to have unofficially withdrawn from classes. APU is required to investigate and determine when the student actually last attended class, and then perform the required R2T4 calculation. If the date of withdrawal cannot be confirmed, the R2T4 calculation is computed using a 50-percent completion rate. This process is usually completed well after the end of the semester, once grades are submitted.

Military Tuition Assistance Return Policy

The Department of Defense memorandum of understanding requires that the university “have an institutional policy that returns any unearned Tuition Assistance (TA) funds on a proportional basis through at least the 60 percent portion of the period for which the funds were provided. TA funds are earned proportionally during an enrollment period, with unearned funds returned based upon when a student stops attending.” In accordance with that requirement, the university TA funds return policy is as follows:

Between the start date of a course and up to the add/drop date of that course (as defined by the academic calendar), the university will refund 100% of TA funds back to the respective military department if a student drops from a course for which TA funds were used to pay tuition. After the add/drop date and prior to the 61 percent point, “earned” TA funds are prorated on a per-day basis. For example, if a student has $100 in TA funds applied to their account for a course and completes 14 days of a 60-day course (23 percent), then the student is considered to have earned $23. The remaining $77 would be returned. The student’s withdrawal date is calculated in accordance with the institution’s withdrawal date definitions for federal R2T4 purposes. After the 60 percent point in a class, a student is considered to have “earned” all TA funds and no return is made.

Note: Any return of aid request from one of the branches of the Armed Forces will supersede the institutional return policy. If, according to the university return policy a student earned a portion of TA funds, but the service branch is requesting a full refund of TA funds, the university will return the amount requested by the service branch.

Return of Aid for a Deceased Student

In the event of a deceased student, APU will conduct a full evaluation of the student account and make the appropriate adjustments to financial aid in accordance with all federal, state, or institutional aid regulations.