Refund Policy

A student’s official withdrawal date is determined as follows:

• A student is considered officially withdrawn if the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs is notified by the student in writing or by phone of intent to withdraw. If a student sends written notification of intent to withdraw, the withdrawal date is the date the letter is received via postal, electronic, or fax mail.
• If a student ceases attendance without providing official notification, the withdrawal date will be the midpoint of the semester or term. In the case when an official notification was not provided by the student because of circumstances beyond the student’s control, i.e., illness, accident, grievous personal loss, or other circumstances, the date related to the onset of that circumstance will be used as the withdrawal date. This date will be determined by the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.

Eligible fees paid by or on behalf of the student will be refunded to student, matching donor organization, and scholarship fund on the basis of the official semester or term withdrawal date (see above) and in accordance with the following schedule:

• Before new student orientation and classes begin – 100% refund of tuition and eligible fees; 100% refund of room and board
  Not Refunded: Enrollment deposit
• During new student orientation, or first or second week – 100% refund of tuition and eligible fees; prorated refund of room and board, based on time remaining in the semester
  Not Refunded: Enrollment deposit and registration fee
• During third week – 75% refund of tuition and eligible fees; prorated refund of room and board, based on time remaining in the semester
  Not Refunded: Enrollment deposit and registration fee
• During fourth week – 50% refund of tuition and eligible fees; pro-rated refund of room and board, based on time remaining in the semester
  Not Refunded: Enrollment deposit and registration fee
• During fifth week – 25% refund of tuition and eligible fees; pro-rated refund of room and board, based on time remaining in the semester
  Not Refunded: Enrollment deposit and registration fee
• After fifth week – no refund of tuition or fees; pro-rated refund of room and board, based on time remaining in the semester

In accordance with the Return of Title IV Funds regulation (R2T4), when a U.S. Government financial aid recipient withdraws from all classes prior to completing 60% of a term (i.e., nine weeks), it is the seminary’s responsibility to determine the withdrawal date and amount of loan assistance that the student earned. If a student received less assistance than what was earned, he or she may be able to receive those funds. On the other hand, if the student received more assistance than earned, the unearned funds must be returned by the school and/or aid recipient to the appropriate aid program. The seminary's Direct Lending Counselor recalculates eligibility for Title IV funds using the following Federal Return of Title IV funds formula:

• Percentage of term completed equals the number of days completed up to the withdrawal date divided by the total days in the term. (Any break of five days or more is not counted as part of the days in the term.) This percentage is also the percentage of earned aid.

Funds are returned to the appropriate U.S. Government program based on the percentage of unearned aid using the following formula:

• Aid to be returned equals (100% minus the percentage of earned aid) multiplied by (the total amount of aid that could have been disbursed during the term).

If a student earned less aid than was disbursed, the institution would be required to return a portion of the funds and the student would be required to return a portion of the funds. Keep in mind that when Title IV funds are returned, the student borrower may owe a debit balance to the institution.

The seminary must return the amount of Title IV funds for which it is responsible no later than 45 days after the date of the student’s withdrawal. Refunds are allocated in the following order:

• Unsubsidized Direct Loans (other than PLUS loans)
• Graduate PLUS Loans