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The U. S. Department of Education requires
colleges to determine whether financial aid is being utilized
in the most productive
way in assisting students to achieve their goals of attaining
a degree or certificate. Money is finite; taxes to fund federal
and state financial aid programs even more so. Because of this
the U. S. Department of Education wants funds awarded to students
who are academically progressing towards achieving this goal.
It is the duty of the RCC Financial Aid Office to monitor each
financial aid applicants’ academic work and to confirm
the student’s academic success and continued financial
aid eligibility or to determine that if a student is not academically
progressing toward the goal of degree attainment, to limit
those finite funds until a time when( and if ) a student is
academically eligible again.
What can affect my financial aid eligibility?
Students who are not achieving academic progress as measured
by the RCC Financial Aid Office usually have experienced one
( or a combination of several) of the following academic difficulties:
- receiving failing grades,
- receiving incomplete
grades,
- repeating courses,
- withdrawing from courses,
- and withdrawing
from the college.
How does the RCC Financial Aid Office measure my academic
progress?
In order to continue to receive financial aid consideration
at RCC, students must continue to make satisfactory progress
towards a degree or certificate. Students are considered to
be achieving academic progress if they complete at least 66%
or more of the total number of credits that they have attempted
a
Credits attempted Cumulative Grade Point Average
Below 15 credit………………………Less
than 1.5(Academic Warning)
15-29 credits…………………………1.70
Above 30 credits……………………..2.00
Other Policy Information:
- You must successfully complete the credits
required for your degree within 150% of the standard
length of your academic
major. For example, if you are majoring in an associate
degree that requires 60 credits for completion, you must
complete
your degree requirements by the time you have attempted
90 credits or you would lose you your financial aid eligibility.
- Financial
Aid cannot be used to pay for Development Classes after
a student has attempted 30 credits unless
they are taken
with college level classes. Financial Aid cannot be
used to pay for Developmental classes after a student has
attempted 48 Development credits.
- Financial Aid cannot
be used to pay for courses that a student has previously
attained a satisfactory
grade in.
What happens
to my financial aid if I fail or withdraw from classes
for which I am registered?
To remain eligible for financial aid, you must successfully
complete a minimum of 65% of the total of all your classes
since you began your studies at RCC and maintain a minimum
GPA as listed above. Since this measurement is based upon your
cumulative academic work at RCC, your performance in an individual
course may have no impact on your financial aid eligibility.
However, accumulation of failed courses, withdrawals and incomplete
grades could affect your eligibility.
What if I drop some or all of my classes before and/or during
the semester drop/add period-could this affect my academic
progress?
No. The credits that you drop during that period of time will
not be counted as credits attempted when calculating the percentage
of credits completed to determine if academic progress has
been achieved.
What happens to my financial aid eligibility
if I withdraw from some, but not all my courses after the
drop/add deadline? Can withdrawing from a course now affect my financial aid in
later semester?
In most cases, your financial aid eligibility for the current
semester will not change. However, as mentioned above, accumulated
withdrawals could affect your eligibility as all course withdrawals
decrease your completion rate that must be maintained above
66% for financial aid eligibility to continue for subsequent
semesters.
What happens to my financial aid eligibility if I withdraw
from all my courses after the drop/add deadline?
Withdrawing from all courses after the drop/add deadline is
considered withdrawing from the college. If you do this 60%
of the academic semester has passed, your financial aid eligibility
must be recalculated per federal and state regulations. This
recalculation will determine how much of your financial aid
awarded has been earned during the weeks before your official
withdrew from courses. When the recalculation is done, balance
could be owed to the RCC Business Office.
What
if I don’t officially withdraw
from the college but I stop attending all of my semester
classes?
Can this affect
my Financial Aid?
The U.S. Department of Education mandates that students who
fail all of their courses during and academic semester must
prove that they continued their attendance in those courses
past the 60% of the semester> Failure to do so will require
the financial aid office to recalculate a student’s financial
aid eligibility and will cause a balance to be owed to the
college for the semester. This is true even when a refund check
had been issued to the student.
How can changing majors affect my financial aid eligibility?
Changing your major may cause you to take additional courses
that could cause problems finishing your degree or certificate
within the 150% o the standard length of your academic major.
Also, when students change their academic major from degree
seeking to certificate seeking, the previous classes the
student attempted will be counted in the determination of
your financial aid eligibility. For example, a certificate
requires 30 credits for completion, for financial aid consideration
to continue you must finish the degree by 45 credits attempted.
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