Discontinuance and Return of Financial Aid

To officially discontinue from BYU-Hawaii, students are required to contact the Discontinuance Office.  To learn about the process visit the Discontinuance Information page.

In most cases, discontinuing from school prior to the end of the enrollment period will impact a student’s financial aid.  All scholarships are reversed automatically and must be repaid to the university when a student withdraws.

In addition, federal regulations govern the requirement of the return of Federal Aid for both official withdrawals and unofficial withdrawals for students who have received Pell Grants and/or Stafford Loans.

The information presented below is to help students understand the potential negative financial impact of withdrawing from school as it relates to Federal Aid.

Withdrawal

Federal Aid (Pell Grants & Stafford Loans) is awarded on the premise that a student will enroll for the entire semester/term in which a disbursement is made. Federal regulations require BYU-Hawaii to calculate the amount of Federal Aid that a student is entitled to retain if the student is not enrolled for the entire enrollment period. This requirement affects all students who withdraw or cease attendance in all classes on or after the first day of the term. It does not apply if a student cancels registration prior to the first day of classes or if they drops some, but not all, of their courses. However, if a student never attends classes during the enrollment period, and a Financial Aid disbursement is made, the student is responsible for returning all funds credited to their student account or issued in a refund check. In addition, if a student drops below full time enrollment they should check with Financial Aid personnel, because their continued eligibility may be affected if they do not complete sufficient credits to meet Satisfactory Academic Progress requirements.

When a student withdraws, two separate calculations are performed. One involves a refund of tuition and fees, based on the published schedule of refunds in the online catalog. The second calculation is the Federal Return of Title IV Aid computation which determines whether BYU-Hawaii is required to return a portion of the Federal Aid disbursed to the student.

If a student withdraws on or before the 60% point of the semester/term, federal regulations require BYU-Hawaii to calculate the amount of Federal Financial Aid that the student has "earned" during the period enrolled. The amount of Federal Aid earned is calculated by multiplying the total amount of aid disbursed by the percentage of the enrollment period completed as of the date of withdrawal. The difference between the amount of Federal Financial Aid the student has earned and the total amount disbursed is defined as "unearned" aid. Any unearned portion must be returned to Federal Financial Aid programs. Federal Financial Aid programs used by BYU-Hawaii include:

• Stafford Loans
• PLUS Loans
• Pell Grants
• Academic Competitiveness Grant
• National SMART Grant

Unofficial Withdrawals

If a student enrolls for a semester/term, but drops out before the end of the term and never completes the University’s official withdrawal process, the student will receive failing grades in their classes.  Federal regulations require the Financial Aid Office to verify whether students who received all "F" and "UW" dropped out before completing the term. No Federal Financial Aid adjustment is required for students who were in attendance past the 60% point in the term. However for students who unofficially withdrew (dropped out without completing the withdrawal process), the Financial Aid Office must verify the last date of class attendance. If the last date of attendance cannot be confirmed, federal regulations require the Financial Aid Office to recalculate eligibility for Financial Aid based on attendance through only the midpoint of the semester/term. In most cases this results in the student being billed for Financial Aid previously disbursed.

If students are having personal, financial, health, or academic problems that are interfering with their ability to complete the semester/term, we strongly urge them to contact the Discontinuance Officer to complete the official withdrawal process.

Tuition & Fee Refunds versus Return of Title IV Aid

Any unearned aid which BYU-Hawaii returns to Federal Aid programs will be deducted from the amount of your tuition, fee, and/or housing refunds. In most cases, the amount of your fee refund will be less than the amount of unearned aid that BYUH must return to federal programs. When this is true, the amount of Federal Aid reversed on your student account will result in a balance due to BYUH.  Within 45 days of being notified, the student is responsible for repaying this balance or making satisfactory arrangements with the Accounts Receivable personnel to repay the obligation.

Refunds of unearned aid will be returned to Financial Aid programs in the following order by BYUH:

1. Federal Unsubsidized Stafford Loan
2. Federal Subsidized Stafford Loan
3. Federal PLUS Loan
4. Federal Pell Grant
5. Academic Competitiveness Grant
6. National SMART Grant

Any amount that BYU-Hawaii must return to a student’s lender will reduce the amount that the student is required to repay to the lender after the grace period ends and the student enters repayment.