When you drop a course during the add/drop period, your financial aid eligibility for the current term would be revised to reflect the exclusion of the dropped course. Depending on how many remaining credits you have and what type of aid you have been awarded, your awards may be reduced. You would receive a revised award notification if this is the case.

Below are some commonly asked questions about withdraws and drops and how they affect your financial aid. 

What happens if I drop all of my courses during the add/drop period?
What happens if I withdraw from or stop attending a course after the end of the add/drop period?
What happens if I withdraw from or stop attending all of my courses after the end of the add/drop period but before the 60% point of the semester (last day to withdraw without academic penalty) has passed?
How do withdrawals affect my future financial aid eligibility?
What should I do if I am contemplating withdrawing from one or more courses?
What do I do with textbooks if I withdraw from a class?

What happens if I drop all of my courses during the add/drop period?

Your financial aid eligibility for the current term would be canceled entirely.

What happens if I withdraw from or stop attending a course after the end of the add/drop period?

If you are receiving grants, and you still have one or more remaining courses, your financial aid eligibility for the current term would not change.

If you are receiving loans, you would only remain eligible for your loan disbursement provided you are still registered for at least six credits (making you a half-time time student). If your enrollment level drops below half-time status before your loan disbursement has been applied to your account, you would not be eligible for your loan disbursement, and it would be canceled. In certain circumstances, the College would be entitled to accept the amount of your loan disbursement that equals the balance due on your student account. Any remaining amount would be returned to your lender and would reduce the amount of the principal balance borrowed.

Keep in mind that if you are not maintaining half-time status, you would enter your grace period for repayment of any outstanding loan balance and would be sent an Exit Interview packet from the Financial Aid Office. Once you resumed half-time status, your loans could once again be deferred.

What happens if I withdraw from or stop attending all of my courses after the end of the add/drop period, but before the 60% point of the semester (which is the last day to withdraw without academic penalty) has passed?

If you are receiving any type of federal aid, such as PELL, ACG, SEOG, COMA, VGAP, Foster Care Grant or Federal Stafford Loans, a portion of your eligibility would need to be returned. As a result, you would then owe a repayment to the College and to the U.S. Department of Education. You would be notified of the amounts you were responsible for repaying and would be given a 45 day period to repay the balance due.

If such amounts were not repaid in that time frame, you would be restricted from enrolling at the College in the future, and you would be reported to the U.S. Department of Education for an overpayment of federal funds. You would not become re-eligible for financial aid at any college or university in the United States until the federal overpayment was satisfied. Your original award notice included detailed information regarding the effect of withdrawals on your financial aid eligibility.

For example: You are enrolled in 12 credits and received a Pell Grant for $2025. Tuition and fees for the semester are $778. Book charges are $356.20. If you withdrew from all 12 credits on October 24, you would owe $213.34 to the U.S. Department of Education and $543.28 to John Tyler Community College.

How do withdrawals affect my future financial aid eligibility?

As stated above, if you do not satisfy a federal overpayment, you would be reported to the U.S. Department of Education and would be ineligible for financial aid until the debt was satisfied. Any outstanding balance due to the College would also need to be satisfied before any future services would be rendered.

It is extremely important that you realize that all types of withdrawals can damage your pursuit of Satisfactory Academic Progress. Although withdrawals may not be negative on your academic record, they are considered negative for financial aid purposes. Withdrawals are considered courses attempted, but not completed successfully. Therefore, according to our Satisfactory Academic Progress policy, withdrawals would count against you in the evaluation of the Completion Rate (67% rule) and the Maximum Time (150% rule) standards. Please see the Satisfactory Academic Progress page for more information. 

What should I do if I am contemplating withdrawing from one or more courses?

It is extremely important that you carefully read the above information in order to become fully aware of the implications of withdrawal. You may also meet with a financial aid representative to further discuss your options and any of the information provided here.

What do I do with textbooks if I withdraw from a class?